Welcome to the Immersive Practical A-Level Physics course at BioGrad. These have been designed by working scientists and A-Level assessors with input from the A-level exam boards to provide the best possible opportunity for students wishing to obtain their practical endorsement.
The courses are held in the working research laboratories within Liverpool Science Park and offer real world laboratory experience that fulfils all requirements for the endorsed practical assessments.
BioGrad is able to partner with any registered examination centre to provide the practical endorsement, as long as the centre agrees to a working partnership with BioGrad.
Over the last 12 months BioGrad has provided training for students from the below 431 Schools, Colleges and Universities:
How long is the course?
The basic 5 day practical endorsement runs from 9.30am – 4pm each day Monday to Friday. There is also an evening social activity programme that students can opt in/out of at their own discretion.
Pre-requisites
Students must be studying A-level Biology with AQA, Edexcel or OCR by distance learning or at a further education centre.
This is an intensive practical course designed for students to ‘fast track’ the A-Level practical assessment. This basic course contains a limited number of opportunities to attempt each of the assessed practical techniques, therefore BioGrad recommend that students without any prior practical laboratory experience consider the 2 week ‘Enhanced Practical Course’ which offers a greater number of opportunities to pass the practical assessment criteria alongside the opportunity to perform in-depth studies that go far beyond the minimum practical requirements. These build a greater understanding of the syllabus and allow students to put the more complicated theory into practice instead of just reading the methods in their textbooks.
Please contact the Head of BioGrad Examination Centre (Kathryn Woods) with any enquiries on course suitability:
E-Mail: Kathryn.Woods@BioGrad.co.uk
Phone: 0151 482 9695
How to book
Places are strictly limited to a maximum of 15 students per week. We can only accept bookings from students from exam centres that have working agreement in place with BioGrad. Students can check the current list of partner exam centres below:
Click here to view BioGrad Partner Exam Centres
If your centre of choice is not currently on this list, simply ask them to complete the below form and send it to exams@biograd.co.uk or call 0151 482 9695 for further information.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
BioGrad is an Approved Activity Provide for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. This course may be used as your Duke of Edinburgh Gold Residential Award, which can be signed off by the course leader on the final day. Please provide your Duke of Edinburgh Award number on your registration form at the time of booking your course. Students using this course for their GOLD residential must stay for at least 4 nights in dormitory accommodation.
UCAS References
Students who wish to use this course as work experience to support university applications may request a reference to be sent directly to their school or college. These references are signed off by the course leader after obtaining feedback from staff teaching during the course. These references help your teachers to create your UCAS reference. Students will also receive a PDF copy of this reference which they may use to support university and job applications.
Photographs
We will happily take photographs of students working in the laboratory which often serve as excellent profile pictures for work related social networking (such as LinkedIn).
Students are asked not to take photographs of other attendees or staff without consent. Students under the age of 18 years old must provide the completed photo/video consent form on the first day of the course (sent to all students in their course registration confirmation) if they wish to have photographs taken for use on professional sites or social media.
Clothing and Equipment
Students are advised to wear comfortable clothes and shoes (ensuring legs and feet are covered when in the laboratory). We advise layered clothing as it can become warm when wearing a lab coat and gloves all day. All personal protective equipment is provided during the course including an AQA approved laboratory notebook for recording results. Students should bring their own stationary and may find a laptop/tablet useful for recording results/data analysis and personal research.
Groups
Schools, colleges, universities, distance learning providers and DofE centres can book a bespoke course for groups of 8-10 students per week. Full board options are available including evening activities. Please contact info@biograd.co.uk for availability.
International groups may take advantage of our collaboration with Liverpool School of English, booking a 2 week course with English tuition, full board home stay, transfers and insurance. Please contact exams@biograd.co.uk for availability.
Food
Students have an hour for lunch each day. There are many places to purchase food and drink within walking distance of the Science Park, including the City of Liverpool College, Subway, Tesco’s, Costa, The EveryMan theatre and many sandwich/coffee shops. Students wishing to bring their own food have access to a fridge and microwave during the course, plus a break room containing vending machines, a pool table and sky TV on-site.
Students who are attending as a residential course can make the most of their evenings by exploring the huge range of restaurants within walking distance of the Art House Hotel.
Luggage
The BioGrad facilities and The Art House Hotel both have secure facilities for storing luggage on the days of arrival and departure. During the rest of the week students will be asked to store their belongings in locked cupboards opposite BioGrad Student Services (Outside of the laboratories and clinical training rooms) during the training sessions.
Further Information
For further information please contact us using this form or email us at info@biograd.co.uk.
Course Fees
All payments are taken securely with PayPal. All major debit and credit cards are accepted so you don’t need a PayPal account.
The Basic 5 day package costs £846 per subject. You can reserve your place on this course with a 25% deposit if you are booking more than 28 days in advance. The remaining balance is due four weeks prior to the course start date.
You can also choose to pay for this course in 6 instalments if you are booking more than 26 weeks in advance, or 12 instalments if you are booking more than 54 weeks in advance.
Course Availability
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