Biology

Departmental Staff

T S Dare, MA, MSc (Cambridge, Sussex) Head of Biology
Dr S L Lawson, BSc, PhD (Plymouth) †
Miss C Nisbet, BSc (Canterbury)
A M Proudfoot, BSc, PhD (Durham, East Anglia)
P G Stephens, BSc (Aberystwyth) Head of Upper School
Mrs S Lockyer Senior Technician

Science at RGS

The sciences are amongst the most popular and successful subjects at Reigate Grammar School.  All students study Biology, Physics and Chemistry up to the end of the Fifth Form (Year 11) and large numbers continue at least one of these to AS and A2 level. The sciences are also well represented in the courses students choose to follow at university: last year nearly a quarter of our Upper Sixth leavers went on to study the sciences, engineering and medicine.

All pupils in the First and Second Forms (Years 7 and 8) are taught general science using ‘Thinking Science’ material with an emphasis on the acquisition of relevant skills.  In the Third Form, each of the three sciences are taught by a subject specialist. In the Upper School we follow the EdExcel International GCSE (IGCSE) course, and pupils may choose either to study all three sciences as separate subjects or to opt for the Dual Award course.  In both cases, they will be taught by specialists for each subject. All three sciences are available at A-level, either together or in combination with a wide range of other subjects.

Biology at RGS

Biology is a popular subject throughout the school, with three or four sets in each year of A-level study.  Results in recent years have been very good: at separate award IGCSE in 2011, 81% of candidates achieved A* or A grades, while at A2 in 2011 77% of candidates obtained A* or A grades. Many students go on to study related subjects at university and we have had particular success in recent years with applications to medical schools, and for Natural Sciences. We run several field trips each year, this year going to Headley Heath, the Pembrokeshire coast and Belize, often described as the trip of a lifetime. We also welcome visiting speakers and in 2011 enjoyed a visit by Professor Simon Conway-Morris, one of the most influential thinkers on Evolution over the past thirty years. 

For a summary of the course please click here.

Examination Boards

IGCSE: Edexcel
A-level: OCR

Examination Results: Biology

Examination Results: Double Award Science

Departmental Activities

Biology continues to be an exciting area of study as advances in our understanding are constantly being made, raising in their turn, more questions. To this end we were delighted to welcome Professor Simon Conway-Morris of the University of Cambridge,  who came to speak to our Sixth Form students on his own research into convergent evolution and astrobiology, using much of his material from his book ‘Life’s solution: Inevitable humans in a lonely universe’.

We have run a number of trips this year. Our annual marine ecology trip to Dale Fort in Pembrokeshire occurred twice, taking the Upper Sixth students in October and Lower Sixth in June. Half of the Third form were taken onto Headley Heath to study ecology, plant reproduction and some of the consequences of selective breeding, though unseasonable weather drove us back of the Heath. A number of our Lower Sixth students travelled to Belize with the geographers to study rainforest and coastal ecosystems, in what many have described as the trip of a lifetime. We had continued success in the Biology Olympiad, with four bronze medals and a number of highly commended pupils.

Next year we hope to continue and extend our program of bringing in external speakers and we look forward to introducing a large new crop of Lower Sixth students to the wonders of Biology as they begin to study it in greater depth.