Liverpool's own 2024/25 A-level Biology entries, institution by institution, and how the city's results compare with England's.
Book a Free ConsultationIn 2024/25, 450 students at Liverpool's state-funded schools and colleges completed A-level Biology, entries concentrated at just 26 of the city's post-16 institutions. Results ranged from The Blue Coat School's 77 entries and A- average down to a single entry at Notre Dame Catholic Academy, and citywide, 42.4% of results graded A* to B against England's state-funded 49.35%.
Our expert A-level Biology tutors help students across Liverpool with the full course — core content, the practical endorsement, and exam technique — whichever board their sixth form enters. Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppDfE's 2024/25 16-18 performance data lists 31 Liverpool institutions with an A-level cohort. Two of those — ES Independent School and LIPA Sixth Form College, the city's specialist performing-arts sixth-form college — carry a suppressed average result, leaving 29 with a published one. Of the full 31, exactly 26 reported any A-level Biology entries at all. The other five, including the University of Liverpool Mathematics School, which enters 48 A-level Mathematics students, do not enter students for Biology at all. The table below covers all 26.
| Institution | A-level Biology entries, 2024/25 | Average result 2024/25, all subjects | A-level progress score | Students completing their course |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Blue Coat School | 77 | A- (47.26 points) | +0.18, above average | 100.0% |
| Calderstones School | 36 | C+ (32.37 points) | +0.05, average | 86.2% |
| Liverpool College | 32 | B- (38.30 points) | -0.02, average | 95.7% |
| King David High School | 29 | B- (36.97 points) | +0.24, above average | 98.6% |
| The Belvedere Academy | 28 | B- (37.82 points) | +0.13, above average | 92.9% |
| St Edward's College | 25 | C+ (33.24 points) | -0.04, average | 96.6% |
| St Hilda's Church of England High School | 20 | C+ (32.54 points) | +0.03, average | 97.1% |
| Liverpool Life Sciences UTC | 20 | C (28.99 points) | -0.29, below average | 91.3% |
| St Julie's Catholic High School | 19 | C- (27.29 points) | -0.14, average | 93.4% |
| Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School | 19 | C- (28.22 points) | -0.36, below average | 98.3% |
| Archbishop Blanch CofE High School | 18 | B- (37.99 points) | -0.17, average | 95.8% |
| St Margaret's Church of England Academy | 15 | C (31.30 points) | -0.17, average | 91.5% |
| The City of Liverpool College | 14 | D+ (23.55 points) | -0.47, below average | 83.3% |
| North Liverpool Academy | 14 | B- (36.97 points) | +0.45, well above average | 94.7% |
| Bellerive FCJ Catholic College | 13 | C- (27.33 points) | -0.28, below average | 100.0% |
| The Academy of St Nicholas | 11 | D (19.28 points) | -0.53, below average | 90.0% |
| Holly Lodge Girls' College | 10 | C (28.73 points) | -0.61, well below average | 94.4% |
| St John Bosco Arts College | 10 | D+ (23.76 points) | -0.60, below average | 87.5% |
| Dixons Broadgreen Academy | 10 | D+ (24.73 points) | -0.29, below average | 95.5% |
| Broughton Hall Catholic High School | 9 | C (31.46 points) | -0.18, below average | 95.5% |
| West Derby School | 7 | C+ (33.33 points) | +0.08, average | 100.0% |
| Archbishop Beck Catholic College | 6 | C+ (33.91 points) | -0.07, average | 94.7% |
| Alsop High School | 6 | D+ (22.62 points) | -0.45, below average | 92.0% |
| The Studio School Liverpool | 2 | B- (37.28 points) | +0.47, well above average | 88.6% |
| St Francis Xavier's Catholic Academy | 2 | C+ (32.80 points) | +0.34, above average | 100.0% |
| Notre Dame Catholic Academy | 1 | C- (27.02 points) | +0.05, average | 100.0% |
Source: DfE Compare School and College Performance, 16 to 18 subjects entered tables (Biology entries, GCE A level, read 2 September 2026) joined to DfE's Schools and colleges - performance data (average result, progress and retention, 2024/25, read 2 September 2026), both via the Explore Education Statistics API. All 26 Liverpool institutions that reported an A-level Biology entry that year. Average result and progress are all-subject A-level measures — DfE publishes no per-subject grade for an individual school. Ranked by Biology entries.
