Faculty: Science
Subject: GCSE Biology
Subject Leader: Miss S Bray
Staff: Mrs K Lall, Miss J Lauder, Mrs C Packett, Miss L Tyrrell and Mr D Wilson
Key Stage 4 (GCSE) Biology
Biology is a popular subject taken by students with a wide variety of interests. It is the subject of the future. If you want to know the facts behind cancer, cloning and fighting disease, this is the subject to study. This course includes a significant amount of Maths and practical skills; it is a challenging and rewarding subject.
You will benefit from the following resources and facilities:
- Three recently refurbished Biology labs with interactive smart boards.
- Specialist Biology teachers.
- A well-equipped department, suitable for the practical work that Biology requires.
Lessons involved a wide variety of teaching and learning styles including dissections, discussions, group work, model making, presentations, practical work and research.
Students who study Biology can go onto veterinary science, medicine, dentistry, forensic science and microbiology just to name a few. It is also accepted for non-science careers such as psychology and law.
We follow the AQA syllabus which includes the following modules
- Cell Biology
- Organisation
- Infection and Response
- Bioenergetics
- Homeostasis and Response
- Inheritance, Variation and Evolution
- Ecology
- Key Ideas
Key Stage 5 – Biology
Exam Board and Entry Requirements
Examination board: AQA
Three 2 hour papers make up the A-Level exam. Paper 1 and paper 2 are each worth 35% of the final mark with paper 3 contributing 30%.
Entry requirements are two Science GCSEs at grade 6 (one of which must be Biology) and Maths GCSE at grade 6.
Course Content
Content includes, biological molecules and how they are used to build cells, how organisms exchange substances with their environment in the processes of diffusion, osmosis and active transport.
Genetic information and inheritance, variation between organisms and relationships between organisms, the processes of respiration and photosynthesis, inheritance and selection including the mechanisms of inheritance, control of gene expression and DNA technology, the human nervous system and the mechanism of muscular contraction and homeostasis.
Useful Subject & Revision Websites
Contribution to SMSC
- Discussions and debates about the theories of evolution.
- In schemes of work.
- Lessons on the ethics of drug trialling and animal testing.
- The ethics of cloning and the different ethical stance on cloning.
