St Mary's School Calne

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Why Choose St Mary's?

Sports Science

ImageThe Physical Education Department consists of 7 members of staff (2 part-time). Four members of the Department deliver the AS and A Level courses.

We follow the OCR AS and A Level Physical Education course and share the same principle that practical performance is essential to the understanding of theory and where possible information is presented in a practical context.

The AS Level syllabus is divided into three units:

  • UNIT 1: (40%) Anatomy and Physiology and Movement Skills
  • UNIT 2: (30%) Contemporary Studies
  • UNIT 3: (30%) Performance and its improvement through critical analysis.
    • Students will be assessed in two practical activities and these marks contribute to the overall AS Level Grade (20%).
    • In order to apply theory to practice, students also produce a written piece of work – Personal Performance Portfolio, which relates to one of the assessed activities (10%).

The A Level syllabus is divided into three units:

  • UNIT 4: (30%) Physical Education: historical, comparative, biomechanical, and sport psychology.
  • UNIT 5: (40%) Exercise Physiology and the integration of knowledge and principles and concepts across different areas of Physical Education.
  • UNIT 6: (30%) The Improvement of effective performance and critical evaluation of the practical activities with synoptic application.  This is split into 2 parts:
    • The selection, application and performance of skills in an open environment (20%)
    • Evaluation and appreciation of performance through observation and synopsis of knowledge (10%)

Students who have followed either courses can go on to study Physiotherapy, Sports Science, Psychology, Teaching and Educational Studies and Sport and Leisure courses at university.