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Business and Economics

The Business Department aims to provide a challenging and vocationally relevant experience for students in order to prepare them for further/higher education and the world of work. We aim to make the work relevant by providing case studies of real businesses and working with companies to meet course requirements.

The Department undertakes a variety of visits to support the students. Recently, students have visited Paris – to participate in a ‘Your Future in Europe Conference,’  London – a variety of industrial visits including Coca-Cola, Youngs Brewery, Bank of England and Twickenham. Other visits include Old Trafford, Cadbury World, Star City, Alton Towers, Butlins, Torre Cider Farm, Styles Ice Cream and a number of national retail centres (Merry Hill and Trafford Centre).

The Department is based in the Gibbs block, where most teaching takes place. We have one room set up for exclusive sixth form use, which has our ICT facilities, a KS4 teaching room and some access to rooms shared with ICT. All rooms have electronic projectors which students are encouraged to use as part of their work. The block also contains the Department office which holds many resources used in teaching the subject.

The Department promotes subjects to all levels of ability, including Applied GCSE (a double GCSE), GCSE and a combined Level 1 Business and ICT at Key Stage 4, and Advanced Applied Business at Single/Double AS and Single/Double A level and A Level Economics for Key Stage 5. The Department is well stocked with up-to-date journals (currently subscribing to Business Review, Business Active, Economics Review, Which? and the EBEA teaching journal). The Department has a variety of textbooks available for the students to use. The Department has three members of staff at present.

There are approximately 150 students following Applied GCSE / GCSE / Level One Business at Key Stage 4, and 60 students at Key Stage 5. Results at Advanced level have consistently been higher than the national average, with the Department also showing very good added value against the College results.

Businesses that have supported the Department in recent months include; Butlins, McDonalds, Tesco, Torre Cider Farm, local Alcombe businesses and the West Somerset Railway.

The Department has also run a number of activities to support charities, those that have benefited include; Cancer Research, Breast Cancer Research, The RNLI and CLIC.

KEY STAGE 4

The choice of Business courses in KS 4 are as follows:

• Applied GCSE (2 GCSEs)  
• GCSE Business  
• Level 1 Business and ICT

Applied Business – a course worth two GCSEs and is mainly assessed by coursework.

The course consists of three units:

• Investigating Business – assessed by coursework, focusing on two contrasting businesses
• People and Business – assessed by coursework, focusing on one business
• Business Finance – assess by one exam (taken in January of Year 11) 

Each unit is worth a third of the total marks.

GCSE Business – a course worth one GCSE and is mainly assessed by exam.

The course consists of six units:

• Business environment
• Business structure, control and organisation
• Marketing
• Production
• Finance
• Human Resources

Students will produce one piece of coursework which requires planning a new marketing strategy for an existing product. This coursework is worth 25% of the marks. Students will sit one exam in June Year 11, worth 75% of the final mark. This exam will be based on a pre-seen case study about one company or industry from the UK.

Level 1 Business  and ICT – a course for students who do not want to do a full GCSE and may need extra support.

Not running at present.

SIXTH FORM 

Advanced Applied Business Studies (1 or 2 A Levels)

You can take business as a one year course (units 1-3) or you can study six units for a single award (one A Level). If you are considering doing Business in more detail then you can do the 12 unit award (worth two A Levels).

A number of units are delivered, including; Recruitment, Marketing, Management, Business Planning, Training and Strategic Management.

A Level Economics

Course involves studying Microeconomic and Macroeconomic issues.

These could include:

 

• Why are house prices so high?
• How can we solve global poverty?
• Does green politics stack up?
• Can pollution effectively be controlled?
• Should the government intervene in the market?
• What happens to the economy if people spend more?
• How are we affected by changes to the Indian and Chinese economy?
• Why does the government have an inflation target and how does it affect us?

Next Steps from 6^th Form: Direct entry into University degree courses, management training and variety of jobs in industry.