An Argyll and Bute secondary school’s S1 pupils have won the top prize at an event for young apps developers. The Apps for Good scheme, which aims to help young people “change their world” through technology, ran the contest in Edinburgh this month. The winning Dunoon Grammar team devised the SafeStep app, which operates in a bedside rug that, when stood on, switches on household lights - reducing the risk of elderly users falling.

Scotland has become the first country to award 2,000 Eco-Schools Green Flags, described as “the top award in the largest sustainable schools programme in the world”. Sean Hagney, headteacher of St John’s Academy, said the accolade reflected a “huge variety of learning”, from the planting of vegetables and recycling, to being Fairtrade.

New courses are to launch at two medical schools to assist more pupils from deprived backgrounds to become doctors. Aberdeen and Glasgow university medical schools will share a £330,000 fund to run the pre-entry courses, which will host 40 students during 2017-18. Professor Steve Heys, head of the School of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen, said high-achieving pupils from deprived areas were less likely to consider studying medicine.

Unions have said that they will back teachers in technical subjects who refuse to mark end-of-year assignments. In a letter to affected members, the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association advised that those who “decline” to grade the assignments would be “fully supported”. Some technical teachers are angry that they are required to complete marking, which is optional in other subjects, forcing them to work during the Easter break.

@TesScotland