Physics

At GCSE, Queen Elizabeth's School follows the AQA Science syllabus, with about 45 boys taking Physics as a separate subject each year. At A Level, the OCR Physics A syllabus is adopted, including the practical examination and the optional cosmology module. We regularly use the School observatory, where there is an eight-inch reflecting telescope mounted in a dome on the roof of the main School building.

Approximately 45 boys opt to study A Level physics each year.

The opportunity to take the Advanced Extension Award in Physics is taken by about half-a-dozen QE boys each year.

Students are encouraged to participate in the Headstart courses at the end of Year 12, which provide tasters at universities in science and engineering subjects.

There is also a wealth of extra-curricular opportunities for our Physics students. Each year, about 50 Year 10 boys visit the Institution of Electrical Engineers' Faraday Lecture at Sadler's Wells theatre. Visits to the EADS satellites plant at Stevenage and to CERN, the European Centre for Particle Physics in Geneva are usually made every other year. We have an ongoing programme of lunchtime visiting speakers, particularly on astronomy.

QE boys enter all the Institute of Physics national competitions, including the Year 11 Physics Challenge, the AS Physics Challenge and the Physics Olympiad taken in Year 13.

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