Physics

In Year 9 we introduce students to the joy of Physics as a subject in its own right. Sound waves bounced off buildings, static electricity with the van der Graff generator and submarines are just some of the topics we look at.

Year 10 sees the start of the two-year GCSE course. Topics covered in Year 10 include: Radioactivity, Earth and Space, Waves, Force and Motion, Energy Resources and Transfer.

Year 11 covers the remainder of the GCSE syllabus which includes Electricity, Electromagnetism, Control and Optics.

At A-Level, we follow the Advancing Physics Course developed by the Institute of Physics. It is a new and relevant course, which brings modern technological developments into the field of study. Pixels, bits and bytes, how many digital photographs can be stored on a CD - ultrasound imaging, radio telescopes, analysing pictures from Mars - quantum mechanics, wave/particle duality, ideas on relativity - these are just some of the topics covered for AS. A2 in the Upper 6th continues with particle accelerators, analysis of decay, field theory and entropy. Both the AS and the A2 course come with a dedicated textbook and CD, a format that has proved very popular with our students. Practical work is also a large feature of the A level with three pieces of coursework in Lower 6th and another two in Upper 6th.