ISC Daily News Summary

The Department for Education (DfE) has launched an £18 million bid to find up to three providers to recruit, train and deploy academic mentors and tuition partners to support the running of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) over the next two years. By Callum Mason, Tes.

Polling by the National Foundation for Educational Research for the Sutton Trust has found that almost seven in 10 primary school heads at state schools say they did not receive enough COVID catch-up funding this year, leaving many forced to cut support staff and trips and use pupil premium funding to make ends meet. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

Schools Week outlines eight key takeaways from Nadhim Zahawi's appearance in front of the Parliamentary Education Committee yesterday, where he talked about his plans for education reform. By Freddie Whittaker and Samantha Booth.

The OCR exam board has said that the new natural history GCSE, which will be studied from September 2025, will be “very nurturing and life-enhancing” for young people. By Emma Yeomans, The Times.

iNews speaks to ecologists and environmentalists about the introduction of the new natural history GCSE, which is expected to focus on climate change and sustainability issues. Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton, said: “We owe it to our young people to teach them more about the riches of the natural world so they can recognise and appreciate its beauty, understand the scale of the loss we’re living through, and be equipped with the necessary tools to reverse it.” By Madeleine Cuff.

New research for the Gatsby Foundation, conducted by Sam Sims and Aasma Benhenda of University College London, has found that giving new maths and physics teachers retention bonuses makes them 23 per cent more likely to stay in the profession after two years, suggesting that retention payments could help solve recruitment shortages. By Tom Belger, Schools Week.

Tes takes a closer look at how diversity can be improved in the teaching profession. By Helen Lock and Dan Worth.

A study from the Leeds University Business School and the Father Institute, a charity and think tank, has found that young children perform better at school if their fathers feel they spend enough time playing with them. By Will Hazell, iNews.