The Blue Coat School dominates the subject numerically as well as by result: its 77 Biology entries in 2024/25 were more than double Calderstones School's 36, the next largest, and its A- average (47.26 points) with 100.0% course completion is also the city's best all-round result among Biology-teaching institutions. At the other end, The Academy of St Nicholas averaged D (19.28 points) from 11 Biology entries. Two smaller institutions post an unusual combination worth flagging: North Liverpool Academy and The Studio School Liverpool both carry a "well above average" progress banding despite modest all-subject averages (both B-, 36.97 and 37.28 points), meaning their students outperformed what their GCSE results predicted, even though the headline grade sits mid-table. Liverpool Life Sciences UTC, a science-specialist college by name, in fact posts a "below average" progress banding (-0.29) alongside a C average — a reminder that a subject-specialist label is not itself a performance figure.
The distance between a Liverpool sixth form averaging A- and one averaging D is the distance our expert A-level Biology tutors are brought in to close. Teaching is one to one and built around the student's own school, exam board and target grade rather than a class average.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppComparing like with like matters here, because DfE publishes more than one "England" figure and they are not interchangeable. On the state-funded basis below — the same population as the Liverpool figures, not the broader all-institution headline — Liverpool has trailed England in A*-B share in each of the last three years, and the gap widened in the most recent one.
| A-level Biology, state-funded schools and colleges | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool students | 461 | 498 | 450 |
| Liverpool A*-B | 41.2% | 38.6% | 42.4% |
| England students | 57,048 | 56,613 | 53,815 |
| England A*-B | 45.8% | 46.9% | 49.3% |
Source: DfE Explore Education Statistics, 'Student counts and Results – A level by region and subject (end of 16-18 study)', Liverpool local authority (permalink, read 2 September 2026), and the equivalent 'A level by subject and student characteristics' dataset filtered to the 'All state-funded students' characteristic for England (read 2 September 2026). Both datasets share the same population — state-funded schools and colleges — and the same definition of a completing student. A*-B figures are derived from the published A*, A and B student counts over the published total, not read directly off a rounded percentage.
The same population-matching point applies to the all-subject figures often quoted for a city. Liverpool's state-funded providers averaged C+, or 34.05 points, across all A-level subjects in 2024/25; England's state-funded providers averaged C+ as well, at 34.99 points — the same letter band, a fraction under a point apart. The commonly quoted national headline for 2024/25, B- or 36.09 points, is a different figure again: it covers all institution types, independent schools included, not the state-funded comparison above. Both are genuine DfE figures; they simply answer different questions, and a comparison that mixes them understates how close Liverpool's state-funded result actually sits to England's state-funded one.
Four boards currently offer A-level Biology in England, each confirmed directly from that board's own live specification rather than assumed from memory. AQA's specification is Biology 7402, first teaching 2015. OCR offers two: Biology A (H420) and Biology B, "Advancing Biology" (H422). Pearson Edexcel also runs two specifications under the Biology name: Biology A, delivered as the Salters-Nuffield context-led course (9BN0), and the more conventional Biology B (9BI0). WJEC's Eduqas offers A-level Biology as A400QS, which carries Ofqual qualification number 601/5705/7. Five of the six specifications were introduced for first teaching in September 2015 and remain live with no withdrawal notice. The sixth, OCR's Biology B, is being retired: OCR's own specification page confirms September 2026 as its final first-teaching date, June 2027 as the final AS-level assessment and June 2028 as the final A-level assessment, so a Liverpool student starting that specific course in the 2026/27 academic year would be in its last-ever cohort. OCR's Biology A carries no such notice. A Liverpool sixth form's own subjects list or specification letter to parents is the only reliable way to confirm which specification a particular student is sitting.
Every one of those specifications carries a practical element assessed the same way. A-level Biology, Chemistry and Physics all report a separate practical endorsement, graded Pass or Not Classified against jointly issued Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC), based on a minimum of 12 hands-on practical activities that a student's own teacher observes and assesses across the two-year course. Ofqual's own evaluation of the reform is explicit about what this does and does not affect: the direct assessment of practical skills does not contribute to the primary A-level grade but forms a separate endorsement, reported alongside it. A Liverpool student's A*-E grade in Biology is set entirely by the written papers; the practical endorsement is a second, separate result on the same certificate.
