Business Studies

The Tech award in Enterprise provides students with the skills and knowledge to be able to plan, start-up and review their own enterprise. The BTEC National qualification allows progression seamlessly from the Tech Award in Enterprise. The aims of the BTEC National course are to provide a broad range of practical knowledge and skills that are transferrable across educational and employment opportunities.

At St Bede’s, our intention is to for our students to

• Develop their potential through a broad and balanced curriculum that encompasses topics from starting their own business to evaluating the success of different businesses and the market research they carry out.
• Develop their potential through a broad and balanced curriculum that encompasses topics from planning and evaluating an event, to evaluating the success of a large business’ recruitment and selection procedures.
• Develop practical transferable skills such as communication and presentation for use in employment and in further study.
• Have the knowledge and skills and cultural capital, regardless of ability and background, they require for future learning and employment.
• Be able to move seamlessly onto the next key phase of their education onto BTEC National or A level courses using the skills and knowledge they have acquired on the Tech award course.
• Begin to think like an entrepreneur through evaluating different business ideas and opportunities and thinking critically about the likely success of their chosen venture.
• Be able to carry out market research into their own business ideas applying the skills of analysis to the results of such research.
• Develop their presentation and communication skills through producing a presentation on their chosen business idea and be able to discuss this business ideas effectively.
• Understand the skills and qualities needed to start your own business and recognise where they need to continue to develop those skills further.
• Understand how competitors, the government and factors outside the business affect its performance and the role of international trade and its impact on business success.
• Take part in educational enrichment opportunities, including experiences, visits and visitors from the world of business.
• Have the opportunity to understand fundamental British Values such as democracy and the rule of law and mutual respect with regard to the operation of businesses and the society they operate in.
• Understand how businesses are administered financially and how they communicate with customers to promote the businesses products and services.

• Begin to think like a finance manager, human resource manager, marketing manager, team member of event planner.
• Be able to critically evaluate their own performance, business performance and the performance of their peers.
• Develop their presentation and communication skills through taking part in an interview process, presentations on innovative and enterprising businesses and running customer facing events.
• Understand the skills and qualities needed to pursue a particular career path and recognise where skills may be lacking and how to develop those skills further.

The curriculum is sequenced coherently, allowing the interweaving of topics to support the acquisition of key concepts; it is compatible with the key requirements of the National Curriculum and robust collaboration between primary and secondary phases ensures progression.

Curriculum components are repeated over time, ensuring all pupils practise retrieval, master skills and concepts, develop long term memory and make progress from starting points. Retrieval tasks are built into all lessons to enable pupils to remember more.

The ‘Bigger Picture’ is shared with pupils, providing them with a rationale for their learning and to make links between lessons, allowing them to know more and remember more.

Teachers ensure lessons provide a supportive environment for all pupils including those with SEND, removing barriers to learning and participation through adaptive planning, modelling, scaffolding, explicit instruction and metacognitive strategies.

Accurate, regular assessment enables an informed and systematic judgement to be made about a pupil’s knowledge, understanding, skills and attitude. Pupils are provided with feedback and set ‘perfecting our work’ targets to close any learning gaps.

Teachers provide a language-rich environment. Key tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary is mapped out carefully across the curriculum to enable our pupils to learn the correct words and phrases in the right order. A phonics-led approach is used to improve reading and spelling. Carefully selected texts are used to foster a culture of scholarly reading.

Pupils are given opportunities to consider how their learning links to future study and careers, and the importance of British Values.

The curriculum is enriched to include experiences outside the classroom, such as visiting speakers, visits to businesses where possible. We have plans to introduce opportunities for students to develop and run their own businesses from September 2022.

Homework tasks allow pupils to reinforce learning and check for any misconceptions or misunderstanding so learning gap can be closed. The particular focus of KS4 Enterprise homework will be to reinforce exam skills and practice exam questions for the external examination.

Subject specific e.g., completing exam questions on cashflow forecasts, financial documents and sources of finance.

St Bede’s Catholic School and Byron Sixth Form College considers the greatest impact of the curriculum to be high rates of student progress. We aim to show progress in:

• Developing core knowledge and understanding of the range of enterprises and the key features and factors that contribute to an enterprise’s level of success.
• Ability to apply the skills of analysing research, planning and financial forecasting, communicating and problem solving.
• Developing reflective practice through being able to analyse and evaluate their own performance in coursework and assessments.
• Knowledge and understanding of a range of business functions such as finance, human resources and marketing and to be able to evaluate how well each of these functions performs their roles.

The following are concepts that are common to KS4 and KS5. They are introduced at KS4 and revisited at KS5 where the evaluation of their importance and impact on business performance is considered.

What is Enterprise?

Students exam the concept of Enterprise and the different types of Business forms that exist. This topic is revisited and built upon in Unit 1 Exploring enterprise at KS5 where students have to identify two different business enterprises.

Marketing and promotions.

