Clifton College Website

Biology

Recent news

BBC Autumnwatch Unsprung

BBC Autumnwatch Unsprung producer, Gavin Boyland contact Clifton last week following a huge number of ladybird queries they had received from the general public. Dr Remy Poland, who is a leading ladybird expert and also a Biology teacher at Clifton, was happy to answer questions and also talk about the harlequin ladybird, which is a recent invading species to our shores.

You can watch the short newsclip by visiting the BBC Nature website.

You may also be interested to check out Ladybirds of Britain and Ireland, the first atlas of Britain and Ireland’s ladybirds written by Dr Peter Brown from Anglia Ruskin University, Dr Helen Roy from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Dr Remy Poland from Clifton College and wildlife enthusiast and ladybird recorder Robert Frost. The publication is the result of a six-year project by the UK Ladybird Survey and maps all of our 46 native species.

Biology is a popular subject at Clifton. All students study the subject up to GCSE: most as a separate GCSE subject alongside Chemistry and Physics. Some students study Biology as part of "Dual Award Science".

Head of Biology
Mr David Barrett BSc CBiol
Teachers
Dr Malcolm Grohmann BSc PhD Miss Jennifer Tabor BSc Dr Remy Poland PhD Miss Ariane Whitehead BSc
Chief Biology Technician
Mr Andrew Thomas MIBiol
Technician
Mr Ian Jefferson

We follow the popular new AQA Biology course at GCSE, which is not only exciting and innovative in its approach, but also provides our candidates with a thorough grounding in biological principles, which will stand them in good stead should they wish to take the subject further. The department is very successful at providing a relevant, contemporary, biological education for all of its pupils. Recent university successes include Sarah Spencer, who achieved the highest mark in SNAB in the country, achieving 99% in the whole A-level examination. She recently received a certificate and a cheque from the Salter’s Company in a national ceremony. She is now studying Veterinary Science at Bristol University.

Other Biologists from that year group include Sarah Wynbourne who is studying Physiological Sciences at Oxford University, and Kate West who has been offered a place (as a post A-level applicant) at Oxford University to study Biological Sciences. Her letter from the Oxbridge College (Christchurch) said:

Resources

There are five, recently refurbished, fully equipped modern teaching laboratories and a computer room in the Biology Department. Senior classes also make use of the Kendrew room.

The Salter’s Nuffield Advanced Biology (SNAB) course is accompanied by excellent online tutorials, quizzes and other specific resources. Sixth Form students may access these, and other biology resources on the school’s intranet as they need. This year students will be able to access the excellent SNAB resources from home as well as at school.

Fieldwork

We aim to give our pupils plenty of opportunity to study biology outside the classroom. There are frequent visits across the road to Bristol Zoo, which is one of the county’s leading centres for wildlife conservation. There are also trips further afield, such as the Upper Sixth fieldwork day at Kenfig National Nature Reserve.

In June 2008, we took 16 of our Lower Sixth pupils on an extremely memorable expedition to Tanzania to look at the ecology of the local flora and fauna. Just few of the highlights were the Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was a huge success and we hope to be able to offer similar trips in the future, perhaps on an annual basis. Please take a moment to view the photo gallery.

Science Library

Biology clinics take place one evening a week in the Stone Library, where a teacher is on hand to help students with their Biology.

Teaching

We aim to make Biology an exciting and involving subject. Practical work plays an extremely important part of all our Biology courses, from Third Form to Upper Sixth.

We occasionally have guest speakers perform lectures for our pupils. One of which includes 'From Egg to Embryo', by Dr Baker from Cambridge University in March 2011.

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