Business Studies (Y9-11)
Our vision in the Business and Economics department is to help students understand and engage with the increasingly complex business world in which we live, and enable them to become informed and confident managers, employees and entrepreneurs.
Our curriculum is designed to enable students to:
- Know and understand business concepts, business terminology, business objectives, the integrated nature of business activity and the impact of business on individuals and wider society
- Apply knowledge and understanding to contemporary business issues and to different types and sizes of businesses in local, national, and global contexts
- Develop as enterprising individuals with the ability to think commercially and creatively to demonstrate business acumen, and draw on evidence to make informed business decisions and solve business problems
- Develop as effective and independent students, and as critical and reflective thinkers with enquiring minds
- Use an enquiring, critical approach to make informed judgements
- Investigate and analyse real business opportunities and issues to construct well-argued, well-evidenced, balanced and structured arguments, demonstrating their depth and breadth of understanding of business
- Develop and apply quantitative skills relevant to business, including using and interpreting data.
Subject staff
Mr R Whitehouse - Curriculum Leader
Mr R Burton
Curriculum Overview
The Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) in Business consists of two externally examined papers. Students must complete all assessment in May/June in any single year.
We ask students to think about how and why a new business idea come about, encouraging and enabling creative thinking, and the different objectives that small businesses may have, this is important to have this at the beginning of the curriculum as it informs how businesses then behave. This is because some businesses may have an objective of being a social enterprise while others are focused on profit.
The management of money is an essential part of the students’ learning, allowing them to appreciate where a business can obtain its finance and how it can be managed to ensure success.
The external pressure a business faces is of particular importance when one considers issues such as Covid, Brexit, Ukraine, and the rapid advances in technology, which results in a business having to adapt to capitalise on opportunities while minimising risks.
While Theme 1 introduces Business students to key concepts such as profit, loss and break even, it is centred on smaller enterprises, this builds a foundation for students studying Theme 2. Students understand how businesses grow, both organically and inorganically, the risks of doing this but also the rewards. We revisit how a limited company can float on the stock market and become a PLC and grow by raising huge sums of money.
As students move into Year 11, we carefully hone their critical thinking and data analysis skills by modelling and scaffolding longer written answers, where students are required to demonstrate links in their business knowledge, use evidence from data and provide a well-balanced evaluative conclusion.
We develop quantitative skills further by practising the interpretation of data, cash flow statements, profit and loss, and break-even charts. We also develop further skills such as calculating the value of a business investing in a project (ARR) and whether the investment is viable, and Gross and Net Profit margins from a set of given figures.
Extra-curricular
We have guest speakers come into the school to discuss how they set their business up and their journey to success. We arrange visits for students to businesses so they can see business in action!
