Business

GCSE Business

Topic 1: Investigating Small Business

Topic 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 topic, students will be introduced to local and national business concepts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. There will also be the opportunity for students to investigate the financial information of a business and the formulas that come along with this.

Topic 1.1 – Enterprise and entrepreneurship

Topic 1.2 – Spotting a business opportunity

Topic 1.3 – Putting a business idea into practice

Topic 1.4 – Making the business effective

Topic 1.5 – Understanding external influences on business

BTEC Tech Award in Enterprise

The BTEC Tech Award in Enterprise has been designed to help KS4 14–16 year– old learners develop their entrepreneurial skills through practical, skills–based learning.

Assessment is through task–based assignments allowing learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in work–related scenarios.

Learners develop and apply key transferable skills such as:

Research and data analysis
Report writing skills
Written and verbal communication
Presentation skills
There are two components to be taken in Year 10 as follows:

Component 1 – Exploring enterprises (Coursework – 30% of total score):
Examine the characteristics of enterprises
Explore how market research helps enterprises meet customer needs and understand competitor behaviour
Investigate the factors that contribute to the success of an enterprise
Develop transferable skills, such as research, and data analysis in order to interprit their findings

Component 2 – Planning for and Pitching an Enterprise Activity (Coursework and Presentation- 30% of total score):
Explore ideas and plan for a micro-enterprise activity
Pitch a micro-enterprise activity
Review their own pitch for a micro-enterprise activity
Develop their planning and research, presentation, communication and self-reflection skills.

GCSE Business

Topic 2: Building a Business

Topic 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 marking, operations, finance and human resources. Topic 2 also considers the impact of the wider world on the decisions a business makes as it grows.

Topic 2.1 – Growing the business

Topic 2.2 – Making marketing decisions

Topic 2.3 – Making operational decisions

Topic 2.4 – Making financial decisions

Topic 2.5 – Making human resource decisions

At the end of Year 11, students will sit 2 examinations based on Topic 1 and Topic 2. Both exams are 1 hour and 45 minutes in duration with 90 marks per paper. Each paper is split for 50% of the qualification.

BTEC Tech Award in Enterprise

The BTEC Tech Award in Enterprise has been designed to help KS4 14–16 year– old learners develop their entrepreneurial skills through practical, skills–based learning.

Assessment is through task–based assignments allowing learners to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in work–related scenarios.

Learners develop and apply key transferable skills such as:

Research and data analysis
Report writing skills
Written and verbal communication
Presentation skills
There is one component to be taken in Year 11 as follows:

Component 3 – Promotion and Finance for Enterprise (Exam – 40% of total score):
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of elements of promotion and financial
Interprit and use promotional and financial information in relation to a given enterprise
Make Connections between different factors influencing a given enterprise
Advise and provide recommendations to a given enterprise on ways to improve its performance.

Business

From September, the Year 12 students will start a new exam board specification with Edexcel. The main areas of content covered in the AS year will consist of:

Marketing
Human Resources
Finance & Accounting
Operations management
External influences
Entrepreneurs and leadership

This will be assessed through papers 1 and 2 both worth 50% of the overall AS qualification.

If a full A level is undertaken then additional topics will be:

Business decisions and strategy
Global Business

This will be assessed through papers 1, 2 and 3 all of which will be sat at the end of Year 13 and each paper will be worth 33.3% of the overall A level grade.

BTEC L3 Business

The BTEC L3 National Extended Diploma in Business is a two-year, full-time course. The course is equivalent in size to three A levels. It will give students an extensive business background covering a variety of business functions including finance, marketing, event management and the principal of management.

The course will allow students to pursue higher education courses in a variety of business disciplines. It will also support their ambitions if they wish to progress directly to employment or higher apprenticeships.

Students will be assessed via a combination of internally (58%) and externally (42%) assessed units where points will be given depending on unit achievement. Overall points determine grade on completion of the course.

Course Structure: 13 units over 2 years
Year 1 Units of Study:
Exploring Business (m)
Developing a Marketing Campaign (m) Exam Unit
Personal and Business Finance (m) Exam Unit
Managing an Event (m)
Recruitment and Selection (o)
Market Research (o)
Work Experience in Business (o)

Year 2 Units of Study:
International Business (m)
Principles of Management (m) Exam Unit
Business Decision Making (m) Exam Unit
Digital Marketing (o)
Creative Promotion (o)
Pitching for a new business (o)