GCSE Biology

Course Content

The aim of the Biology course is to enable you to learn about the unifying themes in Biology and acquire the understanding of Biological facts, principles and concepts. In addition the course enables you to appreciate the practical nature of the subject, developing your experimental and investigative skills.

Content Structure

You will follow the Edexcel International GCSE Biology or Double Award Science specification. The GCSE course begins for everyone in Year 9, at the end of which students choose to pursue Biology through Double Award or Single Sciences. In Years 10 and 11 you complete your GCSE courses and take exams at the end of Year 11. You are awarded grades 9-1 at the end of the course.

Reading and Resources

All students receive a copy of the text book that is specifically written for their course. They can keep this for use at home until they have taken their exams. Additional copies are provided for use during lessons. Effective reading skills are crucial and pupils are helped to develop these via Reading Assessments on each topic. Pupils are encouraged to make independent use of the text book when completing class and homework. We are also able to offer the CGP Revision Guide for purchase; many pupils find this a very useful resource. In addition, the CHS Biology department has created bespoke resources and assessments for each topic, which are available to pupils via lessons and their Google Classrooms. We are encourage use of Twig World and Seneca Learning, which are both fantastic online learning platforms. Finally, we encourage pupils to learn about the subject outside of the classroom and to that end, exploration of recent developments in Biology form an important part of class discussions.