Physics

The Physics Department at Caterham is one of the most successful in the country. All of our students achieve consistently excellent results, placing in the top tier of national and international physics and engineering competitions. Caterham School recently had the pleasure of being represented at the International Physics Olympiad, with a Caterham student succeeding to achieve the highest ranked position of any British physicist in the last 15 years. However, there is much more to physics than examinations and accolades, Our aim is to help students see the beauty and power in studying the subject that attempts to understand how the universe, from atoms to asteroids, dark matter to visible light, operates.

To achieve this, we run a busy programme of co-curricular events. In Junior Science Club (open to all second- and third-year students and run jointly by the physics and chemistry departments), pupils get hands on with supra-curricular experiments such as designing hovercrafts, making camera obscuras, manufacturing Prussian blue dye, growing metal crystals or dissecting owl pellets. Fourth year and Fifth year students have the opportunity to take part in our Astronomy club, which, during the winter, sees them taking their theory to the telescopes and planet and star gazing. Our Problem-Solving Club gives students the chance to develop their own solutions to unusual problems with a time constraint and acts as a selection process to represent the school in the SATRO Problem Solving competitions, for which our display cabinet boasts many successes. On top of this, we have LEGO Robotics and Aviation clubs engaging the engineers of the future.

At A-Level, we offer weekly Physics Extension sessions to aspiring physicists and engineers, introducing them, via lectures and problem sheets, to topics such as the second law of thermodynamics, the ultraviolet catastrophe, Minkowski spacetime diagrams, and the hydrogen solutions to the Schrödinger equation. This allows our students to engage in the mathematical beauty of physics and tackle undergraduate ideas in advance of their university courses.

The enthusiasm and support of our staff has helped to ensure that Caterham physics students excel academically. Last year 93% of our GCSE students achieved 9-7. This success has brought increasing numbers of students to study it at A-Level and beyond. We now have more than 100 students studying the subject in the Sixth Form, a third of whom are girls. Further to this over 40% of our A-Level students in the Upper Sixth each year elect to study either physics or engineering at universities across the world, including Oxford University, Imperial College, Cambridge University, UCLA Berkeley and the University of Toronto.

We have six specialist teachers and the excellent support of a designated Technician. We are fortunate to teach within a purpose-built laboratory building with five spacious physics laboratories and a excellent-stocked prep room.

The First and Second Years have two lessons a week rising to three in the Third, Fourth and Fifth Years. Pupils generally study the Edexcel IGCSE Single (Triple) Award course, with some opting for the IGCSE Double Award (Combined) course at the start of the Fifth Year. In the Sixth Form we follow the OCR A specifications, with eight periods a week in both years. 

Biographies

Mr Owen Ace

Mr Ace graduated with a Masters Degree from the University of Oxford in 2020 having read Earth Sciences, before going on to earn a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) through the TeachFirst program. Alongside teaching, I serve as a resident boarding tutor in Viney House and take great pleasure in coaching a rugby and hockey team during their respective seasons.

Mrs Amanda Clark

Mr Nicholas Hillier BA (Oxon), MSc, PGCE, Teacher of Physics

Educated at Whitgift School, Mansfield College Oxford and the London School of Economics, Mr Hillier has previously taught at Merchant Taylors’ Northwood, St John’s Leatherhead and Woldingham. Mr Hillier also oversees LEGO robotics and aviation clubs, as well as cross country and climbing activities. He is an officer commanding the RAF section of the CCF and enjoys coaching rugby for the Old Cats minis and youth teams, running long distances and taking part in adventure races. 

Mrs Kate Keyworth, Physics Technician

Dr Marc Scott, MPhys, PhD, Head of Physics, Senior Enrichment Tutor (Science and Maths), Resident Boarding Tutor

Dr Scott graduated with a first-class honours in Physics with Mathematics at the University of Southampton in 2012. He then completed his PhD in High Energy Particle Physics, focusing on the strong force, at the University of Southampton before joining the school in 2017. As the Senior Enrichment Tutor (Sciences), Dr Scott oversees the science, mathematics and economics Oxbridge applications as well as co-runs the Senior Scholars’ Societies for third and fourth year. In this capacity he has lectured courses on Renaissance art, Enlightenment philosophy, the History of Science, and Human Anatomy. In addition to this, Dr Scott runs weekly Physics Extension courses to those applying for Physical Sciences and Engineering at university, lecturing undergraduate-level courses on Quantum Mechanics, Special Relativity, Fluid Dynamics, Cosmology, and Thermodynamics. He has also given mini-courses to aspiring economists on Financial Mathematics.

Dr Christopher Sinclair, MSc, PhD, Teacher of Physics

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