Business

Key Stage 4

Over the course of study students will begin by looking at Theme 1 – Investigating small business and Theme 2 – building a business. Theme 1 covers enterprise and entrepreneurship, spotting a business opportunity, putting a business idea into practice, making the business effective and understanding external influences on business.  Theme 2 includes growing the business, making marketing decisions, making product decisions, making financial decisions and making human resource decisions.

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.

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 an emphasis on aspects of marketing, operations, finance and human resources. It also considers the impact of the wider world on the decisions a business makes as it grows.  In this unit students will look at authentic business case studies and gain an understanding of how business ideas develop.  Students will study effective business opportunities and how to make a business successful.  Students will work through a range of questions to check for understanding of key business concepts.

 

A new requirement for GCSE (9-1) in Business is for students to be able to apply a range of quantitative skills relevant to business contexts. This includes calculations and the interpretation, use and limitation of quantitative and qualitative data in business contexts to support, inform and justify business decisions.

Students will complete two papers both worth 50% and of 1 hour 30 mins in length.