Seatbelts will become mandatory on school buses in Scotland under draft proposals. Aberdeenshire East MSP Gillian Martin wants all vehicles supplied for primary school transport contracts to be fitted with seatbelts by 2018; secondary contracts would follow suit by 2021. A 2013 inquiry into the death of 17-year-old Lanark Grammar School pupil Natasha Paton found that she might have survived an accident on a school bus trip in 2010 if she had worn a seatbelt and the driver had travelled more slowly.

A Fife primary has become the first UK school to earn an international leadership award. Fair Isle Primary in Kirkcaldy, where nearly half of pupils are entitled to free school meals, has gained Lighthouse status in the Leader in Me programme. The scheme is based around The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by the late US educator Steven Covey. Fair Isle headteacher Rae Walker said the project had helped with punctuality, conflict resolution and reducing unclaimed lost property.

Parents of private school pupils who started P1 in 2004 and left school in S6 this year have paid an average of £128,529 in fees, according to new research. During that time, parents in Scotland have seen an increase of 58 per cent in average annual fees from £7,170 in 2004 to £11,310 in 2016, the Bank of Scotland research finds. This year’s average of £11,310 is equivalent to 40 per cent of the average gross full-time earnings of £33,149.

First-time novelist Elizabeth Ezra has won this year’s Kelpies Prize, which champions the finest new Scottish writing for children. She received the award for Ruby McCracken: tragic without magic. The book, which was entered in the eight- to 11-year-olds category, follows a young witch who is plunged into the “Ordinary World” and finds life without magic a challenge.

@TESScotland