St Mary's School Calne

Physics

Physicists – the really good ones, like Albert Einstein – are known for asking simple questions. One of Einstein’s first thoughts on light came at the age of five. He asked “I wonder what the world would look like while riding on a wave of light?”. In Physics lessons at St Mary’s we aim both to ask and seek answers to the most basic questions about how the universe works. We believe that Physics is best investigated by practical activities such as rocket launching, building CD hovercraft and pinhole cameras.

GCSE Course

Students are currently taught in 4 sets for 3 lessons each week with class sizes of 10 to 15 pupils. Girls are all entered for the higher level Separate Physics GCSE Examination  following the AQA ‘B’ specification.  Full details can be obtained from the AQA website. Next year girls will also have the opportunity to study GCSE Astronomy.

AS and A Level Courses

The numbers of girls studying A Level Physics has doubled over the previous 2 years. In the Sixth Form the girls follow the OCR specification A. The LIV Form students study the ‘Forces and Motion’, ‘Electrons and Photons’ and ‘Waves’ modules along with coursework leading to the AS Level qualification.

The UVI Form students study ‘Forces, Fields and Atoms’ and an option topic which currently is ‘Cosmology’.  There is also a ‘Unifying Concepts’ module paper and coursework leading to the A Level qualification. Full details can be obtained from the OCR website. 

Mr Rob Auckland (Senior Physicist)