By the end of the year, pupils will be able to:

• demonstrate basic knowledge and understanding of some aspects of business concepts or issues
• apply, in a limited way, knowledge and understanding to investigate business organisations and/or concepts, using everyday language
• use some obvious, simple quantitative skills
• use and describe some information to draw basic lines of reasoning, make straightforward judgements and, possibly, offer simple suggestions for future activity

Study will start with looking at business activities including planning and setting up a business, deciding on its aims, understanding who the stakeholders are and growing the business. The class will then learn about Marketing. This will include the role of marketing, market research, market segmentation and the four parts of the marketing mix and studies will be practical as well as academic.

KS4 pupils follow the OCR syllabus. By the end of the year, pupils will be able to:

• demonstrate mostly accurate and appropriate knowledge and understanding of a range of business concepts and issues
• apply knowledge and understanding to select information from a range of sources to investigate business organisations and concepts in familiar and some unfamiliar contexts, using some appropriate subject specific terminology
• use some relevant quantitative skills
• analyse and provide some evaluation of information and evidence to make plausible judgements and conclusions which may extend to suggesting some viable recommendations for future activity.

This year pupils will study Operations, Finance and Influences on Business. They will start by studying the operational side of a business, including production; quality; sales process; customer service; consumer law; business location and working with suppliers.

Pupils will then move on to Finance. This includes the role of the finance function; sources of finance; revenue, cost, profit and loss, break even and cash flow.

The year will finish with study of the influences on business, such as ethical and environmental considerations, the economic climate and globalisation.

KS4 pupils follow the OCR syllabus. By the end of the year, pupils will be able to:

• demonstrate relevant and comprehensive knowledge and understanding of a wide range of business concepts and issues
• apply knowledge and critical understanding to select relevant information from a wide range of financial and non-financial sources to investigate business organisations and concepts in familiar and unfamiliar contexts, using a wide range of subject specific terminology
• use a range of relevant quantitative skills
• critically analyse and evaluate available information and evidence to make reasoned, substantiated judgements and conclusions, and, where appropriate, suggest viable recommendations for future activity.

In year 11 pupils recap and revise the previous 2 year’s work, ensuring minimum knowledge gaps. They improve understanding of real life business, including background knowledge and the application of what they’ve learned to real life. Pupils also hone question answering skills in preparation for the GCSE exam.