Year

Term

Topic

Knowledge, skills and understanding

9

3

Unit 1 Business Activity

Topic 1 Entrepreneurs

Topic 2 Business Plans

Topic 3 Stakeholders

Topic 4 Aims and Objectives

Topic 5 Sole Traders and Partnerships

Topic 6 Limited Companies

Topic 7 Other types of business ownership

Topic 8 Business Growth

Topic 9 Business Location

Topic 10 The Nature of Business Activity

We start Year 9 with Unit 1 Business Activity as this underpins all future units of study and allows students to start connecting knowledge learned with the world around them. We start with the topic of entrepreneurs which introduces students to the skills they may need to be successful in the world of work including hard work and determination. This topic also enable students to contextualise their learning linking theoretical content with public figures that they recognise and aspire to be like. The topic of business plans is a natural progression which shows students the vital components of any organisation and helps them look at key functions which they will look at in depth further in to their studies.  Ownership then follows as this then enables them to look at organisations around themselves and categorise them as well as consider the type of organisation why may want to work in/ own in the future. Looking at other types of business ownership enables students to understand the vital role voluntary sectors businesses fulfil within society and how the priorities of these organisations including schools may differ from other private sector businesses.

We the progress to looking at business growth and how smaller businesses can develop into large multinationals students will also look at franchises and are intrigued to find out that they too could own a popular McDonalds or KFC in the future. This then leads us into location and the factors that impact upon the location of a business including cost, infrastructure and labour skillset enabling them to understand that different types of business organisations will have different priorities. This then leads us to the final topic in Unit 1 the nature of business activity all previous topics lead to this as it enables students to categorise businesses by scale including local to global and helps them to understand that the business environment is dynamic end ever changing which is illustrated further by the business examples used throughout the study of unit 1. 

10

1

Unit 6 Human Resources

Topic 1 Recruitment and Selection

Topic 2 Training

Topic 3 Motivation

Topic 4 Organisational Structures

We Year 10 with Unit 6 Human Resources-this unit allows students to look further at their own career aspirations as we look at job descriptions and person specifications helping them understand the key skills and qualities they will need in certain occupations. We choose to study this unit early in the course as it helps students to understand what they need to achieve their personal goals and aspirations in life. We also look at the different methods of training in the workplace and what specific occupations require certain training elements. We look at the importance of being trained well and how this leads to achieving goals. We then progress naturally onto the topic of motivation and what key thing make people happy in the workplace we also look at the importance of social needs and self-esteem within the workplace. Organisational structures is the final unit of study in this topic we look at hierarchies and the possibilities for career progression and chain of command-this topic enables students to clearly see how they can aspire to achieve the position of CEO in a multinational company.

10

2

Unit 5 Marketing

Topic 1 Identifying and understating customers

Topic 2 Market Research

Topic 3 Marketing Mix-Product

Topic 4 Marketing Mix-Price

Topic 5 Marketing Mic-Promotion

Topic 6 Marketing Mix-place

Term 2 of year 10 see’s us look in depth at the marketing functional area. The marketing mix is very contextually based as students can relate to a lot of the concepts and the products that they buy. We first look at identifying customers’ needs and look at segmenting the market and how certain products can be targeted at different genders, income levels and religions. Market research follows with how businesses find out what customers want and how they go about satisfying these needs and wants. We then look in depth at the four elements of the marketing mix and look at why they buy certain products, USP’s and how certain pricing strategies can encourage them to make a purchase ad well as promotional methods including the use of digital and social media.

10

3

Unit 3 Operations

Topic 1 Methods of production

Topic 2 Quality

Topic 3 Supply Chain

Topic 4 Sales Process

After Easter we move onto the operations functional area which looks in depth at how products are made and how we can add value to natural products to make a profit. We first look at the different methods of production and how the production of items such as a Rolex and how that differs to that of a chocolate bar. This allows students to look at how value can be attributed to certain items and why things are more expensive. We then look at quality and why it is important to businesses but also why it is important to consumers. We then move onto looking at the supply chain and why it is important, we look at companies such as Amazon and Tesco to assess the importance of this to business but also in our daily lives. The sales process is the final topic of study and this look at how businesses get consumers such as ourselves to buy products and what expectations we should have as customers-students can often relate to this and have clear opinions.

