Physics and Biology A levels Clash!

(Tl;dr at the bottom)

I've just finished year 11 and am continuing on at the same school to do sixth form. I'm interested in going into a science field, I'm currently unsure which but am leaning towards either astronomy or medicine, likely medicine. I chose my A levels in January to be maths, physics, chemistry, and biology, a selection that should keep both astronomy and medicine open as options.

My school, which is supposed to be a science college, has calculated the year 12 timetable in a way such that biology and physics clash and so students can only take one of them.

I heard this a couple of weeks ago from a friend who said somebody they know had been told they couldn't do both physics and biology, however I dismissed it as it sounded ridiculous since they are two of the most common subject choices and are often chosen together.

I only had it confirmed today when I emailed my head of sixth form just to check, who said that no student has picked physics and biology in there first three options, which seems crazy considering how popular choices they are, and my school has around 80 people in year 12 alone so it's not like it's a small sixth form.

Does this seem crazy to anyone else? A science college, one that is quite academically focused, not letting people choose two of the most academic sciences together? Two of the most popular choices, that will be needed to get into a lot of degrees!

I am having a meeting with the head of sixth form tomorrow with my dad to ask if they can change their timetabling, but I'm worried they'll just say "sorry we can't change it now" or something.

I know at least one other person who was going to do maths + triple science and now cannot, and I am going to tell them that I may not go to their sixth form if I cannot do those subjects together, as it will completely cut down my options for subjects at university.

Tl;dr sixth form won't let me do physics and biology together as they have timetabled them in the same period, this massively messes up my choices, what can I do to get them to change?

That is really tricky - but surely for the sake of the school's reputation they will think about re-timetabling? I mean they're literally stopping themselves from being able to say 'we produce doctors at this sixth form' because of this clash.

Are there any other sixth forms or colleges in your area?

You could think about self-studying one of them but I think it's kind of expensive.

physics is fine to self teach

Lol never seen such a clash before

That is really tricky - but surely for the sake of the school's reputation they will think about re-timetabling? I mean they're literally stopping themselves from being able to say 'we produce doctors at this sixth form' because of this clash.Are there any other sixth forms or colleges in your area?You could think about self-studying one of them but I think it's kind of expensive.

I think that's a stupid idea..... clashing Physics and Biology?
My year has 23 people and they still opened Physics and Biology together.
If I were you I would push with the asking for re-timetabling as much as possible, but otherwise I agree that Physics would be the easier one to self teach. Or you could decide what you want to pursue, since medicine would need action pretty soon anyway, work experience, blah blah.

It is very silly, but it is down to the fact that only me and one other person chose physics and biology (not sure why it's so few people) and even then we didn't put both of them in our first three options (the school allowed us four choices plus a backup, but both of us changed our minds and wanted to do our backup more since we chose A levels like 6 months ago, and they said they'd let us do all four A levels anyway if we got decent grades).

I tried pursueding the head of sixth form as much as possible, she'll talk to the IT teacher who does the timetabling and see if it can change but says it's unlikely. Should I talk to the headmaster of the school? She's a biologist, knows me, is very nice, etc, so would probably sympathise with the issue. Not sure if she could do much more though, although it does seem like this clash is the one of the worst clashes you could have since it could actively prevent people from doing their favoured degree, whereas something like a film studies clash wouldn't prevent people from doing a degree since film studies isn't going to be required by universities.

I've been looking into doing medicine work experience anyway though I don't think that should force me to choose since it's not like if I decide to do a physics based degree they won't let me in because I've got irrelevant medical work experience.

You could definitely self teach physics/bio at least up to AS and then see which one you want to drop. You'd likely learn the content faster by working directly off the spec and not having to follow a teachers lessons which are usually quite off topic at least in my experience

I'm sure if you ask nicely, TSR will help you. Physics on the EdExcel syllabus is fantastically simple, whereas the AQA syllabus can be an absolute nightmare. I can try and help you in pm too if you like.

I have no experience of doing either physics or biology, and so can't give advice in regard to which would be easier to self teach, but I just wanted to say that this is probably the most ridiculous subject clash I've ever heard of.