Curriculum Information
Subject rationale – Why study the subject? What benefits does it bring.
We hope to foster student’s abilities to create and use unique business ideas that provide employment and opportunity. We would wish that students use their learned knowledge and skills wisely so that all in society can benefit from business activity. Our aspirations for our students studying Business include being productive members of society and conscious consumers. Undertaking a program of study in business encourages students to become commercially minded and enterprising individuals and helps them to succeed in their chosen career path, be it self-employed or employed. In all business courses students investigate why businesses start, moving through to the issues and decisions businesses make as they grow.
KS4 curriculum overview
Year 10
In Year 10 Students concentrate on key business concepts, issues and skills involved in starting and running a small business. The Students explore core concepts through the lens of an entrepreneur setting up a business. Students are introduced to local and national business contexts and develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. Srudents explore businesses in local contexts, specifically small businesses operating in a single UK location and national businesses operating in more than one location or across the UK. The majority of the UK population are employees and therefore studying business gives students an invaluable head start in any career they may choose to follow.
Year 11
In Year 11 students examine how a business develops beyond the start-up phase. Students focus on key business concepts, issues and decisions used to grow a business, with an emphasis on aspects of marketing, operations, finance and human resources. Students will also consider the impact of the wider world on the decisions a business makes as it grows. Students are introduced to national and global business contexts and they develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. National contexts build on the themes in Year 10 and relate to businesses operating in more than one location or across the UK. Global contexts relate to non-UK or transnational businesses.
There are two courses available at KS4: GCSE (9-1) Business and Level 1/2 Technical award in Business and Enterprise. The two courses are offered with the aim of offering the chance to study Business and achieve maximum success and enjoyment for all Students at KS4. The Business and Enterprise course is offered to students who would benefit more from continuous assessment, however this is not exclusive to students of this profile.
All business courses equip students with many transferable skills including problem solving, numeracy, communication and literacy. These are the skills employers are looking for and studying business allows students to develop these skills in relevant contexts that one day students may find themselves working in.
Assessment Overview
9-1 GCSE
- 2 exams at the end of year 11
- Both worth 50%
- Mixture of calculations, multiple choice questions, short and long answer responses.
Vocational Certificate in Business and Enterprise
The qualification is more focused on a portfolio of work completed from January of Year 11 (60%). The year 10 material is assessed by an external exam in November of year 11 (40%), with a chance to improve your grade in March if need be. Grades: Pass, Merit and Distinction, Distinction*. This is a Level 1/2 qualification, GCSE is a level 2 qualification.
Business GCSE Revision
All students in Year 11 have the following documents in their teams folder. Students should be regularly using these documents to help them with their work and to revise. The first two documents are full of worked examples that show clearly the way the different types of questions should be answered. All ‘command’ words are included and matched to the marks available for each style of question. The key words document has all the main subject specific words included with their definitions.
GCSE Business Guides
Students have a number of pieces of assessed work and model answers that they can use to go over their prior learning; as well as the work they have carried out in lessons. These are available for students to take home.
If students have any questions with approaches to revision, topics they are having difficulty with, they are always welcome to talk to Mr Woodbridge and Miss Sadler at any time.