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Business

Overview

Business is a popular subject, staffed by Mr J. Jones (Subject Leader), Miss A. McLean, Mr J. Quirk and Mr C. Wilson. We offer both GCSE and A level with Miss McLean also heading the Economics Department. The department strive to give their students the best possible chance of progress, offering intervention where necessary as well as extra-curricular activities.

Email the department: businessstudiesdepartment@uptonhigh.co.uk

Curriculum

Intent

Business aims to give learners confidence to embark on a managerial or entrepreneurial journey, with the aim of creating future wealth creators who can operate independently but will also have an understanding of the need for fairness to all stakeholders.  We aim to foster creativity in the development of applied problem solving skills, from which learners can justify decisions in a variety of situations.  We recognise the importance of language in being able to describe business activity and aim to develop learner’s vocabulary, as well as the numeracy required to understand the position of a business.   We recognise the close connection between business finance and the concepts of personal finance and aim to draw these parallels to help learners understand how it can be applied to their own circumstance .  At the end of a course in Business we would hope that learners have developed so that they have a wider perspective of the real world and are excited to engage with it.  We recognise the importance of taking disadvantaged learners on this journey and intend to give these learners the confidence to believe they could have a future in a managerial or entrepreneurial setting. 

Business introduces learners to many new concepts not experienced elsewhere with new vocabulary and practical numeracy much evident.  Real life examples chime with learners' own experiences of using businesses and this gives learners an insight into why businesses behave in the way they do.  The experience gives a rounded perspective from different stakeholder perspectives, with a sense that running a business without care for customers and suppliers will in the long run cause problems for the shareholders or owners.  Learners also understand that business is part of a wider environment and that they are very much influenced by it.

KS3

Students gain some experience with the concepts of Business via year 7 and 8 Enterprise Days. These introduce some basic business concepts such as finance, product design, USP’s, pricing, employment and external influences as well as helping to develop skills in teamwork and presentation. If chosen as an option these themes are continued and extended in KS4.

KS4

Edexcel GCSE Business 1-9 (Current Y10 onwards)

The course is assessed through 2 exams, Investigating Small Business and Building a Business.  Both papers are 1 hour 30 mins and both are 50% of the available marks.

The course broadly covers:

Paper 1

Entrepreneurship and Starting a Business

Market research, Market Segmentation, the Marketing Mix

Business Objectives, Profit, Revenue and Costs

Cash Flow and Sources of Finance

Sole Traders, Partnerships, Private Limited Companies and Franchising

Location, Business Plans

The External Environment, Technology, Legislation and the Economy,

Paper 2

Growth, Change in Objectives and Globalisation

Ethics

The Marketing Mix for Larger Businesses

Production Types, JIT, Quality, Procurement and the Sales Process

Business Calculations and the Interpretation of Graphs

HRM, Recruitment, Training, Structure and Motivation

KS4 for current Year 11 (2018-19)

Eduqas GCSE Business 1-9

The course is assessed through 2 exams, Business Dynamics a 2 hour paper 62.5% of the assessment and Business Considerations a one and a half hour paper 37.5% of the assessment. There is no longer any coursework.

The course broadly covers:

  • Business Activity: Analysis of business, business objectives, entrepreneurship, public and private sectors, legal structures, growth and location
  • Influences on Business: Technology, ethics, environment and sustainability, economics, trade, globalization, the EU and legal considerations
  • Business Operations: Methods of production, quality, procurement, logistics and stock control, sales and customer service,
  • Finance: Sources of finance, classification of costs, break even, simple investment appraisal, profit and loss accounts, cash flow and financial analysis.
  • Marketing: Market segmentation, market research and an in depth look at the marketing mix, product, place, price and promotion.
  • Human Resources: Recruitment, training, motivation, structure, communication, trade unions and departments in a business.

The course broadly covers the following topics:

  • Business Structure entrepreneurship, sole traders, partnerships, Ltd’s, PLC’s, franchising and cooperatives.
  • Marketing, market research, the 4P’s of marketing and legal aspects
  • Production, job batch flow, JIT, quality systems, break even, growth, location, the EU and the single currency.
  • HRM, recruitment, motivation, trade unions, communication, organisation charts, leadership and payment systems
  • The External Environment, competition, economics, technology, the law and unforeseen events.
  • Finance, types of funding, cash flow, balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and financial analysis.

6th Form

OCR Business A Level

  • The first year of 6th form follows the AS level syllabus, which will be examined by a mock exam at the end of the year
  • The A2 takes the subject matter taught at AS and expands it. It is examined by 3 papers each two hours long, as in the AS one on local business, one national and one global. The global paper specifically examines a student’s ability to respond to data.