Physics

We aspire to be one of the best physics departments in the country by giving our pupils a first class education throughout their time at Wilson’s School. Physics is a vast and exciting subject, which can broadly be summed up as the science of how stuff works.

One of our primary aims as a Department is to instil a sense of wonder and curiosity within our students about the universe — and its contents! Studying Physics allows us to pose and answer the questions that this sense of curiosity provokes.

Our Staff

Mr Carew-Robinson (Head of Department)
Mr Benn
Mr Redmond
Miss Jones
Dr Karamath

In Years 7 and 8 Physics is taught as part of combined Key Stage 3 Science. We recognise that these formative years lay the foundation for the scientific accomplishments of our students throughout the rest of their academic career. We therefore ensure that the Physics department provides significant input into scientific thinking at a junior level.

Key Stage 4

Physics is taught as a separate Key Stage 4 subject in Years 9, 10 and 11. This 3 year model permits a passion for scientific enquiry to develop and an opportunity to explore the content in more depth. It also gives our students the opportunity to appreciate how experimental evidence underpins physical theories. Our key stage 4 students study for Edexcel GCSE Physics (1PH0).

Year 9 topics

Key skills
Motion
Forces
Energy
Waves and rays

Year 10 topics

Momentum
Moments, gears and springs
Particle physics
Radioactivity
Astrophysics

Year 11 topics

State electricity
Electric circuits
Magnets and electromagnetism
Upthrust and Archimedes' principle

Practical Skills
Physics is ultimately an experimental subject, and so a large emphasis on practical skills (such as data collection and manipulation, graphs and data presentation, recording of observations, analysing data and reaching conclusions) is fully embedded into our curriculum. Where possible, students learn about new topics through experimentation, and scientific inquiry is given a strong emphasis. Students have to complete “core practicals” as advised by the exam boards, which form part of the specification. These are in addition to many other practicals that are designed to enrich Physics learning, in order to teach valuable transferrable skills to the students and prepare them for further science study.

It is expected that the majority of students will follow the separate science route, receiving a separate 9-1 grade for each of the subjects Biology, Chemistry and Physics. However, in circumstances where a student may benefit from studying a narrower specification, they will be entered for the Combined Science qualification, receiving two 9-1 GCSE grades.

Key Stage 5

Physics is an extremely popular Key Stage 5 subject with high numbers opting for the subject at AS and A Level. We train our sixth form students for entry to the most well respected universities, and many go on to study technical courses at degree level.

At A Level we follow the OCR Physics A specification. This course builds on the physical principles and processes studied at GCSE, deepening students understanding of different subject areas and how they relate to each other. Students will develop a greater appreciation of the skills, knowledge and understanding of scientific methods and the investigative approach. Additionally, the course aims to achieve competence and confidence in a variety of practical, mathematical and problem solving skills.

The content is split into six teaching modules: Modules 1 to 4 constitute the stand-alone AS Level Qualification (H156); Modules 1 to 6, combined with the Practical Endorsement, constitute the A Level (H556). All components include a synoptic assessment. Practical skills are developed throughout the course. Students will be given the opportunity to use relevant apparatus and techniques to develop and demonstrate these specific practical skills, by completing the 12 core practicals prescribed as a minimum. Practical skills are assessed indirectly via the exams and directly by teacher assessment of students’ competency.

Students will be examined on the content of the first four modules at the end of the Lower Sixth. This is the basis of the Advanced Subsidiary (AS) qualification.

Module 1 – Development of practical skills in physics
1.1 Practical skills assessed in a written examination

Module 2 – Foundations of physics
2.1 Physical quantities and units
2.2 Making measurements and analysing data
2.3 Nature of quantities

Module 3 – Forces and motion
3.1 Motion
3.2 Forces in action
3.3 Work, energy and power
3.4 Materials
3.5 Newton’s laws of motion and momentum

Module 4 – Electrons, waves and photons
4.1 Charge and current
4.2 Energy, power and resistance
4.3 Electrical circuits
4.4 Waves
4.5 Quantum physics

All learners must complete the AS before proceeding to the remaining two modules that complete the full Advanced Level qualification in the Upper Sixth.

Module 5 – Newtonian world and astrophysics
5.1 Thermal physics
5.2 Circular motion
5.3 Oscillations
5.4 Gravitational fields
5.5 Astrophysics and cosmology

Module 6 – Particles and medical physics
6.1 Capacitors
6.2 Electric fields
6.3 Electromagnetism
6.4 Nuclear and particle physics
6.5 Medical imaging

Examinations

AS-Level exams at the end of Year 12 will be based upon the content covered during the year and comprise the following:

Breadth in Physics (01): 1 hour 30 minutes written paper; 50% of AS-level only
Depth in Physics (02): 1 hour 30 minutes written paper; 50% of AS-level only

A-Level exams at the end of Year 13 are based upon the content covered during both the Lower and Upper Sixth and comprise the following:

Modelling Physics (01): 2 hours 15 minutes written paper 37% of A-level
Exploring Physics (02): 2 hours 15 minutes written paper 37% of A-level
Unified Physics (03): 1 hour 30 minutes written paper 26% of A-level

Practical endorsement in Physics (04)* Non-exam assessment, reported separately.

Enrichment

There is much more that goes on in the Physics department than just classroom learning! We regularly enter students for the British Physics Olympiad; we invite students across Years 11, 12 and 13 to enter the written challenges. We work alongside Mott MacDonald, a global engineering consultancy company, to provide aspiring engineers in Year 12 the opportunity to work on a hypothetical engineering scenario. The department also has two muon detectors that allow students to conduct university style research that they can present at a conference. In addition to this, students can take part in the increasingly popular CanSat competition, an initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) that challenges students from all over Europe to build and launch a mini satellite the size of a soda can to an altitude of around 150m where it then collects atmospheric data before landing safely back to Earth.

Students are encouraged to pursue their interests and as such, will often set up their own clubs and societies with our support, organising discussions and presentations on interesting physics and engineering topics.

The department also organises the school’s entry to the SATRO problem solving competition, an engineering problem solving competition for key stages 3 to 5.