Head of Department: Dr S Sharp sjs@sevenoaksschool.org

The Physics Department
The Physics department at Sevenoaks is strong with excellent results at GCSE and at IB. 

There are 6 very well qualified teaching staff (3 women and 3 men) and 2 supporting lab technicians. The department has 6 well equipped teaching labs one of which has just been extended and fully refurbished. All have networked PCs and projectors. There is a large prep room plus a designated computer room with 12 pupil PCs and a teaching PC linked to an overhead projector. There is also office space for all the teaching staff, desk space available for individual student study and a further small room available for longer term investigative work.

Physics is taught separately throughout the School and is compulsory up to GCSE in Year 11. Currently in the Lower Sixth 47 students are studying Higher Level Physics and 22 are studying Standard Level as part of their International Baccalaureate programme. Around two thirds of our Higher Level cohort go on to read Physics or Engineering at university.

As well as teaching the main courses outlined in the curriculum summaries we aim to broaden and strengthen the understanding of Physics of all the pupils including the gifted and talented. Our approach is heavily based on practical demonstrations and experiments carried out by the students. We also invite visiting lecturers and arrange trips when appropriate for example to Imperial College in London and CERN near Geneva.

Years 7 & 8
Physics is taught as a separate science. The Lower School course closely follows the Common Entrance syllabus, so the pupils are in line with the intake at Year 9. The emphasis however is different. We aim to stress the processes of Physics rather than purely collecting information. This involves a lot of practical and investigative work as well as presentations to encourage the pupils to test their ideas, apply knowledge to novel situations and communicate their understanding.

Years 9-11
The IGCSE Edexcel (International) Physics course is taught over three years. The course includes 7 major topics: Forces, Motion and Astronomy; Electricity; Waves; Energy resources and energy transfer; Liquids and gases; Magnetism and electromagnetism and Radioactivity and particles. The extra time available allows us to explore the ideas more widely and to greater depth. The 3 year program is hopefully designed to interest, enthuse and encourage pupils. Additional material has also been included specifically ‘Earthquakes and resonance’, ‘Space’ looking into the life cycle of stars, the origin and possible futures of the Universe and ‘Materials’. 

The Sixth Form
IB Higher Level and Standard Level courses.

Extension material is provided for the more able pupils via the Physics Olympiad National competition and through the Extended Essay projects for the most interested.

Click here to see examination results