11

1

Unit 4 Finance

Topic 1 Sources of Finance

Topic 2 Revenue and Costs

Topic 3 Profit and Loss

Topic 4 Cash Flow

Topic 5 Financial Performance

The final functional area that we look at in depth is finance. We choose to study this later on in the course as students tend to find some concepts challenging but they can also relate these concepts to their future lives. We start with sources of finance and where businesses and we as individuals can get finance. We debate concepts such as mortgages vs renting, leasing v’s HP-we relate this concepts to business decisions but transfer them to our own life choices as well.We then move onto looking and revenue and costs and why it is important to have more money coming in than going out-another transferable topic. We naturally then progress onto the topic of making a profit or loss and what businesses can do with this money-this links back to the earlier topic of growth. We then look at cash flow and how this is fundamentally important to the running of a business but also to ourselves and the ability to be able to pay our day to day expenses. We finish the finance topic with looking at financial performance and what could be deemed successful and whether businesses should make certain investment decisions and the impact this would have on different stakeholder groups.

11

2

Unit 2 Influences on Business

Topic 1 Technological Influence on business activity

Topic 2 Ethical influence on business activity

Topic 3 Environmental influence of business activity

Topic 4 Economic influence on business activity

Topic 5 The impact of globalisation on businesses

Topic 6 The impact of legislation on businesses

We choose the influences unit as the final unit of study as it draws together a lot of the content studied previously. Students are nearing the end of their course of study for key stage 4 and a lot of the content is relatable to themselves and their future and they are able to develop strong opinions which will enforce future life choices. Technology is the first topic and we look at how this has evolved in business and our own lives and the importance of e-commerce in modern life. We then look at ethics and how different people may have different viewpoints on certain issues. Environmental issues then follow with students again having different perspectives and opinions on what it right or wrong. We then look at the economy and the economic cycle and how this can impacts upon businesses but also ourselves as consumers. We then look at globalisation and the rise in multinationals in the world as well as the controversial topic of the European Union and Brexit. We finish with legislation which informs students of their rights as an employee and investigate key legislation such as minimum wage, health and safety, contracts of employment and equality.

11

3

The interdependent nature of business activity

We use our final term of study to look at the interdependent nature of business activity and how the business world is dynamic. This draws together all units of study so far and encourages students to draw together knowledge from multiple units and functional areas whilst developing higher levels skills including the use of application, analysis and evaluation.  We also look at how the actions and activities of businesses can have positive and negatives impacts upon different stakeholder groups including employees, the government and local community. This enables students to know more and remember more so that they can take their knowledge and understanding onto further study or future employment. 

Year

Term

Topic

Knowledge, skills and understanding

12

1

Component 1 Part A Business Opportunities

Topic 1 Enterprise

Topic 2 Business Plans

Topic 3 Markets

Topic 4 Market Research

Topic 5 Business Structure

Topic 6 Business Location

Topic 7 Business Finance

Topic 8 Business revenue and costs

Component 1 Part B Business Functions

Human Resources

Topic 1 Changes in working practices

Topic 2 Workforce planning

Topic 3 Recruitment

Topic 4 Training

Topic 5 Appraisal

Topic 6 Workforce performance

Topic 7 Organisational Design

Topic 8 Motivation

Topic 9 Management and Leadership

Topic 10 Employer/ Employee relationships

The study of business at KS5 beginning with looking at business opportunities. For those who have studies business before this is the opportunity for them to look at KS4 concepts in more depth but allows students new to the subject the opportunity to develop an understanding of core business principles in depth. The study of these principles in depth will give students the ability to use these when addressing more complex scenarios and case studies as the course progresses.

In the second half of term 1 we begin to look at the key business functional areas in depth by looking first at the human resources function. This is an area of the course that student can relate to easily and transfer knowledge gained into their lives by studying topics such as working practices recruitment, training, motivation and organisation structure. Students who have studied the subject at KS4 will recognise some of the topic but will look at them in greater depth whilst developing the skills such as analysis and evaluation.

