Within the sixth form students receive 1 ½ hours of timetabled Physical Education a week. Students are given the opportunity to continue developing the skills gained in the major sports such as Hockey and Rugby and also have the opportunity to try new sports such as fencing and develop their fitness working in the fitness suite. As well as these timetabled lessons students are given the opportunity to play fixtures against other local schools and develop their skills through team practices held at lunchtime and after school.  We continue to encourage students to participate locally at club level and if talent is shown, are encouraged to trial at county and regional level.

For those who have a real interest and enthusiasm for the subject and want to follow an academic route there is the opportunity to study the Edexcel A Level PE course. The structure of the course is as follows:

AS Level (50% theory, 50% practical and coursework)

The AS course is divided into 2 units:

Unit One – Participation in Sport and Recreation

This unit is assessed through a 1 ½ hour written examination and is comprised of two sections.

Section One

This section is aimed at developing your understanding of what constitutes a healthy and active lifestyle. Students will learn about how the body responds and adapts to exercise, the components of physical and skill fitness, different methods of training and the protocols associated with recognised fitness tests.

Section Two

The second section is aimed at developing the students’ knowledge and understanding of how competitive sport has developed over time and how lifelong involvement in sport is encouraged.

Unit Two – The Critical Sports Performer

This unit is assessed through the completion of four tasks. Some will be in the

form of written coursework and some in the form of practical performance

within the role of player, leader and coach in their chosen sport(s).

The unit content is divided into four tasks.

Task 1 requires students to participate in two personal roles from a choice of three (performer, leader and official)

Tasks 2 & 3 requires students to undertake independent research into the local and national provision for one physical activity in the different performance roles

Task 4 requires students to complete an analysis of performance in one of their chosen roles.

A2 Level (50% theory, 50% practical and coursework)

The A2 course enables students to specialise and comprises two units

Unit 3 – The Preparation for Optimum Sports Performance

This unit is assessed through a 2 hour examination paper and is comprised of two

sections.

Section One

This section is aimed at developing students understanding of the short term and long term physiological, psychological and technical preparation of athletes.

Section Two

This section further develops students knowledge gained in their AS studies. They will learn how elite athletes gain technical support from their training and competition and the role of centres of excellence in different sports.

Unit Four - The Developing Sports Performer

This unit is assessed through the completion of four tasks. As with Unit Two in

the AS course some tasks will be in the form of written coursework relating to

provision and personal development and some in the form of practical

performance.

Task 1 requires students to plan, research, perform, review and evaluate a personal performance development plan for a chosen role and activity.

Task 2 requires students to undertake independent research into the international provision for one physical activity.

Task 3 requires students to participate in one personal role from a choice of three (performer, leader and official) in one activity.

Task 4 requires students to write a physical activity “life plan”.