Elevate your game
Welcome to GCSE Physical Education at Rochester RIC – where fitness meets finesse! Dive into a dynamic blend of theory and practical performance, designed to boost both your physical prowess and understanding of sports science. Here, you'll not only train like an athlete but think like one too.
Our GCSE PE course covers everything from the anatomy of the body, understanding how muscles, joints, and the cardiovascular system work, to the psychology of sport – discovering what drives athletes to push their limits. We'll tackle biomechanics to master movement efficiency and explore nutrition to fuel peak performance.
On the practical side, you’ll get to showcase your skills across a variety of sports and you can choose what you'll be best able to excel at. Whether you're dribbling down the basketball court, smashing aces on the tennis court, or demonstrating pinpoint accuracy in archery, we’ve got you covered. You’ll learn to finesse your technique, develop tactical awareness, and work on your agility and stamina.
But it's not all sweat and no play – we keep it fun with team challenges, inter-school competitions, and even a few cheeky games of dodgeball. Join us at RIC for a PE course that’s as exhilarating as it is educational, where you’ll sprint ahead both on and off the field.
When I was younger I didn’t think I’d ever achieve anything because of who I was. To be an Olympic champion now just shows that you can achieve anything
Exam Specifications
Assessment
The GCSE Physical Education Course consists of two exam papers and two non-examined assessments.
There are 5 components:
Component 1: Physical factors affecting performance
Written Exam: 1 hour
30% of the qualification
Throughout this component we will look at the Anatomy and Physiology of how the body works and responds to different environments. We will look in depth at the Musculo-Skeletal system, being made aware of muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and joints and how all of these work together to better performance and help prevent injuries.
We will also look at the Cardio-Respiratory System, looking in depth at the transportation of oxygen throughout the body and how blood is pumped to our working muscles as well as how our body helps us to recover quicker
after exercise. Component one also looks at working with and without oxygen and the effects our diet has on, not only our body but our practical performance
Topic two of component one looks at movement analysis and the differing kinds of movements and positions we need to be able to get our body into to perform at specific skill. We will discuss how to improve our movement
and how best to go about being able to get our body into these positions without causing injury.
Physical Training will also be a part of the Component 1 exam, looking at health, exercise, fitness and how these aspects can improve or make performing more difficult. This will include components of fitness (CV Fitness,
Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance, Flexibility and Body Composition) and how we go about improving these aspects of sports. Alongside our components of fitness, there are also our Health Related Components (Agility,
Balance, Coordination, Power, Reaction Time and Speed) The students will research not only how to improve these aspects but also why they are so important for a successful athlete to compete at a high level.
Component 2: Socio-cultural issues and sports psychology
Written Exam: 1 hour
30% of the qualification
During our work on component 2, we will firstly look at Health, Fitness and Well-being, and how increasing our physical ability can also help to improve our all round health and reduce health risks to our body. Students will also look into how taking part in sport can help to improve emotional health, help to relieve stress and also the benefits to partaking in sport on a social basis.
The second topic in component two is Sport Psychology, here we will look at how to classify sports skills as open (the situation is always changing) and closed (stable, predictable environment); also simple (little concentration
required) and complex (complete attention and concentration). Once we have covered this we will look at how our body responds and helps to improve performance, not only will we look at improving performance, but also how our body reacts to a failed performance, whether we get back up, forget about and move on, or it plays on our mind over time, therefore, having a negative effect on performance.
The final topic in component two is Socio-cultural influences. Here we will look at the impact that: gender, age, socio-economic group, ethnicity and disability has on the participation of sport, how to interpret data into graphs and analyse participation rate. The media plays a large part in sport today, whether it be in promoting or showing sport on TV, it is everywhere we look, the students will look into the impact that this can have on individuals and
teams to see whether a positive or negative impact on performance is clear.
Component 3: Performance in physical education
40% of the qualification
Component 3 is made up of two additional components, 4 and 5. In component 4, students are assessed in performing three practical activities which accounts for 60 marks and 30% and in component 5 they are assessed on one performance analysis task which accounts for 20 marks and 10%.. In the practical performance, students should aim to demonstrate effective performance, the use of tactics or techniques and the ability to observe the rules and conventions under applied conditions. They are also required to demonstrate their ability to analyse and evaluate their own performance to produce an action plan for improvement.
Find out more about Sport @RIC
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