Charging schools for exam appeals is saving the Scottish Qualifications Authority nearly £800,000 a year, an investigation has revealed. The SQA accrued £350,000 in 2017 from the “post-results service”, which charges schools £10-£40 for checking or reviewing a student’s exam paper whose grade subsequently remains unchanged. However, it cost £390,000 to run after 14,536 requests for checks and reviews, leaving a £40,000 deficit. The previous system was free and in 2013, its final year, cost the SQA nearly £800,000 to manage.

Details of allocations for the second year of Pupil Equity Funding have been revealed. In 2018-19, £120 million will again be shared among nearly 2,400 (around 95 per cent) of state schools in Scotland. The largest allocation of £326,400 goes to both Levenmouth Academy, in Fife, and Glasgow’s St Andrew’s Secondary.

There has been a 13 per cent increase in Scots from the poorest communities getting university places, Ucas figures show. However, some institutions are accepting fewer such students. Meanwhile, fair access commissioner Professor Sir Peter Scott has warned that these students are more likely to drop out, struggle with their studies and find jobs.

Pupils at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Academy had to compete for seats in oversubscribed Higher human biology classes. The first 40 to arrive were admitted, but the final two had to join National 5 pupils. The school said it did not want to disappoint any of the 42 pupils choosing the Higher - and that since August pupils had to be accommodated in the N5 class only twice.