Students participate in a range of activities including football, tennis, swimming, basketball, rounders, badminton, athletics and fitness training. They will also study exercise and training, safety aspects and risk assessment, and applied anatomy and physiology.
The emphasis of the course is on practical skills and the coursework component carries an examination weighting of 60%. Students can be performers, coaches or officials. The final 40% is assessed through a written examination which completes the student’s overall grade.
In Year 10, students follow a “short course” examination where two activities are examined and a multiple-choice style paper is taken. Most students will then continue to follow a “full course” examination in Year 11 where four activities are examined and a short answer style paper is sat.
All activities are assessed twice, once during the course and again in a final assessment, overseen by a visiting moderator. In the final assessment students will also need to analyse performance in one of their activities. Those students who are good performers in a range of sports will be at a distinct advantage in obtaining a high grade.
All students will plan, perform and evaluate a Personal Exercise Programmed which will allow them to further understand some of the theory work, support their marks for analysis of performance and fitness training, provide themselves with a valuable revision tool and will involve them in using ICT.
Skiing or snowboarding are available to those students who attend the annual school trip. However, to complete this activity, students must undertake a further visit to Sierra Nevada to complete their final assessment. Students who regularly participate in an activity not offered by the school, such as golf or horse riding may have the opportunity to be assessed in that activity if they receive external coaching or perform at a high level. In this case the responsibility to follow the criteria is placed firmly with the student and coach in liaison with their teacher.
A good grade at GCSE will help students move on to any AS course at sixth form and students may choose to continue with the subject at AS and A2 level at school. Alternatively, students may wish to consider a more vocationally related course such as Leisure and Tourism.
Employment opportunities where skills learned will be particularly valued include the sport and leisure industry, travel and tourism and teaching.
Or students may wish to follow this course for its own sake because they are interested in fitness and health and enjoy physical activities.