Students learn about the different ways in which businesses communicate with their customers through sales promotions and advertising. They learn about the importance of market research and the different forms of research. Market research is revisited at KS4 in Component 2 and at KS5 in Unit 2. They evaluate the different forms of marketing and promotions and at KS5 they develop their own marketing campaign, evaluate it and justify their chosen methods.

Finance for business

Students learn about key financial documents used in business and how to interpret and draw up these documents. The advantages and disadvantages of the use of these documents is examined at KS4. The key documents such as cash flow forecasts, break-even forecasts, statements of financial position and income statements are used to evaluate the performance of a business at KS5.

External influences on Business

Students learn about the external factors that impact on a business’ ability to achieve its aims and objectives. Factors such as competition, the economy, technological change and legislation are examined and their impact on businesses evaluated at KS4 and at KS5.

Key Stage 4 Enterprise

Learning outcomes – Exploring Enterprises (Component 1)

A Understand how and why enterprises and entrepreneurs are successful

B Understand customer needs and competitor behaviour through market research

C Understand how the outcomes of situational analyses may affect enterprises.

Learning outcomes – Planning and Presenting a Micro-Enterprise Idea (Component 2)

A Choose an idea and produce a plan for a micro-enterprise idea

B Present a plan for the micro-enterprise idea to meet specific requirements

C Review the presentation of the micro-enterprise idea to meet specific requirements.

Assessment objectives – Marketing and Finance for Enterprise – (Component 3)

AO1 Knowledge: Demonstrate knowledge of marketing terms and principles and financial information in relation to a given enterprise

AO2 Understanding: Demonstrate understanding of marketing terms and principles and financial information in relation to a given enterprise

AO3 Analyse and interpret marketing information and financial data, making connections to inform solutions

AO4 Evaluate marketing and financial information in context to make reasoned judgements and decisions

AO5 Perform procedures

Key Stage 5 Business

Unit 1: Exploring Business

Learning aims:

A Explore the features of different businesses and analyse what makes them successful

B Investigate how businesses are organised

C Examine the environment in which businesses operate

D Examine business markets E Investigate the role and contribution of innovation and enterprise to business success.

Unit 2: Developing a Marketing Campaign

Assessment outcomes:

AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of marketing principles, concepts, processes, key terms, data sources and definitions

AO2 Analyse marketing information and data, demonstrating the ability to interpret the potential impact and influence on marketing campaigns

AO3 Evaluate evidence to make informed judgements about how a marketing campaign should be planned, developed and adapted in light of changing circumstances

AO4 Be able to develop a marketing campaign with appropriate justification, synthesising ideas and evidence from several sources to support arguments

Unit 3: Personal and Business Finance

Assessment outcomes:

AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of business and personal finance principles, concepts, key terms, functions and theories. Command words: describe, explain, give, identify, outline Marks: ranges from 1 to 4 marks

AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding of financial issues and accounting processes to real-life business and personal scenarios Command words: analyse, assess, calculate, describe, discuss, evaluate, explain Marks: ranges from 2 to 12 marks

AO3 Analyse business and personal financial information and data, demonstrating the ability to interpret the potential impact and outcome in context Command words: analyse, assess, discuss, evaluate Marks: ranges from 6 to 12 marks

AO4 Evaluate how financial information and data can be used, and interrelate, in order to justify conclusions related to business and personal finance Command words: analyse, assess, discuss, evaluate Marks: ranges from 6 to 12 marks

Unit 4: Managing an Event

Learning aims:

In this unit you will:

A Explore the role of an event organiser

B Investigate the feasibility of a proposed event

C Develop a detailed plan for a business or social enterprise event

D Stage and manage a business or social enterprise event

E Reflect on the running of the event and evaluate own skills development.

Unit 5: International Business

Learning aims

In this unit you will:

A Explore the international context for business operations

B Investigate the international economic environment in which business operates

C Investigate the external factors that influence international businesses

D Investigate the cultural factors that influence international businesses

E Examine the strategic and operational approaches to developing international trade.

Unit 6: Principles of Management

Assessment outcomes

AO1 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of management and leadership principles, concepts, key terms, functions and theories

AO2 Apply knowledge and understanding of management and leadership issues to real-life business scenarios

AO3 Analyse and evaluate management information and data, demonstrating the ability to interpret the potential impact and influence on business effectiveness in context

AO4 Be able to recommend management and leadership proposals in context with appropriate justification, using a range of evidence to support arguments

Unit 8: Recruitment and Selection Process

Learning aims

In this unit you will:

A Examine how effective recruitment and selection contribute to business success

B Undertake a recruitment activity to demonstrate the processes leading to a successful job offer

C Reflect on the recruitment and selection process and your individual performance.

Unit 9: Team Building in Business

Learning aims

In this unit you will:

A Examine the benefits of teams in a business setting

B Investigate techniques and theories used for the development of an effective business team

C Develop effective team skills through practical activities.