Business

“I have come in order that you might have life – life in all it’s fulness.  John 10:10” 

Business Curriculum Intent

Subject Leader: Mr J Bestwick

Email address: j.bestwick@becketonline.co.uk

What specification (syllabus) is being taught?

Edexcel – A Level Business Studies

General overview

A-level Business introduces you to all you need to know about working in business, providing a solid foundation for further study. With a focus on helping you to become a good decision maker, you’ll learn essential managerial skills, alongside techniques to help you become an analytical problem solver. These skills are all highly sought after and valued in a wide range of careers.

Who should take this course?

Any student that has an interest in business and the role it plays in society. You will be keen to learn new concepts using business theories and tools. You will be equally comfortable with using numeracy skills as well as writing essays. Furthermore, you will have a desire to read current business news articles to develop your understanding of the theory.

You can read this student’s experience of studying Business here.

What are the entry requirements?

Minimum grade 5 in Maths and English.

What are the key topics and themes?

When will they be taught?

Year 12 (first year)

An introduction to key business areas: marketing, operations, finance and human resource management. This includes a special focus on decision making – particularly how decisions made in one area can affect the rest of the business:

Topic 1 – What is business?

Topic 2 – Managers, leadership and decision making

Topic 3 – Decision making to improve marketing performance

Year 13 (second year)

An investigation of the strategic decisions that all businesses have to make:

Topic 7 – Analysing the strategic position of a business

Topic 8 – Choosing the strategic direction

Topic 9 – Strategic methods: how to pursue strategies

Topic 10 – Managing strategic change

How will students be assessed?

When do these assessments take place?

A-level assessment consists of three x 2 hour written exams taken at the end of the two-year course. Each exam will be worth a third of the A-level. All three papers will draw on material from the whole course, and will feature a range of question styles including multiple choice questions, short answer questions, essay questions, data response questions and case studies.

What can students do for revision at home?

What materials are provided or available online?

They will receive work booklets which have been written and developed in-house by Mr Bestwick as well as a course textbook to help with their wider reading and aid their understanding. This will be in addition to creating their own notes.

Useful websites include:

BBC BusinessTutor 2 UTakingTheBiz – A Level Business short videosTopic 4 – Decision making to improve operational performanceTopic 5 – Decision making to improve financial performanceTopic 6 – Decision making to improve human resource performance