Business
Business Studies Curriculum Vision
At Epsom and Ewell High School our aim is to inspire our students to have successful careers in their chosen business profession. Throughout the course, students will study a range of theories and business models in depth and explore how these apply in real world situations. Students will enhance their future employability by applying their knowledge and offering solutions to many challenges faced by businesses today.
Students will develop a range of qualitative and quantitative skills throughout the course and will maintain currency with today’s changing business environment.
How do we help our students to ROAR?
Resilient: In Business Studies we challenge students to analyse and evaluate business theories and their relevance to the real world. Students are challenged to provide chains of analysis from decisions made within a business and discuss how businesses can tackle real life difficult situations resulting from external factors.
Open-minded: Students are often encouraged to justify their views based on real life business situations. Students are frequently presented with a scenario where they need to choose a suitable option for future success of the business. In doing this, students are encouraged to look at both the pros and cons of a situation before using their overall judgement to make a decision.
Aspirational: We strive for students become inspired from the entrepreneurs and business case studies we explore in class. Students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills that could enhance employability for the business sector in the future.
Reflective: Students have an opportunity to reflect on their own progress through the F.I.T tasks set in class. We also encourage students to analyse real life business scenarios and reflect about the impact certain business decisions have had on society.
Year 10:
Intent:
In year 10 students study Theme 1 of the course ‘Investigating small businesses.’ We introduce students to fundamental concepts within Business Studies which enables them to have a foundation of knowledge before exploring functional areas in further depth. Students start the course with an exploration of how and why businesses start, moving through to the challenges and decisions businesses make as they grow.
In this theme, students will be introduced to local and national business contexts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. Students will investigate and analyse real business opportunities to construct articulate, evidence-based, balanced and structured arguments. This will ultimately allow them to demonstrate the breadth and depth of their business understanding.
Implementation:
Year 11:
Intent:
Students will study Theme 2 in Year 11 ‘Building a Business.’ Theme 2 examines how a business develops beyond the start-up phase.
In the delivery of this theme, students will be introduced to national and global business contexts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. Students will learn about the interdependent nature of business activity through interactions between business operations, finance, marketing and human resources, as well as the relationship between the business and the environment in which it operates. Students will understand how these functional areas influence business activity and how interdependencies and relationships between them underpin business decisions.
The knowledge and skills gained from GCSE Business support students’ entry into employment or other training in specific aspects of business, such as apprenticeships and vocational qualifications which focus on more specialised business areas. GCSE Business provides a strong foundation for employment, with students progressing, with further training, to a wide range of careers training such as banking, sales, product management and general management.
Implementation:
Year 12:
Intent:
At Epsom and Ewell, we aim to develop the knowledge and skills needed to analyse data, think critically about issues and make informed decisions – all skills that are needed for further study and employment. Business Studies provides transferable skills allowing students a smooth transition from an educational environment to a work environment. Our aim of the Business studies curriculum is to not only equip students with the appropriate knowledge and skills needed to develop their employability, but to educate their financial acumen when it comes to understanding personal finance in the form of mortgages, lending, savings and investments.
The content is designed to engage students through topics and issues that are relevant in today’s society – they will study key contemporary developments such as digital technology and business ethics, and globalisation is covered throughout the topics.
In particular, year 12 will study the internal factors which influences strategic and functional decision making within a business.
Implementation:
Year 13:
Intent:
In year 13, the course focuses on how the external environment affects strategic and functional decision making. Students will take a proactive part in their studies by maintaining a good understanding of current affairs and applying this to their studies on the impact of the external environment on business.
Throughout this year, the specification encourages students to follow business developments and think critically about contemporary business issues. Most of the assessment material is based on real business situations. By examining and thinking critically about real business situations as they study the subject, students will gain an insight into different contexts which will help them to understand the key issues in any situation and compare and contrast this with other situations and apply their understanding.
Implementation:
