Highfields School
Issue 20: 7 February 2020
Newsletter Curriculum Spotlight Business Mr Lovatt
The Business courses offered at Highfields are popular option choices at both KS4 and KS5. The GCSE option gives students an overview of the main business activities seen in the majority of enterprises. The course is made up of six sections that must be viewed as interconnected when assessed at the highest level. The usual suspects of Finance, Marketing Human Resources and Business Operations (production, procurement, quality and customer service) are all studied. In addition, the topic of Business Activity looks at why businesses are created, the role and characteristics of entrepreneurs and the nature and influence of stakeholders. Also studied in this section are the different types of business ownership formats, aims and objectives, planning and location. The final area of study is the Influences on Business. This includes the expected economic climate, legislation and competition but also includes the significant impact globalisation is having on the ethical and environmental issues faced by business as well as the ever changing technological challenges organisations have to cope with. Year 11 students are currently working towards applying their knowledge and understanding to different business contexts ranging from small enterprises to large multinationals (so far this has included Apple, Thornton’s and Hello Fresh) and businesses operating in local, national and global contexts. They will also need to develop an understanding of how these contexts impact on business behaviour. Further challenges are to investigate and analyse real business opportunities and issues to construct well-argued, well-evidenced, balanced and structured discussions, demonstrating their breadth and depth of understanding of the subject. The Level 3 BTEC Business course provides a different set of challenges for students as the methods of assessment are diverse. Personal finance is included at this stage with students having to decide, for example, which car insurance quote to accept. In the Marketing unit candidates are provided with a pre-release business scenario (the most recent being an Escape Room) and must take their marketing skills and construct a campaign for the business in one three hour session. Both the year 12 and 13 cohorts are currently writing up their independently researched reports for either Customer Service or Exploring Business (this includes features contributing to success, business markets and environment and the importance of innovation and enterprise).
Be the best you can
- 12 -
