Our Aim

• Physics seeks to explain why and how the universe behaves as it does. We want students to question and think deeper; not just in terms of the interactions between objects right in front of them, but to understand how energy can be used to describe why things happens, and therefore understand how electricity is used and the uses of radiation. By promoting an understanding of the world directly around them, we hope to build students’ confidence in Physics. 
• Mathematical skills are not just fundamental to Physics or GCSE level study. We want students to become confident handling data, interpreting patterns and drawing conclusions, with these skills being vital at post 16 study regardless of the route taken. 
• Communication skills, both verbal and written, are vital to clearly demonstrate understanding of chemical concepts, across all subjects our students study, and in life beyond studying. We want to promote accurate, concise communication using formal conventions.
• We want to build resilience among students, by supporting and encouraging students to unpick and correct mistakes that they make. 

Our Delivery

• We will promote real life examples and applications of the physical concepts being studied throughout.
• We will model reading, decoding and sounding out new keywords. Students will be encouraged to read aloud to their peers in lessons. 
• Students will be encouraged to explain their reasoning, using correct tier 2 and 3 language. Accurately talking in physics lessons will lead to correctly writing about relationships between physical quantities and explaining experimental observations. 
• We will model thought processes, for example when tackling multi step calculations, or structuring a well reasoned written evaluation of data.
• We will explicitly teach mathematical skills, in close alliance with the maths department, to ensure consistency and demonstrate the fluidity of these skills across different subjects they study. 
• The course has been sequenced such that students learn the fundamentals of interactions between objects first. These are then referred to throughout subsequent topics increasing in complexity. Thus allowing students to forge links and build their schema.
• The year 10 content will be taught to all students, regardless of tier. Higher tier extension topics are taught in year 11, by this time tiering can be more accurately ascertained.
• Lessons will have a heavy focus on recall and retrieval practice. We will model the use of music and other strategies for memorising key facts to build fluency.
• Students work in an exercise book and complete portfolio assessed tasks twice per half term. As per school policy, students are provided with detailed feedback on these portfolio tasks and an opportunity to respond and improve their work. 
• Prep is completed once a week to consolidate learning and reviewed in the following lesson to address misconceptions.