Business Studies GCSE
Member of Staff Responsible: Mrs K. Mc Guire.
Assessment Method: 100% assessment by 2 exams sat in Year 11
Do you ever stop and think about:
The design process, planning and research that goes into your latest Smart Phone?
The impact that fashion trends have upon the sales and profitability of fads like loom bands?
Why Facebook is such a useful promotional tool from a business perspective?
How advances in technology have led to new product development from Retro Games such as Pac Man to today’s latest Xbox/PlayStation game?
How branding increases the price of everything you eat or drink?
The impact that celebrity endorsement has upon the prices of products?
All of these decisions are items that must be considered by businesses.
SPECIFICATION
Business Studies is not just a theory-based course; it is about real life. It will help you to learn about businesses and the way they operate in today’s society. You will gain skills, which will be useful in a wide range of jobs, in further study of Business Studies and in your personal life. This subject enables you to develop your enterprise capabilities and provides you for the world of work whilst keeping your future career options open!
The course consists of 6 areas broken down into TWO exam papers:
Business structure and law
Marketing
Production
Human Resources
Finance and Accounting
Business ICT
SKILLS REQUIRED
· The course requires students to competent in numeracy and literacy.
· The Accounting unit requires confidence with maths
· The course does involve a large element of written and essay based tasks both within lessons and the exam.
· An interest in what is happening in the world around you – willingness to watch and discuss the news is a must
· You will be expected to participate in extra-curricular events and competitions. This helps you to apply theory to run your own mini businesses.
ANNUAL ENTERPRISE COMPETITIONS
Current clubs and opportunities involve:
· National Make Your Mark challenge
· Bank Money hero’s competition
· Peter Jones enterprise academy challenge
FUTURE PROGRESSION ROUTES: Business Studies is viewed as an excellent subject to have on your CV. Past students have gone on to have careers in teaching, law, accountancy, advertising, journalism and politics to name a few!
NOTE: If you choose to study GCSE Business Studies, you cannot choose Enterprise and Marketing CNAT.
