STEM e-bulletin March 2026

March 12, 2026 by C. Gillespie | 0 comments

STEM Nation Open Days

Building on last year’s successful STEM Nation Award Open Days, our team at Education Scotland is working with a group of inspirational educators to host a series of STEM Nation Open Days across Scotland. The programme of visits will run throughout March 2026.

Event dates and locations

Practitioners are welcome to attend any event that is of interest to them. These events are FREE to attend. Places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.

Oakburn EYC, East Dunbartonshire Council

- Craigdhu Rd, Glasgow, G62 7TJ
- Friday 13th March 2026, 10.15am – 12.30pm
- STEM Nation Award Open Day – Oakburn EYC Tickets

Hillhead Primary School, Glasgow City Council

- 110 Otago Street, Glasgow, G12 8NS
- Tuesday 24th March, session 1: 1.30 – 3.00pm, session 2: 3.45-5.15pm
- STEM Nation Award Open Day – Hillhead Primary School Tickets

STEM Nation Award

Congratulations to Farr High School in Highland Council on achieving a full STEM Nation Award! The school was praised for its inclusive & forward-thinking approach to STEM education.

Congratulations also to Livingston Village Primary School in West Lothian Council on achieving a full STEM Nation Award! The school was praised for its commitment to equity and equality in STEM.

Find out more about the STEM Nation Award –

General information about the STEM Nation Award – STEM Nation

The STEM self-evaluation and improvement framework underpins Education Scotland’s STEM Nation award. It’s a great place to start! Check it out here:

STEM self-evaluation and improvement framework | Resources | Education Scotland

STEM Outdoors

As Spring is (hopefully) here, you may want to plan some seasonal outdoor learning. Don’t forget we have a range of activities for all seasons and any time across Early, First and Second Level. STEM Outdoors – STEM Nation

Education Scotland Sciences Network– Curriculum Improvement Cycle Webinar

Thursday 19 March 4pm to 5:30pm

The Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) for 3–18 sciences is well underway, with significant progress already made thanks to the valuable engagement of practitioners across Scotland.

The Education Scotland science team is eager to continue hearing from as many colleagues as possible, ensuring that your expertise and insights directly shape a forward-looking sciences curriculum. To support this, our series of network webinars are continuing in 2026.

These webinars are open to all practitioners in early years, primary, secondary and ASN settings who deliver science. We warmly welcome participation from every sector. Broad and diverse engagement is essential to ensuring the curriculum reflects the needs and ambitions of the whole sciences community.

Education Scotland Sciences Network– Curriculum Improvement Cycle Webinar Tickets, Thursday, Mar 19 from 4 pm to 5:30 pm

Education Scotland News and Events

Mathematics and the Curriculum Improvement Cycle

The mathematics component of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) is progressing; our latest Curriculum Improvement Cycle podcast episode is now live. Listen to hear the progress so far in the Curriculum Improvement Cycle for Maths.

The Curriculum Improvement Cycle – Focus on Mathematics | Education Scotland podcast

Find out more about the Curriculum Improvement Cycle via our blog.

Tara Harper, Lecturer in Mathematics Education University of Dundee, explains what most excites her about the prospect of an updated maths curriculum.

Curriculum Improvement Cycle – Education Scotland

Science and the Curriculum Improvement Cycle

Sciences Curriculum Improvement Journey – all key information, dates, updates and links can be found on Sciences Curriculum Improvement Journey blog post, which is updated regularly.

The sciences component of the Curriculum Improvement Cycle (CIC) is progressing; many thanks to the members of our Science CIC Core Group for their valuable contributions to our two day workshop firming up the concepts and big ideas for the revised 3-18 sciences curriculum.

Access the reports and thinking from both groups:

Collaboration Group Padlet
Core Group Padlet

Other resources and support

Our national STEM partner organisations have lots of programmes, events, resources and funding available. Here are the highlights:

STEM Professional Learning from SSERC

SSERC offers a range of STEM professional learning opportunities for Early Years and Primary practitioners. The professional learning is centred around practical, hands-on activities, which are linked to the Curriculum for Excellence.

SSERC offer face-to-face courses and online sessions, including SSERC Meets. Many of the courses feature resource kits, allowing you to try activities in the classroom or share your learning with colleagues. Supportive online materials are also provided. Most of their professional learning opportunities come at no cost to your setting or are supported by funding.

All 3:30-5pm on Teams, suitable for a group of staff – try out a range of practical STEM activities using the kit provided.

Find out more and apply: https://sserc.org.uk/professional-learning/early-years-primary-professional-learning/

Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET)

Talk to a Farmer is back for 2026!

Bring your class along from 23-27th March to hear directly from farmers across Scotland, as they share what they do to produce your food. There are a range of farmers lined up, from large sprout producers to a school who grow and sell their own produce.

Talk to a Farmer – Royal Highland Educational Trust

Keep Scotland Beautiful

Live Lessons – register now

Keep Scotland Beautiful Live Lessons support Climate Education, Learning for Sustainability and work on Eco-Schools and Young Reporters.

Live Lessons are delivered online via Microsoft Teams. All lessons are accompanied by follow-up resources, and will be recorded so you can watch them again.

Register now for this year’s exciting lessons, featuring collective action activities and high quality resources, bringing schools and nurseries together to work towards a more sustainable future…

Spring Clean Week 2026: 16 – 23 March

Interactive Live Lesson and associated resources, inspiring you and your pupils to take part in the annual Spring Clean Scotland Campaign and join the fight against litter and waste!

Natural Scotland Week 2026: 11 – 19 May

Learn all about our amazing natural world and take action to look after it.

Live Lessons | Keep Scotland Beautiful

You’ve received this e-bulletin 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

Websites