Best of the best

Biology

- Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh has won “Best School in Scotland” in the Biology Olympiad. Almost 4,000 pupils took part in the first round of the 2012 British Biology Olympiad, which consisted of a multiple-choice paper taken online in schools.

Get creative

Creativity

- The new-look Creativity Portal has gone live. It includes a set of films exploring creativity, which are designed to support creative teaching and learning, and announces a new phase of development that opens up the portal to all creative partners and freelancers who work with schools.

www.creativityportal.org.uk

Highs and lows

PSE

- Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary is to launch a drugs education campaign after an online poll highlighted a lack of awareness about the dangers of taking “legal highs”. The Facebook survey showed fewer than 25 per cent of those who participated had any idea of the effects of psychoactive drugs.

Talent blossoms

Horticulture

- Horticultural students on a work placement from Kilmarnock College have helped hundreds of young gardeners at Grange Academy and Annanhill Primary to plant seedlings and grow vegetables in raised beds on the Grange campus school grounds. Craig Inglis and Matthew Watson are the first students to benefit from a skills placement outside teaching at the school.

Build success

Construction

- Construction Skills, the training council for the UK construction industry, has awarded pound;600,000 to Historic Scotland to help it promote building skills. Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “The historic environment, which includes more than 400,000 traditionally-constructed buildings, is worth more than pound;2.3 billion to the economy each year. The award will help ensure this asset is maintained.”