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Physics Department

Physics is a popular subject, reflecting the strong history of practical science teaching at Clifton College. All students study Physics up to GCSE; the majority doing Physics as a separate subject with others studying it as part of GCSE Science/Additional Science. Students have three periods of teaching per week and are taught by Physics specialists in recently refurbished labs. Teaching is supported by two skilled technicians and incorporates a large variety of practical activities.

Head of Physics
Mr Alex Hasthorpe MSci
Teachers
Mr David Richardson BSc Dr Arabella Blood BSc MSc DPhil Dr Matthew French MSci PhD Mr John Heritage BSc
Chief Physics Technician
Mr Phil Norman
Technicians
Mrs Jill Bevington

Teaching

The aim is to make lessons interesting and thought-provoking for our students, allowing them to use hands-on experimental work to support their learning of Physics.

The Year 9 course provides a strong foundation in experimental Physics and data analysis before commencing on the content of the AQA GCSE specification.

In Years 10 and 11, students are set across science by ability, with class sizes reflecting the students’ requirements. Regularly set homework supports student learning outside of the classroom.

A level students study the OCR Advancing Physics course, backed by the Institute of Physics. There are two pieces of coursework at AS, with students building and evaluating an electronic sensor, and then writing a presentation on a material of their choice and its applications. Recent examples include:

• Properties of Spider Silk
• Titanium in Dental Implants
• Mercury in Medicine
• "Thinsulate" in clothing

At A2, students conduct a long practical investigation and also prepare a report on a topic in Physics which they find interesting. Recent examples of these include:

• Black holes – a discussion of their properties and formation
• Viscosity of oils using rising air bubbles
• Calibrating a homemade manometer
• Magnetic levitation of metal rings

Competitions, clinics and meetings

The next Astronomy evening, run by Dr French, will be held on Wednesday 5th October 2011, from 8pm on the tennis court adjacent to the Science School.

There is a popular clinic every week in the Stone Library for students who wish to do some extra work or to ask for help. This is on Wednesday evenings from 7:30-9:00pm and is staffed by teachers from the Department.

The Department also runs a "Tricky Physics" meeting every week for Sixth Form students. In these sessions, more challenging Physics topics and enigmas are discussed. The emphasis is on enjoying analysing and solving problems as well as discussing Physics.

British Physics Olympiad 2012

Our students regularly enter the British Physics Olympiad Competition in the Upper Sixth, and have achieved considerable recent success in this area.

The British Physics Olympiad is a competition, which around 1,000 of the best physics pupils from across the UK enter each year.

The following pupils achieved Merit Certificates in the British Physics Olympiad Paper 1: Young Seop Jeon, Min Wei Sun, Jeffery Asquith, Tom Gillbe and Katie McInally.

The following pupils entered the British Olympiad Paper 2: Tom Gillbe (Bronze 1), Min Wei Sun (Bronze 2). Additionally, Charlie Lindsay, Ryan Lo, Katie McInally, Harry Morgan, Brian Yeh and Jeffery Asquith all received Commendations.

The Physics Department teachers also run the Inter-House Chess and Backgammon tournaments. A recent development has been a Quiz Society, with these activities combined under the umbrella theme of "Cerebral Sports".

Observatory

We are proud to own a telescope observatory on the roof, with in-house software specially written to control it remotely. This project is co-ordinated by Dr French. Astronomy evenings have proved very popular, and will continue to run throughout the darker months of the coming year. Examples of photographs taken with our equipment are on display in the Physics Department.

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