Business

Team Leader: Mrs J Wray

The KS4 Business GCSE allows students to explore a Small Business through the lens of an entrepreneur.  They will look at how and why a business starts? They will investigate how the business grows and issues that impact decision making.  They will also look at how the wider world can impact businesses and decisions they have to make to survive.

The KS4 Business course is intended to introduce pupils to the full scope of the subject from the start. The programme of study in each year at KS4 incorporates a variety of topics, theories and practical applications and is planned for progression of skills, knowledge and understanding. The KS4 course also gives a sound foundation for progression to KS5

The Business Department endeavours to:

  • Provide a rich curriculum for KS4 creating challenge and enthusiasm
  • Stimulate pupils by the work set to fulfil their potential.
  • Emphasise pupil achievements.
  • Prepare thoughtful schemes of work that demonstrate progression
  • Provide differentiated learning resources and situation
  • Provide creative and intellectually appealing lesson experiences for all
  • Provide opportunities for pupils to take responsibility for their own work and to work positively with others
  • Provide opportunities to learn about, discuss and reflect on moral and ethical issues and create an environment in which respect for others is evident in all conduct and relationships
  • Value each pupil and treat each as an individual

Curriculum Overview 

The course is split into two themes.

Theme 1: Investigating Small Business looks at 5 topics:

  • Enterprise and entrepreneurship
  • Spotting a Business Opportunity
  • Putting a business idea into practise
  • Making the business effective
  • Understanding external influences on business.

A written exam for this Theme will last 90 minutes and will be a mix of multiple choices, short-answers and extended writing.  This is 50% of overall qualification.

Theme 2: Building a Business looks at 5 topics:

  • Growing the Business
  • Making marketing decisions
  • Making product decisions
  • Making financial decisions
  • Making human resource decisions

A written exam for this Theme will last 90 minutes and will be a mix of calculations, multiple choice, short-answers and extended-writing questions.

Here is a recommended wider reading list for KS4 pupils.

How to support pupil learning:

To help put Business into context trips to theme parks with a reference to how they run as a business has been arranged.  In the past pupils attended Thorpe Park and Alton Towers Theme Park where Marketing was the key topic.  Pupils can also become involved in Business Challenges, such as Innov8 and the Greenhead Economics Challenge to test their Business skills against other schools.
The Business department also has a resource that can be accessed at home called Doddle Learn where quizzes or extended reading tasks can be carried out independently to reinforce knowledge and understanding outside of the classroom.

Parents could encourage pupils to watch the news on a regular basis to contextualise some of the theory learned in the classroom.