Psychology is an incredibly popular subject at Bromley High School and appeals to a wide diversity of students. Psychologists have a ‘toolkit’ that contains a set of tools (explanations) which they use to explain behaviour. The A-level course provides an excellent foundation for examining the competing schools of thought within the subject; the origins of Psychology, Behavioural, Cognitive, Psychodynamic, Biological and Humanist approaches. Additionally, the development of critical thinking and the ability to understand both the far-reaching implications and applications Psychology has in the real world is encouraged. Consideration of modern psychiatry, offender profiling, brain fingerprinting and the reliability of eye-witness testimony are just some of the hugely enjoyable and fascinating areas explored. Fundamentally, Psychology is a scientific discipline. A sizable part of the course contains research methods and mathematics including the use of inferential statistics, so students must be aware of this before applying to study Psychology at A level and beyond. Psychology is a multi-disciplinary subject and therefore we require our students to have the ability to ‘think’ and the confidence to reject the concept of a right answer! The AQA Psychology A level is designed to develop three skills: describing what you know (AO1), applying your knowledge (A02) and analysing /evaluating this knowledge (A03). Due to the status of Psychology as the scientific study of human behaviour and experience, students are encouraged to examine how research progresses through to empirical findings. They will be expected to undertake several practical research investigations, collecting, analysing and interpreting data to understand the scientific process. There is a significant amount of essay writing required in timed conditions in addition to dealing with research methods and scientific knowledge from Biology.