Education was at the forefront of what first minister Nicola Sturgeon described as her “most ambitious plan ever” when setting out her programme for the coming year on Tuesday. She announced an Education Governance Bill and promised to give “headteachers new powers and make sure parents, families and communities play a bigger role in school life and in their children’s learning”. She also confirmed that she would lift the 1 per cent pay cap on public-sector professions such as teaching.

Newbattle Abbey College in Midlothian has unveiled a tribute to a sculptor who survived a Nazi concentration camp. Zigfrids - or Zigi - Sapietis was imprisoned by the Gestapo for raising the Latvian flag in his home country. He escaped to Denmark then moved to Scotland in 1952, making his home in Newbattle, where he died in 2014. His widow Paula has gifted one of his works, Tree of Life, to the college. Her late husband collected fallen trees in nearby woods to use in his work.

A former PE teacher has been struck off after being convicted of a series of sexual assaults. Bruce Rankin had been convicted of the offences at Hamilton Sheriff Court in March, a General Teaching Council for Scotland fitness-to-teach panel heard. These included sexual assaults on a child that were committed between December 2010 and December 2012.

The Scottish government has announced £390,000 to educate school pupils about food and drink careers. The funding will allow Food and Drink Federation Scotland to extend its A Future in Food programme to 2020.