Business Studies

Trust Curriculum Intent

Our mission is to provide a cradle to career education that allows our children to enjoy lives of choice and opportunity. By the age of 18, we want every child to have the option of university or a high quality alternative. 

Subject Curriculum Intent

In business studies, we want to provide students with appropriate business knowledge and problem-solving skills to develop their entrepreneurial skills and thus, their employability. This will prepare students for further education and provide them with the confidence to take calculated risks in their future careers. We ensure that all students are actively involved and engaged in their learning through lessons which are rooted in strong theoretical business knowledge and models while also considering local and multinational businesses. We also aim to provide extra-curricular activities that get students involved in the practicalities of running their own businesses, managing finances and developing their economic wellbeing.

Curriculum Principles

• Reverse Planning in business studies means that the knowledge required by students at A Level and in Higher Education is catalogued and positioned as the end goal so that lessons right from the very beginning of Year 10 build towards it. The curriculum journey follows key strands which allow for breadth of content and contexts but also depth of conceptual understanding as each unit builds on the knowledge used in the ones before.
• Powerful Knowledge is developed in the business studies curriculum by highlighting the key concepts that feed through all units of work and encouraging students to apply what they learn to local contexts (such as aims and objectives of a entrepreneurs and enterprise, external influences on business e.g., Political and economic factors, stakeholders, Tax, Environmental issues etc. and globalisation) It is a firm grasp on these concepts that sets students up well for the workplace.
• Cultural Capital is developed in the business studies curriculum by exploring real life businesses that are topical and ensuring students can visualise what it would have been like to start the business and also run the business presently. Additionally, there are opportunities for students to take part in trips locally (Leeds United Football club; M&S Archive), nationally (London Business Hub) and, at sixth form, international trips to New York.
• Substantive (“Know That”) knowledge is developed in the business studies curriculum by developing knowledge of a range of business functions including finance, marketing, human resources, external influences and operations. Students will learn various business theories through the lens of practical application with the use of real case studies. The Business curriculum is very ambitious and ultimately allows students to know what it takes to start and run a successful business. 
• Procedural and Disciplinary (“Know How”) Knowledge is developed by ensuring all lessons are routed with a strong theoretical underpinning through the use of business concepts, theories and models, we then allow opportunities for students to apply and critically analyse and evaluate these models, whilst forming their own judgements. 
• Cognitive Psychology is developed in the business studies curriculum by planning lessons which check for prior learning and use the information gathered to integrate new knowledge more successfully. We embed the same strong lesson stages and routines as our colleagues in other subjects to free up working memory capacity to take on that new knowledge and we interleave curriculum content so that it gets revisited at key points where otherwise, if they didn’t use it, they would lose it.

What will this look like at implementation?

In year 10 students learn key business concepts, issues and skills involved in starting and running a small business. It provides a framework for students to explore core concepts through the lens of an entrepreneur setting up a business. students will be introduced to local and national business contexts and will develop an understanding of how these contexts impact business behaviour and decisions. Local contexts refer specifically to small businesses or those operating in a single UK location.

In year 11 students look at business concepts on a larger scale they look at what it takes to grow a business it looks at large multinationals and businesses operating in local, national and global contexts.

Please follow the tabs below to see the teaching plan for each year.

How can you support students’ learning from home?

As most parents are either working for a business organisation or running their own businesses, we encourage parents to start discussions about how business concepts fit in their world of work.

Allow business studies students to take responsibility for shopping and shopping budgets and calculating price differences whenever they go to shopping. 

Parents can also involve their child in the family financial planning so they have an understanding of cash inflow to the house and cash outflow leaving the home.

Ensure students in KS4 students are undergoing at least one hour revision of business studies a week, whilst KS5 students undergo at least 3 hours independent study of business studies.

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