GCSE Physical Education and Health
The Unit 1 examination asks for short and extended written answers using precise physiological vocabulary, and the coaching and analysis parts of Unit 2 depend on clear spoken explanation. Numeracy runs through the course: heart rates and training zones, energy balance, fitness test measurements, comparison with normative data and tracking progress over 8 to 10 weeks. The biggest thing Key Stage 3 can build is the habit of measuring, recording and graphing fitness data, then writing or saying what the numbers show.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Level 1 and Level 2
- First taught
- September 2026
- Amount of literacy work
- Medium
- Amount of numeracy work
- High
- Specification
- Open the specification
How this qualification is assessed
- Unit 1: Principles of Physical Education and Health: Digital examination 1 hour 30 minutes, 40%
- Unit 2: Performance and Personal Training: Practical non-examination assessment (Performance 1, Performance 2 or Coaching, and an 8 to 10 week Personal Training activity), 60%
Skills that use Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context
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Writing extended answers in the examination
Unit 1 includes extended answers in which learners apply knowledge and analyse and evaluate factors that affect participation and performance. AO3, analysing and evaluating, is 10% of the Unit 1 marks.
Literacy: Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils write a short paragraph explaining why their heart beats faster after a relay race, using the connective because at least twice.
- Year 8
- Pupils write a point, evidence and explanation paragraph on how one factor, such as cost or access to facilities, affects participation in a sport in the Cynon Valley.
- Year 9
- Pupils answer a timed six mark style question on the benefits and drawbacks of interval training, planning two developed points and a conclusion before writing.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Summary of assessment, page 4; Section 3.1, page 23
“Questions requiring objective responses, quick-response, short and extended answers.”
Progression step 3
I can write a comprehensive account of a topic, theme or viewpoint.
I can use paragraphs and make links between them.
Progression step 4
I can use summary, discussion of issues, detailed explanations and logic when covering a topic.
I can organise and construct my writing effectively, connecting and developing my ideas for a range of different contexts.
Progression step 5
I can write extended pieces which include detailed evidence and information for different purposes and audiences within and across different disciplines.
I can organise writing in an appropriate form, ensuring content is detailed within and between paragraphs or sections, developing and sustaining ideas coherently.
Good to know
- Unit 1 is taken on screen, so extended answers are typed, not handwritten: "Digital examination: 1 hour 30 minutes" (page 10).
- The specification states no marks for spelling, punctuation and grammar and does not say whether a calculator may be used in the Unit 1 examination; these details are left to the Assessment Pack: "The Assessment Pack will include all detailed information relating to assessment." (page 23).
- Analysis and evaluation carry real weight: AO3, "Analyse and evaluate performance in sports and physical activities, and the factors that affect them.", is 20% of the qualification (page 23).
- The personal training task is a long data project: "Plan, implement and evaluate a personal training activity (of self) over 8-10 weeks" (page 17).
- Each Unit 2 part is marked out of 40: "Each part will be marked out of a total of 40 marks." (page 24).
Links with other qualifications
Heart rate, fitness testing and graphing work overlaps with physiological measurements in Health and Social Care, and Childcare and with statistics in Mathematics and Numeracy, so a shared recording sheet across Years 7 to 9 would help all three.
Source: WJEC GCSE Physical Education and Health specification, Version 2, December 2025, teaching from 2026, for award from 2028.