Biology is a wonderfully diverse and exciting discipline and this is reflected in the wide range of co-curricular activities supported by the Biology department.
Much of our co-curricular programme is run under the auspices of our Biology and Medicine Society (BioMed Soc). The Society runs a weekly programme of practical activities and talks and we encourage the pupils themselves to organise and help run these events. ‘The most interesting part of the trip to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was a lecture and practical on mosquitoes and how they act as vectors of disease. I saw its relevance to big world problems and I felt it was all clearly explained so I knew what was going on.’ Sebastian, Year 13 Trips and outings with a biological theme are also a prominent feature of our provision outside the classroom. We run an annual two-day course at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where Upper School pupils are able to practise genetic technologies that we are unable to do at school.
Potential medical students also attend a one-day conference at the Royal Society of Medicine and have the option of visiting the Bodies of Knowledge exhibition at the Wellcome Collection where they learn how our knowledge of anatomy has changed over the years. All our A level biologists attend a four-day residential field course, currently at Nettlecombe Court in Somerset, where they gain hands-on experience of practical ecology. This summer, 23 Upper School pupils went on an Operation Wallacea expedition to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands where they worked alongside conservation scientists gathering data on a variety of animals which will be used to help the preservation of the country’s unique natural heritage. This follows a similar expedition to Indonesia in 2016 which included a trip to Komodo to see the ‘dragons’ in the wild.
Pupils work alongside conservation scientists to gather data in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
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