The Forum on Scottish Education, set up in the 1980s to bring education representatives together, may fold because it has outlived its purpose.
Made up of representatives from Scottish churches, trade unions, parent-teacher organisations, the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Consumer Council, the forum is consulting its members with a view to disbanding after a conference was cancelled due to lack of interest.
The Scottish Qualifications Auth-ority is working to ensure that no pupils at Dingwall Academy suffer disadvantage after it emerged that S6 students sitting Advanced Higher English had apparently not been taught part of the course. Four out of six pupils walked out of the exam early when faced with a question asking them to compare King Lear and Hamlet. The students had only studied Hamlet.
Concerns that wi-fi radiation can damage health have split scientists. The BBC’s Panorama programme cited one school where radiation levels from wifi - which allows computers to be used without leads - was up to three times the level of mobile phone mast radiation, albeit 600 times below government safety limits. Sir William Stewart, chairman of the Health Protection Agency, has called for a review. But Nottingham University’s Professor Lawrie Challis, who chairs the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme management committee, said wi-fi was unlikely to pose a health risk.
Construction company George Wimpey will provide three pound;3,000 university bursaries and sponsorship of three modern apprenticeships, in a programme thought to be the first of its kind in Scotland. Builders of Tomorrow was set up by the company and East Dunbar-tonshire Council, and will provide work experience, business support and teacher placements. It is part of Determined to Succeed.
Aileen Ponton, new chief executive at SCQF (Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework), will take up her post on July 9. She arrives from the Sector Skills Dev-elopment Agency, where she was head of policy development. She was previously general manager of external development at the SQA.
Scottish footballing legend Kenny Dalglish has set up a website that lets shoppers buy online and direct money to schools. He went online this week to discuss WeGiveTo. Retailers donate a percentage of each transaction to a named school.
* www.wegiveto.com
Holly Batchelor, 17, from Edin-burgh, won three prizes at the Intel International Science and En-gineering Fair in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was among the world’s most talented youngsters.
