Spotlight On: Physics

At St Peter’s, our curriculum allows pupils to discover their passions and pursue their interests, leading them to further study at some of the world’s leading universities. We offer a range of subjects, with specialised teachers from Year 4.

The department focus of this article is Physics. Pupils study physics as a separate discipline from Year 7, will study the dual science award at GCSE and can choose Physics as an A Level.

The St Peter’s physics department pride themselves on their high-quality teaching and excellent academic results. The A Level exam board chosen allows pupils to learn the breadth of physics, delving into mechanics, thermodynamics, quantum physics and more. The majority of pupils choose to study Maths A Level alongside Physics, as the course is 40% maths based. Many pupils who begin physics at St Peter’s choose to complete the A Level course. The department has a better than national average in the girls to boys ratio, so classes are mixed and diverse. The school achieves top results each year, with about half going on to further study in physics related subjects.

Notable OPs include an ex-pupil studying nuclear fusion at MIT and Natural Science at Trinity College Cambridge. Additionally, OP Colin Lang, and his wife Christine, fund two pupils to take part in Mission Discovery each year. This programme is a week-long residential course which gives pupils the chance to learn from astronauts and NASA scientists, and even design an experiment which may be chosen to go to space!

Our department also provides creative ways to teach pupils well beyond the curriculum. With practicals, demonstrations and outreach projects on offer, parents often describe their children as being able to do things they didn’t know they could do! The school holds many free lectures throughout the year, including the annual Christmas Science lecture and a stargazing event. This year, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell spoke at our stargazing event, a British astronomer who discovered pulsars, the cosmic sources of peculiar radio pulses. You can read more about this popular event here. These events are open to the wider community, as well as our pupils, so all can benefit from the wisdom and expertise of our guests.

Each year, the department take part in the Physics Olympiad competition. Where some schools train their pupils specifically to perform well on this exam, St Peter’s teach the curriculum to a level which allows the pupils to excel at the exam already. This technique has worked in the past, usually achieving a high number of Gold and Silver Awards.

Our Head of Physics, Mark Edwards, has been with St Peter’s for 30 years, but he is always finding ways to keep learning within his field, and is truly passionate about physics. He has worked for the Institute of Physics and STEM Learning, helping teachers in the area to teach physics. He has also authored the CGP Revision Guides, wrote a Hodder textbook and is currently writing for a Harper-Collins publication.

Sophie (Upper Sixth) is currently working towards her Physics A Level, so we asked her about her experience at St Peter’s. She is currently studying Physics, Maths, Chemistry and Classics and hopes to study chemistry at university (hopefully integrated with a bit of Physics), at Edinburgh, Durham or Bath.

What trips have you been on with St Peter’s Physics Department?

I have been a part of the OP-funded Mission Discovery course, in which I went to study at Kings College London for a week. On this course we had to design an experiment- the winner of which was carried out on the ISS. My experiment involved a testing microalga called chlorella vulgaris with the view of it being a sustainable source of nutrition, water and oxygen for the space station. My team ended up coming second, and it was an amazing experience, with lectures from a various members of NASA amongst many Kings College professors.

When did you first know you have an interest in Physics at A Level?

I think my interest in physics stemmed from constantly asking why throughout science lessons at St Olave’s [St Peter’s 8-13], which stemmed into wanting to understand the fundamentals of atoms, and what makes up our universe (something nobody really knows). I enjoy the creativity that can be applied to thinking about crazy theoretical concepts, but also the ability to simplify our world into a few integral equations.

What is your favourite part about studying Physics at St Peter’s?

I really enjoy the practical side. St Peter’s has an enormous number of resources - something I find really cool is the ‘Cloud Chamber’ where you can watch the radiation happening all around you. I also really like how we are shown cool physics outside of the curriculum especially through the lectures put on by school, but also through staff recommending books, articles and videos about interesting concepts that are not necessarily covered by our course.

What do you hope to do in the future?

Right now, I am not sure what I want to do in the future, but breakthroughs in physics are constantly being made so, if nothing else, I look forward to seeing those unfold.