SENIOR pupils at secondary schools in the Borders are being encouraged to start using their own laptops and tablets.

Scottish Borders Council has installed technology at eight of the region's nine high schools to allow students to access curriculum learning on their own devices.

Kelso will be added to the scheme when its new school opens next year.

The Bring Your Own Device programme is initially open to all fourth, fifth and sixth year pupils.

And it may be rolled out to earlier years if it proves successful.

But education bosses are stating that any breakages of personal devices either in school or in transit will rest with the student.

A spokesperson told us: "Pupils will be responsible for their own devices at all times.

"Schools will continue to provide devices as they do at the moment.

"The Bring Your Own Device programme simply offers increased flexibility for pupils and is not compulsory."

The new network will treat all personal devices like current school computers by using a curricular login.

And it will utilise the council’s stringent filtering protocol to ensure pupils are safe online while in school.

Pupils will be able to save their work in a cloud-based solution.

Councillor Simon Mountford, who is the spokesman for Transformation and HR, has welcomed the move.

He said: “Today’s pupils have grown up with digital technology and it is important that we are able to make best use of this in their learning, while also ensuring that they do so in a safe and secure environment."

The council has also recently rolled out a new online parent evening appointment booking system to all of the region’s schools, after piloting different systems in five schools last year.

The system reduces a significant amount of administration and makes it easier for parents to book suitable appointments to meet with their child’s teachers from any device.

Councillor Mountford added: “We also recognise that more and more parents want to deal with their school online.

"Following the success of ParentPay, which enables parents to pay for school meals, trips, clothing and more online the next step was to deliver an online solution to the booking of parent evening appointments.

“This has traditionally been a paper-based and labour intensive operation for school staff, pupils and parents.

"The rollout of the new online system will have a very positive impact for everyone, making it more efficient and time effective for all concerned.”

The new technology has been rolled by the council's digital partner CGI.

Forbes McKay from CGI said: “Enabling pupils to bring their own devices to school and use them to assist them in their learning has been an ambition of Scottish Borders Council for some time, and CGI is delighted to have been able to deliver a suitable and secure solution.”