June 2025 Newsletter

June 8, 2025

Welcome to our June newsletter which is packed with news, resources and support for science and STEM education.

_{50th STEM Nation Award setting – Rosebank Primary School, Dundee}

DOWNLOAD this newsletter below:

ES Sciences and STEM June Newsletter 2025

Education Scotland News and Events

PISA 2025 Framework

This September, some 3000 learners in 118 Scottish secondary schools will take part in the OECD 2025 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) Survey. The main focus for this year’s survey will be science. Education Scotland has just shared the PISA Support Package for Scotland: PISA 2025 Support Package and Webinars |

Now hiring – HM Inspectors of Education

Education Scotland is hiring! Ten HMI posts are available for experienced primary and secondary professionals. We’d like to encourage those from our science, STEM, Learning for Sustainability and outdoor learning networks to apply. Closing date is 17 June: Now hiring – HM Inspectors of Education – Scottish Government Jobs

Science and the Curriculum Improvement Cycle

The sciences component of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle has begun, marked by the first meeting of the Science CIC Collaboration Group taking place in November 2024. From 13–16 March, the Core Group (a subset of the Collaboration Group) took part in a four-day workshop to build on the work of the Collaboration Group and begin to develop the big ideas to shape the science curriculum.

Access the reports and thinking from both groups:

Collaboration Group Padlet
Core Group Padlet

Assessment and Moderation for BGE Science

Four national events on BGE Science Assessment and Moderation took place earlier this year to support teacher judgment and foster professional dialogue on standards. The aim is to develop a national bank of moderated science assessment exemplars from early to fourth level. This work is ongoing, and we are inviting schools and settings to contribute by sharing learner portfolios that demonstrate assessment evidence from early to fourth level. If your school or setting is interested in contributing, please email the science team at science@educationscotland.gov.scot

Other resources and support

Our national STEM partner organisations have loads of programmes, events, resources and funding available. We’ve captured the highlights from our recent network meetings and put them onto one handy post for you to peruse:

STEM funding

Are you looking for some STEM inspiration, or do you already have a great idea but need funding to bring your vision to life? Check out the exciting STEM funding opportunities and upcoming STEM festivals on our blog: Funding & Festivals – May Update – STEM Nation

Glasgow Science Festival 5th – 15th June 2025

This year, Glasgow turns 850 years old! To mark the occasion, Glasgow Science Festival will run from the 05 to 15 June 2025 with the theme ‘Glasgow Celebrates’. We would like to draw your attention to the school programme: Glasgow Science Festival

Edinburgh College P7 Bridge Building Challenge

This is a remote offer from the Engineering department at Edinburgh College, blending a practical, classroom activity with live online support and demonstrations from college lecturers. Events take place on Thursdays throughout the school year. Bookings will open shortly for 2025-2026 but if you have any questions please contact: catherine.brotherton@edinburghcollege.ac.uk

STEM Next Essay Competition TechFest

STEM Next Essay Competition: https://www.techfest.org.uk/education/ages-over-11/stem-next-essay Our Global STEM essay writing competition for 16 to 18 year old students is accepting notes of interest now and the full list of essay topics will be announced shortly.

Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET)

Bookings are now open for the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston on 19 or 20 of June this year. Bookings are made via an external ticketing company: Royal Highland Show | Royal Highland Education Trust
Check out the Moo Maths learning pack for information about STEM and data from the farm, and dairy cow 991 who is providing monthly updates: Numeracy and Mathematics on the Dairy Farm | Royal Highland Education Trust
Grow Your Own Loaf – Free seeds are supported with lesson plans, videos and classroom resources: https://www.rhet.org.uk/teachers/in-school-learning/request-grow-your-own-loaf-seeds/
Check out the new peatland restoration learning resource for third level geography, science and environmental science: https://www.thinglink.com/view/scene/1944441815260201828
Talk to a farmer impact video: https://youtu.be/ify-sfKT9H8

Nature Discovery Map for schools – Nature Scot
The Nature Discovery Map Scotland (NDMS) toolkit is a suite of six map-based tools that have been developed by NatureScot on behalf of Scottish Government to support Learning for Sustainability: https://nature-discovery-map-scotland-ndms.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-is-happening

Outdoor and Woodland Learning Scotland

Outdoor and Woodland Learning Scotland offers local delivery of outdoor STEM activities and offer a range of professional learning opportunities: OWLS – Outdoor and Woodland Learning Scotland

Maths Week Scotland

Maths Week Scotland runs from 22 – 28 September 2025. There are learning resources, challenges and competitions available for early level to senior phase. For more information visit: Schools – Maths Week Scotland

Bright Green Hydrogen

As a renewable energy demonstration centre, Bright Green Hydrogen can facilitate renewable energy learning in the classroom from an industry perspective. The workshops offered are always hands-on, interactive and practical. The workshops typically last up to two hours and can cover all ages and stages of learner. For further information, please visit: https://www.brightgreenhydrogen.org.uk/education/

Keep Scotland Beautiful

Keep Scotland Beautiful offers a Climate Action Schools training and activities, the Eco Schools Award programme, climate ready classrooms and a whole range of environmental offers. For more information, visit https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/

The Centre for Teaching Excellence (CfTE) – National Teacher Survey

The Centre for Teaching Excellence has launched a National Teacher Survey: https://bit.ly/3Hv8FZO

Trouble accessing links? Visit our STEM blog to access all the links and downloads. We’ll also update the blog with new offers as they come in: News – STEM Nation

You’ve received this because you are a member of our national science or STEM networks. Don’t want to receive future newsletters? No problem – just let us know.

Socials

You can now follow us on BlueSky:

@EdScotSciences: https://bsky.app/profile/edscotsciences.bsky.social

@stemedscot: https://bsky.app/profile/stemedscot.bsky.social

@EdScotLfS: https://bsky.app/profile/edscotlfs.bsky.social

@RAiSEScotland (Twitter/X): https://x.com/RaiseScotland

Networks

Join over 2000 practitioners on our national Glow networks. Joining codes are:

STEM: kz41xx4

Sciences: uh9sf32

Learning for Sustainability: o4sj08j

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