Psychology is a fascinating area of study. It helps students understand human behaviour and mental processes, allowing you to better understand how we think, act and feel.

Offered at A Level, our psychology course is designed to develop your knowledge of psychological approaches, theories, concepts, and methods, and really makes you consider how the science of psychology works. You’ll explore case studies, learning how to draw parallels between the findings. You will also be introduced to important issues and debates in contemporary psychological topics.

Meet the Team

• Sam Jones - Teacher of Psychology
• Ellie Casanove - Teacher of Psychology
• Tom Marks - Teacher of Psychology

Why Study Psychology?

Firstly, it’s exciting & engaging, but more than that, it can lead to degree courses including psychology, pharmacy, and teaching, with possible career routes including specialist areas of psychology, such as forensic, occupational, and health.

Our Exam Board

AQA A level Psychology

Our Curriculum

Subject content

Compulsory content:

• 1 Social influence
• 2 Memory 
• 3 Attachment 
• 4 Clinical Psychology and Mental Health
• 5 Approaches in Psychology
• 6 Biopsychology 
• 7 Research methods
• 8 Issues and debates in Psychology 

Optional Option 1 

• 9 Relationships 
• 10 Gender 
• 11 Cognition and development 

Option 2 

• 12 Schizophrenia
• 13 Eating behaviour 
• 14 Stress

Option 3

• 15 Aggression
• 16 Forensic Psychology
• 17 Addiction

There are three examinations:

• Paper 1: Introductory topics in Psychology - 96 marks, 2 hours
• Paper 2: Psychology in context - 96 marks, 2 hours
• Paper 3: Issues and options in Psychology - 96 marks, 2 hours

Our Curriculum Learning Pathway

Psychology Curriculum Pathway (PDF)

Useful Website Links

• https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/psychology/as-and-a-level/psychology-7181-7182
• https://www.psychboost.com/
• https://www.simplypsychology.org/a-level-psychology.html

Useful Books

• AQA Psychology for A level. Year 1 (2015) by Flanagan, C; Berry, D; Jarvis, M and Liddle, R.
• AQA Psychology for A level. Year 2 (2015) by Flanagan, C; Berry, D; Jarvis, M and Liddle, R.
• Friend Request (2018) by Laura Marshall
• Born Evil (2018) by Julia Derek
• Lies (2017) by T. M. Logan
• Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole (2016) by Allan Ropper and Brian David Burrell
• Good Me Bad Me (2017) by Ali Land
• Selfie: How the West became Self-Obsessed (2018) by Will Storr
• The Lucifer Effect: How Good People turn Evil (2008) by Philip Zimbardo
• How to Survive the End of the World (2018) by Aaron Gillies