News Students React Well To Biology Competitions 28.03.2026

The Biology department at Collyer’s are extremely proud of the recent successes of A level Biology students, who have been participating in two national competitions.

Caroline Birch, Joint-Head of Biology said: “The annual Biology Olympiad sees the students tackle a series of challenging questions, applying their wider biological knowledge and problem solving skills. Niamh Stanley achieved Commended, Robin Read a Bronze award, while Taras Svynarchuk and Daniel Boon won Silver awards.”

Several keen students have also been taking part in the Cambridge Biology Challenge.

Claire  Pickens, Joint-Head of Biology explained: “The Cambridge Biology Challenge invites students to work in teams to prepare an answer to an intriguing Biological question, similar to those posed during a Cambridge University interview.

“Round one saw participants tackle the weighty question ‘Can new life be created?’ which elicited a fascinating range of approaches and answers.”

Evelyn Kennedy, Niamh Stanley, Harini Swaminathan and Imogen Woodward achieved Commended. Grace Killian and Isla Doyle achieved Highly Commended, with Imogen Woodward was awarded a ‘Badge of Merit’. Very impressively, Daniel Boon achieved a Distinction and was also overall Category Winner for ‘clearest explanation’ for his response.

Collyer’s Vice Principal (Curriculum) Rob Hussey said: “Massive congratulations to these talented and hard working Biology students, who reacted so well to these challenging competitions.

“And huge thanks to Caroline and Claire for enabling our talented group to compete on the national stage – I know they were really pleased to see the students’ fantastic engagement and participation rewarded.”