Business Studies

  • Mrs D Roberts - Curriculum Leader for Computing and Business
  • Miss K Hallmark - Teacher of Computing and Business Studies

"I never dreamed about success, I worked for it."

Estée Lauder


Intent

Studying Business at Hartford Church of England High School, will allow students to understand the fundamentals of society. Understanding the purpose and significance of business in day to day life, means that students get a greater understanding of the world around them from an academic and practical view. The purpose of the Business curriculum is to provide students with the core knowledge and skills needed to develop their life skills, enhance employability and be able to identify business opportunities.

Design Rationale

The study of Business begins in Key Stage 4 at Hartford Church of England High School, where students will have been exposed to Business partially within the last term of Year 9 in Computing. In Year 10, students begin the course by concentrating on the key concepts involved in starting and running a successful business. This framework then allows students to explore core concepts from an entrepreneurial perspective. In Year 11 students expand their knowledge and start to investigate the fundamentals needed to grow a small business into a larger and more profitable company, zooming into topics such as Human Resources, Marketing, Production and Finance.

Business Studies prepare students to take up employment in business where they could be employed in roles such as Marketing Administrator, Market Research Analyst, Digital Marketing Assistant or Public Relations Officer.

Delivery

Students have five lessons of Business a fortnight at Hartford C of E High School. Each lesson begins with a knowledge retrieval task in order to build up confidence and to retain information. Through the use of IT, new knowledge is delivered, which is core to underpinning their analysis and evaluation skills. Outcomes are modelled to the students, practising the new knowledge together. Understanding of knowledge is gaged through relentless questioning and the use of practice questions. Students apply their knowledge to real life scenarios, which encourage them to explore current affairs in the economy and read around the subject. Students are challenged to work collaboratively and think independently.

Students receive verbal and written feedback and are expected to respond to this feedback and make amendments to work as necessary. This is vital in enabling us to identify areas where the students need further support.

Impact

The effectiveness of curriculum implementation is measured by student progress; progress means knowing, remembering and producing more and is the direct result of excellent learning.

To track progress, we follow a three layered assessment structure.

High Stake Testing

High quality summative assessments (twice or three times a year) interleave knowledge and skills to support students in developing long-term memory. Stand-alone lessons ensure that students reflect and respond to teacher feedback.

Mid Stake Testing

Typically purposeful practice tasks completed independently in lessons at least twice per half-term. These tasks are used to identify learning gaps prior to high stake testing. Students receive personalised written feedback to which they respond in lessons.

Low Stake Testing

To embed knowledge in long-term memory, every lesson starts with students quizzed on prior knowledge (Do Now Tasks). Student performance is then used effectively by teachers to identify misconceptions and plan accordingly to narrow knowledge gaps.

Download long term plan