12

2

Marketing

Topic 1 The Marketing Mix

Topic 2 Product

Topic 3 Price

Topic 4 Promotion

Topic 5 Place

Topic 6 Decisions about the marketing mix

Topic 7 New Technology

Operations Management

Topic 1 Added value

Topic 2 Production

Topic 3 Productivity

Topic 4 Technology

Topic 5 Lean Production

Topic 6 Quality

Topic 7 Purchasing

Topic 8 Research and development

Topic 9 Economies of Scale

In term 2 we continue to look at the key functional areas in depth by moving onto the marketing functional area. We study the key areas of the marketing mix including product, price, place and promotion and how these factors combine to ultimately create desire for the products and services that we buy. We also look at how technology has evolved and impacted upon businesses and our own buying habits. We look at each area in depth and apply it to products we recognise allowing students to know more and remember more and contextualise learning.

In the second half of term 2 we look at the operations functional area in depth we study topics such as added value and look at how the production process increasing our willingness to pay more for items. We also look at key measures of productivity on how managers assess workforce performance. This leads to us looking and the Japanese concept of lean production and the importance on research and development in modern life. These key concepts are evident in every most areas of life and therefore allows students to relate to the world around them.

12

3

Finance

Topic 1 Budgeting

Topic 2 Business Finance

Topic 3 Cash flow forecasting

Topic 4 The Income statement

Topic 5 Ratio Analysis

Component 2

Topic 1 Data analysis

Topic 2 Market Analysis

Topic 3 Sales Forecasting

The final functional areas that we study if the finance function. This functional area has a lot of relatable life concepts that students can transfer to their own lives including budgeting and cash flow forecasting. We choose to study this functional area last as it tends to challenge most students and allows for greater time to address any misconceptions that arise. Students also tend to have developed more confidence and therefore do better with these concepts at this point of study.

We start the study of component 2 at the end of Year 12 as this allows us greater time to revisit more challenging concepts later on in KS5 allowing students to know more and remember more. We start by looking at the use of data analysis within the business world and how that can inform decision making skills. This then leads naturally to analysing markets around us and making predictions in the form of sales forecasting. All vital skills and tools which students will find invaluable in a range of occupations.

13

1

Component 2

Topic 4 Analysing Financial Performance

Topic 5 Analysing Non-Financial performance

Topic 6 Aims and Objectives

Topic 7 Strategy and Implementation

Topic 8 Decision Making Models

Topic 9 Investment Appraisal

Topic 10 Special Orders

Component 2 build upon the theory introduced in year 1 and looks at furthering students understanding and use  of analytical techniques and developing appropriate strategies. Students need to understand, construct and analyse a range of decision-making models and investment appraisal methods to decide upon appropriate strategies. Students will further develop their analytical skills, problem solving skills and be able to evaluate a range of quantitative and qualitative data to develop strategic responses.

13

2

Component 3

Topic 1 Change

Topic 2 Risk Management

Topic 3 PEST Factors

Topic 4 Ethical, Legal and environmental factors

Topic 5 International Trade

Topic 6 Globalisation

Topic 7 The European Union

Component 3 looks at how businesses in a changing world adapt to the dynamic environment surrounding them. Students will learn to understand that the world in which we live never stands still and that there are continuous opportunities and threats to businesses of all sizes.

Learners will understand that we now live in and businesses operate in a global marketplace and the need to understand a wide range of external factors that affect both consumers and businesses.

Component 3 also requires students to integrate their knowledge, understanding and skills developed across their course of study to display a holistic understanding of all concepts covered so they can give appropriate recommendations and evaluations. This allows students to bring together concepts learned and evaluate the best course of action in a given situation.

13

3

Consolidation Phase

During term 3 students will develop further their holistic understanding of all content covered to allow students to have a deeper level of knowledge and work upon higher levels skills of analysis and evaluation. Students will look at a range of business case studies that enable them to deepen knowledge further, analyse to a high standard and give appropriate recommendations and evaluations.