Secondary Science Subject briefing/workshop

SWIFT are delighted to be working with Jo Castelino, experienced teacher and trainer with a Science teaching specialism, to provide termly high quality, research-based training covering key elements of curriculum, and teaching and learning pedagogy. The series supports the development of planning, teaching and assessment to increase confidence in the teaching and learning of the 3 science subjects. Participants are supported to reflect on their current practice, and how to implement future improvements within their own schools.

All sessions include a general overview of the secondary science landscape, including the most up-to-date national and local information on policy, frameworks and initiatives, as well as a key focus area each term, as outlined below:

Session 1- Autumn Term: GCSE Chemistry: Bonding and Structure

Overview: How we introduce bonding and structure can either cement long-term understanding or leave learners lost in a tangle of terminology. This session explores the common misconceptions students face, from muddling ionic and covalent bonding to struggling with the abstract nature of lattice structures. We'll look at how to sequence learning so that students can build confidently from KS3 ideas, and how to select the most powerful examples to bring these concepts to life.

Teachers will leave with practical strategies to help students make sense of electron transfer, bonding types, and structure-property relationships, before making meaningful links to reaction profiles, exothermic and endothermic reactions, and bond energies. The session will also consider how to use questioning to deepen conceptual understanding and challenge surface-level recall.

Session 2 – Spring Term: Homeostasis and hormones

Overview: Hormones, negative feedback, and internal regulation often leave students swimming in abstraction and misconceptions. This session unpacks the teaching of homeostasis and hormonal control, exploring why learners struggle with the “invisible” nature of internal processes and how we can bring these complex systems into sharper focus.

We’ll look at how to sequence explanations, from foundational ideas like internal balance and temperature regulation, through to more complex systems like blood glucose control and menstrual hormones. The session explores how to choose rich, accessible contexts to anchor understanding, and how questioning and retrieval strategies can be used to deepen thinking and avoid common misconceptions.

Teachers will leave with practical strategies, ready-to-use examples, and a renewed confidence to tackle those “trickiest bits” head-on.

Session 3- Summer Term: Forces

Overview: Forces are everywhere, but to many students, they remain invisible and misunderstood. Teaching forces often becomes a battle against deeply rooted misconceptions. This session explores practical strategies to teach abstract ideas, focusing on how to build understanding from the simplest interactions to more complex concepts like resultant force, terminal velocity, and momentum.

We'll examine how to structure explanations with purpose, selecting examples that challenge misconceptions (like “motion means force” or “heavier objects fall faster”) and guiding students through carefully crafted questions that expose and shift faulty thinking.

Whilst the overviews have been designed with individual science subjects in mind, Jo is keen to adapt sessions to reflect any relevant updates and feedback from attendees in the sessions, so that they are relevant and tailored to meet school needs.

The sessions are suitable for all secondary phase teachers and leaders of science.

Target Audience

Secondary Science Teachers and Leaders

Learning Outcomes

Attendees will gain insight into the latest developments in Secondary Science and consider the implication of these for their own settings.

The sessions are designed to support science teachers to:

· Be aware of the national agenda for teaching secondary science

· Reflect on strategies to support the needs of all learners within the classroom

· Identify principles that contribute to effective lesson design in science

· Dedicate focused time to reflect on current practice and plan for continuous improvement for impact on pupil outcomes

Briefing Lead

Jo Castelino

Dr Jo Castelino is an experienced Science teacher and leader. She is author of The Homework Conundrum and has contributed to the Hodder Springboard KS3 resources. She regularly writes about teaching and learning and has spoken at a number of conferences.

Costs

SWIFT members - FREE

Other colleagues - £35

SWIFT Partner providing course is Blackdown Education Partnership.

NB Your school will need to have SWIFT membership for 2025/26 to qualify for the member price.

Please note: Payment is by INVOICE ONLY. Please select invoice as the payment method at check out.

SWIFT Partner providing course (including invoicing) is Blackdown Education Partnership.

You will receive a confirmation of booking from Eventbrite. All further correspondence will come from (becki.mills@sw-ift.org.uk or Tania.cox@sw-ift.org.uk); please ensure you check your junk mail box and approve the email to ensure you receive important event details.

If you are unable to attend on the day, or are sending someone else in your place, please let us know. Please be aware that failure to cancel your space can incur your school a cost.

• More than 21 days to date of event: Full refund available (minus £25 admin fee)

• Between 20-7 days to date of event: 50% refund available (minus £25 admin fee)

• 6 days or less to date of event: No refund available (plus £25 admin fee)

Should a training course recruit insufficient numbers to make it viable, we reserve the right to cancel the course, without penalty, giving minimum notice of 24 hours.

Full Terms and Conditions are available HERE.