Frequently asked questions

You have to have a serious interest in both playing sport and studying it. We recommend that you are competing or training regularly for a team or club. It would be even better if you are training and competing in up to three sports or activities. This course asks students to work hard, complete regular homework tasks and be proactive witht their learning. Like with all GCSEs, the students who consistently work hard get great results.

You have 5 lessons across the two week timetable. Most of the lesson time is spent on learning the Theory content. We have practical fortnights where all lessons are practical lessons and we focus on teaching, learning and practising a sport.

Yes! All students in year 10 and 11 have 'Core' PE lessons - these are not assessed. If you choose GCSE PE lessons you will have 5 extra lessons in addition to your Core PE lessons. However, should you choose seperate science as one of your options you will have one core PE lesson less than the rest of the cohort.

There are aspects of the course that you may also study in Biology, for example the cardiovascular, respiratory, muscular and skeletal systems. Therefore learning these in PE can also benefit your GCSE Science, likewise being good at science will also benefit your PE! Having said that we learn these topics from a very practical/sporting stance and therefore you might even find them easier!

We follow the AQA GCSE Physical Education (8582) specification and greater detail about the course can be found on this link: Specification 

There will be two 75 minute exams in which you will be assessed for the theory side of the course. This will make up 60% of your GCSE. 

You will be assessed in 3 sports. This will be made up from 1 individual sport, 1 team sport and another from either category. Practical assessments will be ongoing throughout the 2 years. Each sport is worth 10%, therefore representing 30% in total. The final 10% is assessed through a piece of written coursework, in which you carry out an evaluation and analysis of performance (in the sport of your choice) within lesson time. Course overview 

The course work or non exam assessment (NEA) is a series of written tasks. You will have to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and then write and analysis of how you aim to improve your fitness and skill weaknesses. 

For more thorough guidance of the coursework click on this link.

No. You will be assessed at school in a number of sports and can be assessed in any number you choose outside of school. That said, you should know at least one sport that you will be able to be assessed in – the one that you participate in at a club. The three sports are not confirmed until Year 11. Ultimately, the three highest scores will be submitted but this must include 1 team and 1 individual activity.

No, but the more exposure you have to those sports the greater chance of achieving higher grades. Likewise if you compete to a high level in one sport and this takes up a lot of your time then you may have to make this up by playing the other two in school. By late February of Year 11, you will have to submit footage of sports that cannot be performed in school. An obvious example here would be skiing. If you are not sure if you can carry out your sport in school then please do speak to your PE teacher and they will happily help.

We offer opportunities to take on Table Tennis, Badminton or Rock climbing as the main back-up options. However you will need to commit to playing these sports as much as possible and attending after school clubs in order to improve and achieve a good grade. 

Hopefully, yes! There are a long list of possible sports (click this link Practical). If we are not able to do these in school, for example swimming, golf, boxing, skiing etc, you will be required to collect filmed evidence of this outside of school instead. 

If you would like more information on how to film your peformance then click on this link.

Yes! All sports performed off site will need to be filmed as part of your evidence. Any sports assessed in school will not need to be filmed unless you believe that evidence of you playing club level competition (or higher) might show you performing at a higher level. 

What is needed in your video evidence is explained on this link

Any sport or activity conducted away from school will need to be recorded as evidence. This will allow the school to assess and score the performance or to send it off to the moderator to be assessed. 

Please click this link for more information and examples of what good filmed evidence looks like.

The exam board lay out specific criteria that must be fulfilled. This can be found in the specification page but filmed evidence must be submitted and sometimes further information from a coach/instructor would be needed. Further guidance can be provided from your PE teacher but you will need to be organised and ensure that you generate video evidence of you performing in these sports. This can begin as soon as you start the course in Year 10.