Entry criteria are set by each sixth form, not by DfE or the exam boards, and the city's two largest Biology providers illustrate how far they can differ. The Blue Coat School's published Sixth Form Information Booklet for 2024 admission sets a Grade 7 in GCSE Biology, or Grades 8-7 or 7-7-7 across Combined, Additional or Further Science, to guarantee a place on the course. Calderstones School's own current sixth form subject page sets a lower bar: a Grade 6 in GCSE Biology, or 6/6 in GCSE Trilogy or Synergy Science. Neither published requirement mentions a separate GCSE maths grade for Biology specifically. The gap between the two — a full grade at the two schools that between them account for almost a quarter of Liverpool's A-level Biology entries — tracks the gap in their published results: The Blue Coat School averages A- across all subjects against Calderstones School's C+. For a family aiming at Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary Medicine, where the offer itself typically demands the very top A-level grades, our medicine prep hub covers the admissions tests and interview preparation that sit alongside A-level Biology on that route. Requirements are reviewed and can change each admissions cycle, so the current criteria are worth checking directly with any sixth form before applying.
A Grade 6 gets a place at one Liverpool sixth form and falls short of another's bar entirely. Our expert A-level Biology tutors work with students preparing for that GCSE step up, and with students already on the course who need the foundations it assumes rebuilt.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppBiology's share of the A-level cohort is a figure DfE publishes directly, not one this page has derived, and it tells a different story from the grades above. Liverpool's share has held close to flat across the three years to 2024/25; England's state-funded share has fallen in each of those years.
| Biology's share of all state-funded A-level students | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 23.7% | 24.0% | 23.4% |
| England | 22.4% | 22.0% | 20.9% |
| Liverpool's lead over England | 1.3 points | 2.0 points | 2.5 points |
Source: as the Liverpool/England trend table above; both figures are DfE's own published 'percent of students' measure for the 'Total students' category, not a calculation from raw headcounts. The final row is the difference between the two published percentages in each column.
Liverpool was already sending a slightly larger proportion of its A-level students into Biology than England as a whole back in 2022/23. Because the England figure has since declined while Liverpool's has not, that lead has grown rather than closed. None of this speaks to teaching quality — it is a statement about which subject Liverpool students choose, not about how well they do once they have chosen it, and the grade gap set out earlier on this page runs the other way.
More Liverpool students are choosing Biology than the national average, on results that trail the national average. Our expert A-level Biology tutors are built for exactly that gap — one to one, matched to the specification a student's own sixth form actually enters.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppMy son was low in confidence after COVID and the gaps in learning were building up. Using this service helped plug those gaps, rebuild confidence, and improve his ability to learn properly again.
We arranged maths and English tuition ahead of GCSEs and both tutors were brilliant. My daughter's grades improved, and by results day she achieved two grades higher than in her mock exams.
I attended an English bootcamp with Leading Tuition and the experience was excellent. The teacher gave focused attention to the small group while keeping the lessons interactive and engaging.
Our expert A-level Biology tutors help students across Liverpool with the full two-year course — cell biology and biochemistry through to ecology, genetics and the practical endorsement — whichever of the six specifications above their sixth form enters. Teaching is one to one, so the starting point is the student's own position rather than a class average.
In practice, the first session is diagnostic. A student at a sixth form with a strong record in the subject, like The Blue Coat School's A- average, usually needs depth and exam technique — unfamiliar data-response questions, the extended-writing questions that separate an A from an A*. A student whose college has a weaker published record, or who is carrying gaps from GCSE, usually needs the foundations rebuilt before the harder content will hold. Both are common in Liverpool, and the data above is a large part of why: the same city contains providers averaging A- and providers averaging D.
Our wider A-level Biology tuition page sets out the subject in more detail, and the A-level tuition hub covers the other subjects a Liverpool Biology student is likely to be taking alongside it, including Chemistry and our Liverpool A-level maths page's own results. Families who worked with us at GCSE Biology in Liverpool often return at exactly the point covered here. You can also see everything we run across Liverpool.
