Business Studies

Business Studies is for those students who have a real interest in how businesses are managed and the internal and external factors that influence their ability to be successful.  Students will be able to gain crucial management skills.

Welcome to Business Studies Department – Subject Leader: Mr P Flanagan

Curriculum intent:

• Develops students into being enterprising (more competitions) individuals with the ability to think commercially (contexts).
• Develops students to become effective and independent learners (learning beyond the classroom activities), as well as being critical and reflective thinkers with enquiring minds.
• Creates students that are able to investigate and analyse real business opportunities and issues and can construct well-argued, well-evidenced, balanced and structured arguments, demonstrating their depth and breadth of understanding of business.
• Creates students that are aware of and understand contemporary business issues as well as the different types and sizes of businesses in local, national and global contexts.
• Enables students to draw on real businesses to make informed business decisions and solve business problems.

Key Stage 4 - Business Studies GCSE

Business Studies GCSE (Edexcel Specification)

Students should have completed section 1-3 of Paper 1 on the GCSE course, and will continue with sections 4 and 5 of Paper 1 in Year 10. There will be mock exams for Paper 1 covering the theory studied.

What is studied on the course?

All exams are taken at the end of Year 11 – this course is a linear course.

THEME 1

Overview

Theme 1 concentrates on the key business concepts, issues and skills involved in starting and running a small business. It provides a framework for students to explore core concepts through the lens of an entrepreneur setting up a business.

In this theme, students will be introduced to local and national business contexts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions.

Local contexts refer specifically to small businesses or those operating in a single UK location and national contexts relate to businesses operating in more than one location or across the UK.

Students must develop an understanding of the interdependent nature of business activity through interactions between business operations, finance, marketing and human resources, as well as the relationship between the business and the environment in which it operates.

Students must understand how these inter-dependencies and relationships underpin business decisions. Teaching approaches to the content must reflect this.

Assessment information

• First assessment: May/June 2019.
• The assessment is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• The assessment is out of 90 marks.
• Questions will relate to the content that appears in Theme 1 and students may draw on underpinning knowledge and understanding developed through Theme 2 as appropriate.
• The paper is divided into three sections.

Section A: 35 marks

Section B: 30 marks

Section C: 25 marks

THEME 2

Overview

Theme 2 examines how a business develops beyond the start-up phase. It focuses on the key business concepts, issues and decisions used to grow a business, with emphasis on aspects of marketing, operations, finance and human resources. Theme 2 also considers the impact of the wider world on the decisions a business makes as it grows.

In this theme, students will be introduced to national and global business contexts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions.

National contexts build on those in Theme 1 and relate to businesses operating in more than one location or across the UK. Global contexts relate to non-UK or transnational businesses.

Students must develop an understanding of the interdependent nature of business activity through interactions between business operations, finance, marketing and human resources, as well as the relationship between the business and the environment in which it operates.

Students must understand how these functional areas influence business activity and how interdependencies and relationships between them underpin business decisions. Teaching approaches to the content must reflect this.

Learning Journey Map

Business Studies – Learning Journey Map

Year 10 GCSE Business Curriculum Rationale and Overview

Year 11 GCSE Business Curriculum Rationale and Overview

Key Stage 4 - Enterprise

Year 10 Enterprise and Marketing Curriculum Rationale and Overview

Year 11 Enterprise and Marketing Curriculum Rationale and Overview

 Key Stage 5

A Level Business Studies EDEXCEL Specification

Who should take the course?

Business Studies is for those students who have a real interest in how businesses are managed and the internal and external factors that influence their ability to be successful.  Students will be able to gain crucial management skills.

What is the course about?

You will investigate how businesses are managed and the factors that influence their ability to be successful. You will investigate how businesses expand on a global scale.  In essence the course allows the student to gain crucial management skills. As with all A Levels the essential skills of analysis and evaluation are developed through putting concepts into practice through real life and up to date case study examples.

How is it assessed?

This is a linear two year course with all examinations taken at the end of the two years.

There is no coursework.

Where will it take me?

Students will be able to go directly into employment on leaving school or go to university.  There are a great variety of Business degree courses, many of which are joint honours with subjects such as ICT, Languages and Finance.  In the long run students will have a good grounding if they wanted to develop their own business or join fast track company management schemes.

CTEC Business:

 The CTEC Business course consists of 5 units to be studied across Year 12 and 13.  The units are a mixture of internally and externally assessed units.

• Unit 1: The Business Environment (externally assessed)
• Unit 2: Working in Business (externally assessed)
• Unit 4: Customers and Communication (internally assessed)
• Unit 5: Marketing and Market Research (internally assessed)

Unit 16: Principles of Project Management (internally assessed)

Year 12 A Level Business Curriculum Rationale and Overview

Year 12 CTEC Business Curriculum Rationale and Overview

Year 13 A Level Business Curriculum Rationale and Overview

Year 13 CTEC Business Curriculum Rationale and Overview