Information Book Just for Starters - Stockport Grammar School

PHYSICAL EDUCATION
What happens further up the school?
GCSE Physical Education is a two-year course which is designed to give a broad outline of
the theoretical and practical aspects of Physical Education. The AQA specification follows
on from the Key Stage 3 programme by providing students with exciting opportunities to
lead a healthy and active lifestyle by choosing from a variety of roles and activities in which
to participate in physical activity. The content of the GCSE Physical Education course also
provides a route to further study at AS and A2 and to Higher Education in P.E. as well as
to related career opportunities. Topics covered in the theoretical examination are: fitness
capabilities, specific exercise and training programmes, diet, school influences, healthy
eating, cultural and social factors, the media, sponsorship and health and safety. For the
practical side of the course each pupil is taken through the individual skills and game
play for each of their chosen activities. They are also taught how to analyse their own
performance as well as the performance of others in order to improve their techniques. The
new specification of the course (2010>) no longer has any coursework assignment. The
course is very popular, but as 60% of the course is practically based it must be stressed that
candidates must possess a high level of sporting ability in a range of different activities.
AS and A2 Physical Education
We follow the OCR syllabus for AS and A2 Physical Education.
What extra-curricular activities are available?
There is a comprehensive extra-curricular programme including:
School Teams - The school fields a large number of teams. Sports represented are girls’
Hockey, Netball and Tennis; and boys’ Football, Rugby, Basketball and Cricket. Both boys
and girls can take part in school teams for Cross-country, Swimming and Athletics. All of these
play on a regular basis (both Saturdays and midweek), and up to 350 pupils represent the
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