Vision

Deliver a curriculum that empowers students to be knowledgeable, skilled and curious Physicists.  
By nurturing their problem-solving skills, we aim to prepare the students for whatever their next steps may be.  

Curriculum Overview

• The department's vision is to produce knowledgeable, skilled and curious Physicists. Our vision involves students developing strong knowledge of key physics principles, developing practical skills, encouraging curiosity of the subject and evolving problem-solving skills.  

• Our curriculum is sequenced so that key principles  introduced in year 1 are applied to more abstract concepts in year 2. This enables the embedding of retrieval practice into the scheme of work. The scheme of work is also knowledge-rich and explicit, with time for deliberate practice. Skills are explicitly taught alongside examples of application. Exam materials are used to help students prepare for their exams, while real life examples enrich their everyday interaction with physics. Exposure to modern applications, research and careers helps them to consider how physics fits into their next steps.   

• Our curriculum is ambitious and challenges students to apply their learning to new contexts, tying into our ALIVE value we can research. 

 

Sequencing, Setting and Support

The OCR A-level Physics specification builds upon GCSE knowledge. In year 12 students learn mechanics, building on their knowledge of Energy and Forces from GCSE to explain more complicated mechanics processes. In parallel, students build on their GCSE electricity knowledge to study electricity and electrical circuits in more detail, as well as wave and wave phenomena. At the end of year 12, students learn about quantum physics. 

Year 13 then builds upon year 12 knowledge by taking the principles from the previous year but applying an understanding of fields. They will also apply their knowledge to stars, astrophysics and medical physics.  

A-level Physics is taught in mixed ability groups and all students are given the support to succeed and the opportunity to stretch and challenge themselves.  

Students will receive a chapter booklet at the beginning of each chapter which outlines the lessons for the chapter. This is to support students with their pre-reading, hour for an hour work, homework tasks and catch up on any missed work. We also provide revision materials.  

Support in class comes from our specialist Physics teachers who will use scaffolding to support all students to succeed. This could be in the form of additional structures to answer questions, examples, side by side examples or practical support.  

At the beginning of the year, we offer a “Maths for Physicists” intervention for those who need to work on their maths skills before we progress too far into the course. Intervention is then used for those students who require extra support with small groups, targeted sessions run weekly after-school. 

Alive Themes in Physics

Assessment in Physics

Homework and how Parents/Carers Support Learning

All homework is set on Bromcom which is an app and website available to students and parents/carers. Further information is available on our Bromcom parents and carers support page.

These are the principles which underpin our homework.

Homework is set via Bromcom and most of our homework tasks are printed in the chapter booklets. These will be set regularly by class teachers and contain a variety of tasks which are designed to allow students to practice several key skills across each chapter. Sometimes the learning platform Isaac Physics is used, which is an online, self-marking question bank which also provides support and explanations. 

To support the completion of homework tasks, we would ask you to check in regularly with the student to check their progress and deadlines. You can also find a teacher evaluation on the back of their chapter booklets which will be completed by teachers after a chapter has been finished.  

Revision can be supported at home by creating a revision timetable and displaying it somewhere prominent in the house, like the kitchen fridge! It gives accountability to students and enables you to remind and support as necessary. Asking the students questions about their learning is an excellent way to engage them – even if you are unconfident with physics! Teaching others is a great way to imbed learning.   

Useful Physics Resources

www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-and-a-level/physics-a-h156-h556-from-2015/ - exam specification 

www.Kerboodle.com - the online version of our textbook 

www.Alevelphysicsonline.com - online videos and resources 

www.Physicsandmathstutor.com - exam questions sorted by topic and past papers, resources, keywords, mind maps etc.  

www.Isaacphysics.org - huge resource of problems all building in difficulty up to pre-university level 

www.Phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations - simulations of physics principles 

www.Alevelphysics.co.uk - short explanations of principles