Business, Enterprise and Economics

Curriculum Intent

Our vision is to give students a comprehensive understanding of how the business and working world operates.  Our intent is that all students will acquire a good understanding of the business and working world through contextual analysis of real life examples. They will be encouraged and supported to implement useful and transferable skills which will support them in their next steps in their academic careers and future.

Student Learning Journey

At KS4, students will initially be introduced to the features and characteristics of a business, as well as the skills and motivation required. Before moving onto wider external concepts. Using this information, students are then able to make informed judgements about their own enterprise start-up.

At KS5, students will KS5 options allow students to broaden their knowledge and understanding across international context as well as looking at the macro and micro economic environment. Students can draw from the skills and knowledge in KS4, however this is not essential as these skills are recapped regularly, and knowledge is taught in a way that includes students who have no KS4 experience.

We aim to give students a comprehensive understanding of how the business and economic world operates. Students will acquire a good understanding of the business and economic world through contextual analysis of real life examples. Students will be encouraged and supported to develop useful and transferable skills which will support them in their next steps in their academic careers and future.

How is Business Studies taught?

Typical lessons follow the lesson fundamentals promoted by the school. This includes ensuring recap of prior learning, and developed at the start of each lessons. retrieval activities not only facilitate longer term memory, and embed prior learning, but enable students to understand where lesson topics fit ‘in the big picture’. Throughout the main body of the lesson, students will be introduced to new knowledge and content, in a variety of ways, often involving independent research and discovery, guided discovery, and real world examples. Following this, and throughout the lesson, students learning is regularly assessed. Depending on the degree of understanding, and depth of knowledge required, assessments come in a variety of formats. Quicker, more knowledge based assessment for learning activities are usually targeted questions, short low-stakes tests and quizzes. Where a more in-depth demonstration of skills and knowledge is required, this will usually be in association with exam styled questions and case studies, such as detailed verbal responses, independent and jointly constructed written exam answers, written reports and essays.

Homelearning

Students will receive homelearning once a week. Homework will either:

  • consolidate learning that has taken place, providing students with the opportunity to work more independently on demonstrating skills;
  • revise prior learning, especially in the lead up to assessments;
  • develop students’ portfolio of work, particularly when students are completing longer term tasks in lessons such as coursework.