Joining BioGrad Education back in February 2023 was a very exciting time for me. I remember my first day spent at our Liverpool Science Park site, introducing myself to many welcoming new faces, knowing instantly that I was going to love my job increasingly every day going forward. I wasn’t a stranger to all my colleagues that day; I’d carried out quality assurance monitoring work on their teacher assessment judgements of the Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC) back in 2017. CPAC and the use of specific apparatus and techniques are central to the assessment of the A-level Science Practical Endorsement, which runs in parallel to the teaching and assessment of the more theoretical elements of the A-level specification for Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Geology.
Back in 2017, BioGrad Education introduced their courses to support Private Candidates who were entering and sitting their written examination papers through a Tuition Centre that didn’t have a laboratory; with an understanding that both the written and practical assessment elements are a requirement of qualification entry this caught the imagination of our inspirational CEO, Dr Natalie Kenny. As a multiple Award-winning Scientist, Business Woman and Entrepreneur, who is passionate about all things STEM and boosting access to STEM careers particularly through practical work, Natalie had reached out to the Joint Council of Qualifications (JCQ) to see what was possible. Since then, BioGrad Education has worked in a consortium arrangement with a very high number of Tuition Centres, Schools and Colleges with much success. So it was special for me to have the opportunity to secure employment six years on and having worked for the Assessment and Qualification Alliance (AQA), one of the main examination boards in England and currently responsible for more than half of the GCSE and A-level qualifications taken and marked in the UK each year, in my role of Senior Advice Manager for Practical Sciences, the move to the Curriculum and Assessment Education Lead seemed a natural one.
Within in a few weeks of my arrival, I was tasked with leading an expansion of the A-level Science Practical Endorsement Course offer and this was a very exciting challenge – and why not? Our course resources were already of high quality and we were thought of highly both in the Liverpool City Region and in fact by many of our students who had travelled from far afield (including internationally) to access our courses to support their qualification entry. It made total business sense to take our courses to them, particularly during the still-existing cost of living crisis that unfortunately we can all identify with today. The more I thought about it however my written worry list was lengthening and unlike me, a few nerves were kicking in and a little voice in my head asked me (on several occasions) if I could do it. Where in the country would we teach and will businesses, schools or colleges allow us to use their laboratories? Where are we going to find the teaching and technician staff to deliver our courses nationally and how on earth are we going to scale up our equipment and chemicals quickly enough to start to deliver the course calendar, which I had pulled together starting in December 2023? I knew, from my time leading Science in schools early in my career that suppliers don’t always have the equipment and resources sitting on their shelves ready to go! Plus, how are we going to be able to move it all to the right place at the right time safely and is there some additional reading that I would need to do around this? Oh, I would also have to learn how to drive the company van – eek! The laboratory hire process would take some thought too with risk assessment writing, and Public Liability Insurance documentation to think about….. the list went on in those early days for me, explaining why there were a few nerves I guess!
So, the detail. During the academic year 2023-24 we opened new teaching laboratories and delivered our courses in Oxford, London and Birmingham, in addition to the continuation of our work with students in Liverpool from our laboratory premises. It has been a real privilege to work with colleagues at Dulwich College and Oxford International College; inspirational places to learn and to also appreciate the other activities open to students when they are not doing their practical work during the teaching day. I can’t speak more highly of everyone who supported our laboratory hire journey, fully supportive of us relocating to enable students to learn with us closer to home. It has also been a pleasure to work with arc exams this year in particular, a partnership that we intend to continue given the success of our courses in Birmingham. Having full and solo access to the laboratory at the Muath Centre has limited the need for the movement of equipment at the end of each course, which you can imagine is probably the most demanding and time-consuming part!
I mentioned our equipment and chemical suppliers earlier and we can’t sing the praises of some highly enough as a phone call late afternoon when we realised that we were about to run out of a particular chemical which we needed for next week(!), was often all it took to see everything on an even keel again. Our staff too have excelled and, in the first year of our expansion, have been willing to travel and often stay in hotel accommodation for a few nights to be part of the BioGrad Education course delivery team. It has been a real pleasure to be able to work with high numbers of cutting-edge scientists and educational professionals who work hard day in, day-out, out to inspire young people into STEM and support them on their qualification journey to the exciting next stage.
I can’t move on without also mentioning our internal team at BioGrad Education of whom there are too many to write about in person, but they are all aware of how much their support has been valued this year. We will miss Zuzanna Nawrocka, our dedicated Science Technician, who has been pivotal to the success of our course delivery this year; we wish you well as you leave us next month to embark on your journey into post-graduate study at the University of Liverpool. It is also very important to recognise the work of colleagues including Gianni Equizi, who works tirelessly to secure a smooth onboarding process for students and Lauren Kenny, who in the first year of her Level 3 Apprentice Laboratory Technician course is deservedly feeling very well-travelled and proud of her ability to recognise and name almost all of the kit needed to deliver our courses (no mean feat)! Then there is a Marketing Team working wonders daily.
The importance of teamwork can’t be underestimated.
In summary, during the five months of course delivery nationally there have been challenges and successes in pretty much equal measure, but the journey has been a brilliant one, all of our students achieved a successful outcome, and we are already now planning for next year! There is much potential to open additional laboratories, we have already started to recruit more colleagues to secure the delivery of our additional courses and of course, we are looking closely at ways in which we can work smarter and not harder. If you are an A-level Science student or a parent who needs to access a high-quality practical assessment course have a look at our website; we would love to hear from you and discuss the options available to you during our next tranche of courses starting in November 2024. In advance of that though, you may also want to enrol on one of our other courses as we have so many that may tempt you that will boost your application to university going forward. Likewise, if you are a Tuition Centre or Distance Learning Provider, who has not had the opportunity to work with BioGrad Education to date, I would love to have a conversation with you in the hope that you will also join us on our journey to making a real difference to young people’s lives.
