The theme for this issue is ‘nature of science’. As Professor Brad Gibson mentions in our regular ‘In conversation with …’ piece in this issue, there has never been a more important time for primary science. Schools, he postulates, are key to counterbalancing all the pseudoscience children may have encountered virtually during the recent pandemic. Teachers re-establishing sound real-world science skills with their pupils, as well as reinvigorating the wonder and awe of the natural universe in young minds, is crucial to success with this task.