BUSINESS STUDIES

The vision of the Business Studies department is to support and help our young people understand and engage with the ever changing business world in which we live to enable them to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding to become more informed learners and entrepreneurs.
 

The Business department at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic High School have created a curriculum that aims to develop the entrepreneurial spirit of the young people that study our subject. The well-established courses that we offer in GCSE Business and Tech Award Enterprise have been enhanced over time to include a wider understanding of the political, environmental, social, technological and legal context of business. Through this programme of study that is tailored to the needs of our learners we aim to enhance our students ability to become adaptable, mature students, ready to tackle any challenges that they may face when applying for key stage 5 courses, apprenticeships, employment or indeed, setting up their own business with the passion and determination developed through studying the subject within our department.
 

While studying Business, our students are encouraged to be enquiring learners in reference to the Business world that they already engage with on a daily basis. When they start their courses students often realise just how much they already know about business from their everyday lives. It is through this drive, and high levels of engagement that as a department we deliver extremely high levels of attainment for the students within our care, where a large proportion of students wish to continue to study Business at a higher level whether through A level or BTEC qualifications and then at university. Moreover, recently we have also seen a rise in the number of our students attaining good quality apprenticeships in related business fields, or even setting up their own part time micro business, instead of applying for part time employment while in further education.
 

Within our subject students learn in a variety of different ways and we try to accommodate this by offering two courses. Due to the popularity of Business Studies as a key stage 4 option in previous years, we have been able to offer a tailored curriculum based on the individual strengths of our learners, and will continue to do so dependent on cohort sizes. GCSE Business Studies is now fully assessed through two end-of-course exams, where as with the BTEC Tech Award in Enterprise, 60% of the final grade is achieved through controlled assessment/coursework tasks. This means that all of the students' hard work contributes to their final grade. By offering these two styles of assessment opportunities students are able to learn in a way that supports them in their knowledge and understanding.