Published figures for individual schools and colleges can be checked directly on the DfE's Compare School and College Performance service, which is the source for every institutional figure on this page.
Reading a school's published record tells you what its cohort did, not what one student will do. Our expert A-level Biology tutors work from the student's own papers and marks, one to one, and build the plan around the specification their sixth form actually enters.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppIn 2024/25, 450 students at Liverpool's state-funded schools and colleges completed A-level Biology, and 42.4% were graded A* to B. On the same state-funded basis, England's students recorded 49.35% A* to B that year, so Liverpool trails by just under seven percentage points. The gap has been present in each of the three years to 2024/25: Liverpool ran 41.2% then 38.6% then 42.4% against England's state-funded 45.8%, 46.9% and 49.3% across the same three years.
The Blue Coat School, by a wide margin. Its 77 A-level Biology entries in 2024/25 were more than double the next-largest, Calderstones School's 36. The Blue Coat School also carries the city's highest all-subject average result, A- (47.26 points), with 100.0% of its students retained to the end of the course. Across all 26 Liverpool institutions with a Biology entry that year, entries ranged from The Blue Coat School's 77 down to a single entry at Notre Dame Catholic Academy.
No. Ofqual's own research describes it precisely: the direct assessment of practical skills does not contribute to the primary A-level grade but forms a separate 'endorsement', reported alongside it as a Pass or Not Classified. Every board assesses it the same way, under a jointly-issued set of Common Practical Assessment Criteria (CPAC), against a minimum of 12 hands-on practical activities carried out and judged by the student's own teacher over the two-year course. A Liverpool student's A*-E grade in Biology is unaffected by their practical endorsement result.
Four boards currently offer it, each confirmed from that board's own live specification. AQA's A-level Biology is 7402. OCR offers two specifications: Biology A (H420) and Biology B, Advancing Biology (H422). Pearson Edexcel also offers two: Biology A, delivered as the Salters-Nuffield course (9BN0), and Biology B (9BI0). WJEC's Eduqas offers A-level Biology as A400QS, carrying Ofqual qualification number 601/5705/7. Five of the six date from the 2015 reform and remain live with no withdrawal notice. The sixth, OCR's Biology B, is being retired: OCR's own specification page gives September 2026 as its final first-teaching date, June 2027 as the final AS-level assessment and June 2028 as the final A-level assessment. OCR's Biology A carries no such notice.
It depends on the sixth form, and the two largest Liverpool providers by Biology entries set different bars. The Blue Coat School's published 2024 entry criteria ask for a Grade 7 in GCSE Biology, or Grades 8-7 or 7-7-7 across Combined, Additional or Further Science. Calderstones School's published requirement is a Grade 6 in GCSE Biology, or 6/6 in GCSE Trilogy or Synergy Science, a full grade lower. Neither published requirement mentions a separate GCSE maths grade. Check the current cycle's criteria directly with any sixth form before applying, since these are set and revised by each institution.
Holding roughly steady locally while shrinking as a share of the national cohort. Biology accounted for 23.7% of Liverpool's state-funded A-level students in 2022/23, 24.0% in 2023/24 and 23.4% in 2024/25. England's state-funded share fell over the same three years, from 22.4% to 22.0% to 20.9%. Liverpool's share was already above England's in 2022/23, by 1.3 percentage points; by 2024/25 that gap had widened to 2.5 points, entirely because the England figure declined while Liverpool's held close to flat.
Not quite, and the half-percent gap shows why entries and students are different measures. Liverpool's 26 Biology-teaching institutions returned 453 exam entries between them in 2024/25, three more than the local-authority total of 450 students completing the subject. The 453 comes from DfE's Compare School and College Performance subjects-entered tables, which count exam entries by institution; the 450 comes from DfE's Explore Education Statistics dataset, which counts students reaching the end of 16-18 study with a result. A handful of entries most likely reflect early or repeated attempts, which add an entry without adding a student to the second count.
Liverpool contains Biology providers averaging A- and providers averaging D, and a tutor who has read the published record for a student's own sixth form starts from a better position than one working from the city average. 91% of Leading Tuition's students achieve their desired grades, and we are rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot. Explore tutoring across Liverpool or our wider A-level Biology service.
Book a Free Consultation