@peteredmunds
Physicist. Head of Science & Physics. Author. Compulsive maker of resources. Physics teachers are unicorns; look after them. 🦄 Hundreds of free teaching resources at sciencedoctor.school.blog, ranging from KS3 science to KS5 physics.
I really think we should be at the top of the list for places a physics teacher should look to work.
If I've convinced you, then our vacancies page is here:
www.ucs.org.uk/about/work-a...
And if not, then I'm very happy to take any questions over DM.
19. If you need to relocate, you can apply for a loan of up to £10,000 to help with any associated costs.
20. And *finally* (but not least). Our salary is very attractive. Much higher than in the state sector.
16. I run my department in a developmental way that is absolutely not judgemental. No high stakes observations.
17. We're situated on a lovely school site in leafy Hampstead.
18. You are free to leave after your last commitment of the day. We trust each other professionally.
14. If you're ill, I'm happy to take over cover setting if needed.
15. In other situations the school is very supportive. Need to take cat to the vet? Sure. Want to see daughter in a performance at school? Cool. We treat each other as humans and with respect. Things other than work matter.
10. We all work together to make each others lives easier. Not harder.
11. We'll give you breakfast, lunch and after school snacks every day. For free.
12. And coffee. All the coffee you want.
13. You'll also have free access to our gym and swimming pool.
7. You'll be joining a team of seven physics teachers with incredible subject knowledge. I learn something new every day.
8. And we have two fantastic technicians and a fully resourced prep room. If we don't have it then we'll get it.
9. And they're all very friendly and supportive.
4. We also prioritise feedback over marking. Verbal feedback. Live marking. Whole class feedback. You won't be expected to mark student books.
5. Our students have very high levels of attainment.
6. And are very well behaved.
20 reasons why you should apply to work in my department as a physics teacher.
1. I'm on a crusade to minimise unnecessary workload.
2. As part of that we have a curriculum that is *fully* resourced.
3. You'll teach a maximum of 70% of lessons.
Education recruiters are absolutely out of control.
Just noticed that one company has emailed me *143* times about posts that I’d really have zero interest in.
That’s one company alone - add that to countless other companies also sending me unsolicited CVs etc, the email traffic is considerable.
I worry what the next "energy stores" thing in the next curriculum will be....
www.tes.com/magazine/new...
It turns out my crowning achievement this year is not publishing my A level revision guide or becoming Head of Science at my school...
...It's being the number 1 buyer of chocolate biscuits in the East of England
I was considering doing some kind of "physics resource Advent calendar" for December to motivate me to make a proper start to the KS4 project.
Probably won't have capacity to do a sheet a day, but here's a sheet on significant figures and standard form.
sciencedoctor.school.blog/ks4-project/
I'm in between projects so tentatively looking at what's next. I've been bowled away by the success of my KS3 books so looking at doing the same for Physics GCSE.
Some sample sheets can be found here:
sciencedoctor.school.blog/ks4-project/
Feedback welcome!
Been a while since I've uploaded anything new to the site. I recently needed to make a new sheet on scalars on vectors, so have uploaded that here:
sciencedoctor.school.blog/physics-ks4/...
Schools are *not* ready for this:
-Open homework in google chrome
-Right click and go to "search with google lens"
-Google lens pops up on the right side and answers the question
Massive implications for homework. This was an Isaac physics "A level challenge 2" question.
I’d agree, although there’s not much quantum stuff. The issue has been that grade boundaries for an A* has been as low as in the low 60% range (bearing in mind that only the top 10% ish of students get this). That becomes quite demotivating for a lot of students
(There's a mix of question types in A level physics - the trend over the last few years is that the level of difficulty have bordered on undergraduate level difficulty. Lots of complaints have been raised about this - if anything the level of AQA exams have been far far too hard recently)
Thank you again for raising this - I've been so frustrated at their response that I'm grateful a bit of pressure is being applied. Many students nationally will have been disadvantaged by this....
For context, I have made my concerns clear to AQA. They doubled down on "Some type 1a supernovae are brighter than expected".
They are dimmer.
We shouldn't *have* to appeal to voices of authority to help here - it's a clear error. The AQA astro teaching guide correctly says this on page 41.
This is the question that I was hinting there were issues with.
It's from this years AQA astro paper. In my opinion there is no correct answer.
Prof. Lintott has very kindly spent time writing to AQA about this. It's a poor error.
Check if any of your students are on mark below a boundary...
(I'm absolutely certain there's a mistake in the question I've listed and AQA are doubling down on it...)
Does anybody do the Astro option for AQA A level?
If so, I recommend taking a look at question 3.3 of the most recent years exam.
When you have, let me know your thoughts....
Thanks for ordering! I think stock has arrived today on Amazon - hopefully it'll arrive sooner that October
Order here:
amzn.to/48e3vMV
(As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases)
I've taught this course since the spec changed and know it like the back of my hand. The notes and mark schemes match the language expected from AQA.
I also love the balance of core notes and independent practice - I think a lot of revision guides get this balance wrong
***BOOK RELEASE DAY***
The book I've always wanted for AQA A level physics is out. It has:
-A page of notes, a page of questions *and* a QR code to a video lesson on each topic
-A page on each required practical, with example calculations
-A full set of exam papers
-Answers
🚨🚨Out next week🚨🚨
I'll be very excited to finally see the physical product
I’m glad it’s been useful!
This has been a massive help to me over the years ... #SciTeachUK #ITeachPhysics
My annual reminder that sciencedoctor.school.blog is there to help with your back to school planning.
Over 500 freely downloadable worksheets, booklets and resources across KS3 science to KS5 physics.
Worth sharing with new teachers/colleagues?
