Biology

The Science Department is going from strength to strength, with a strong and expanding Sixth Form contingent. Many Science students enter Oxford or Cambridge, and a significant proportion of QE Biology students go on to follow university courses in Biology or Natural Sciences.

We have 11 well equipped laboratories, three prep. rooms and 12 teaching staff who teach their specialist subject (Chemistry, Biology or Physics) in Years 10 to 13, and we all teach across the subjects to Key Stage 3. In Biology specifically, the staff comprises a Head of Biology and four Biology teachers. There are four biology laboratories, all of which have stand-alone computers.

There are three Science Department technicians; each is responsible for his or her subject area from Year 7 to 13. The department is very well resourced, with access to data-logging equipment and CD-ROMs. Every pupil has his own textbook to use at home. As well as this personal copy, pupils also have access to sets of different texts in school. The department has a strong interest in the use of ICT to develop the learning processes in Biology and has its own reference library for student and staff use.

Pupils are taught in sets based on ability from the Spring Term of Year 7 onwards. There are eight sets in Years 7 to 9; in Years 10 and 11 there are six double-Science and two triple-Science sets. All subjects run two sets in Years 12 and 13.

During the Key Stage 3 years, pupils follow the Heinemann scheme. At GCSE the department offers Science taught as a suite of three GCSEs, as well as double-certificate Science (Science and Additional Science), which is taught as Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The GCSE Biology course follows the AQA specifications, with Edexcel for A level. A number of boys in Year 13 are selected to take the AQA Advanced Extension Award in Biology.

There are many valuable extra-curricular activities for our biologists. Year 12 boys visit the National Institute for Medical Research to hear lectures on recent developments in medical research, and QE has a successful record in the Human Biology essay competition run by the NIMR. Boys also apply to the NIMR for Nuffield bursary projects during their summer holidays, giving them the opportunity to do ground-breaking research with PhD scientists. Recent projects have included 'Investigating the roles of hhex gene and proxi gene in liver formation' and 'Cloning genes for inositol polyphosphate kinase using PCR'.

Year 13 boys regularly win medals in the Biology Olympiad examination organised by the Institute of Biology.

Our biennial Biology expedition offers pupils a combination of exceptional educational opportunity and some unforgettable experiences. On a recent expedition to the Cusuco National Park in Honduras, central America, QE pupils took part in the biggest rainforest structure survey in the world and then visited Utila island in the Carribean, where they achieved their PADI open-water diver certification and participated in a coral-reef ecology course.

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