Business Studies and Economics

The GCSE Business Studies course is a linear course, meaning all external exams will take place in the summer of Year 11.

Subject content in Year 10: 

• Enterprise and entrepreneurship 
• Spotting a business opportunity 
• Putting a business idea into practice 
• Making the business effective 
• Understanding external influences on business

Command word taxonomy

Autumn
Students are introduced to the dynamic nature of business in relation to how and why business ideas come about. They also explore the impact of risk and reward on business activity and the role of entrepreneurship.

Spring
Students will focus on making a business idea happen through identifying aims and objectives and concentrating on the financial aspects.

Summer
Students will explore a range of factors that impact on the success of the business, including location, the marketing mix and the business plan.

Students are introduced to a range of factors, many of which are outside of the immediate control of the business, such as stakeholders, technology, legislation and the economy. Students will explore how businesses respond to these influences.

How can I support my son with Business Studies?

• Encourage student to complete all homework and work set.
• Encourage student to use websites such as tutor2u, the Guardian & BBC Bitesize
• Support student preparing for end of year mock exam.
• Encourage student to take care and keep their business exercise book organised.
• Check students planner to make sure homework has been set and when it needs to be completed.
• Check student has been responding to teacher comments in exercise book
• For extra activities students can use Tutor2u where extra quizzes and lessons are available.
• Encourage students to watch the news, read business sections in newspapers.

Assessment

The GCSE Business Studies course is a linear course, meaning that all external exams will take place in summer of Year 11.

Subject content in Year 11: 

• Enterprise and entrepreneurship 
• Spotting a business opportunity 
• Putting a business idea into practice 
• Making the business effective 
• Understanding external influences on business

Command word taxonomy

Autumn
Students are introduced to the dynamic nature of business in relation to how and why business ideas come about. They also explore the impact of risk and reward on business activity and the role of entrepreneurship

Spring
Students will focus on making a business idea happen through identifying aims and objectives and concentrating on the financial aspects.

Summer
Students will explore a range of factors that impact on the success of the business, including location, the marketing mix and the business plan.

Students are introduced to a range of factors, many of which are outside of the immediate control of the business, such as stakeholders, technology, legislation and the economy. Students will explore how businesses respond to these influences.

Assessment

The GCSE Business Studies course is a linear course, meaning that all external exams will take place in summer of Year 11.

How can I support my son with Business Studies?

• Encourage student to complete all homework and work set.
• Encourage student to use websites such as tutor2u, the Guardian & BBC Bitesize
• Support student preparing for end of year mock exam.
• Encourage student to take care and keep their business exercise book organised.
• Check students planner to make sure homework has been set and when it needs to be completed.
• Check student has been responding to teacher comments in exercise book
• For extra activities students can use Tutor2u where extra quizzes and lessons are available.
• Encourage students to watch the news, read business sections in newspapers.

Autumn R064: Enterprise and marketing concepts (External Written Exam)

By completing this unit, learners will understand the main activities that will need to happen to support a start-up business and what the key factors are to consider when starting up a business.

Learners will understand how and why customer segmentation is used and how to target a customer market. They will also develop an understanding of how to attract and retain customers, the techniques to use when developing products and how to investigate what makes a product viable. 

These elements will provide learners with underpinning knowledge and understanding for completion of Units R065 and R066 within this qualification, as well as developing transferable knowledge and understanding to allow for progression onto related study.

Spring R065: Design a business proposal (Internal Written Assignment) 

This unit will provide learners with the skills and knowledge to design a product proposal to meet a business challenge scenario. Learners will be able to identify a customer profile for their own product design, develop market research tools and use these to complete market research for their product. 

Learners will use their research outcomes to generate product design ideas, assess their strengths and weaknesses and work collaboratively with peers to gain feedback to inform final design decisions. Learners will complete financial calculations to select a pricing strategy and determine whether their proposal is viable. 

On completion of this unit, learners will have gained some of the essential skills and knowledge required when considering starting a business, but also the transferable skills of self-assessment, providing and receiving feedback, research and evaluation. The skills and knowledge developed by completing this unit will also be transferable to further learning in related areas and will be required by learners when completing Unit R066 Market and pitch a business proposal.

Summer R064: Enterprise and marketing concepts (External Written Exam) 

By completing this unit, learners will understand the main activities that will need to happen to support a start-up business and what the key factors are to consider when starting up a business.

Learners will understand how and why customer segmentation is used and how to target a customer market. They will also develop an understanding of how to attract and retain customers, the techniques to use when developing products and how to investigate what makes a product viable. 

These elements will provide learners with underpinning knowledge and understanding for completion of Units R065 and R066 within this qualification, as well as developing transferable knowledge and understanding to allow for progression onto related study.

Assessment

R064: Enterprise and marketing concepts (External Written Exam) 

The external assessment will consist of a 1 hour 30 minute externally assessed examination 80 marks. This will be conducted under examination conditions. A range of different types of questions will be used, including multiple choice questions, short/medium answer questions and extended response analysis and evaluation questions. Learners will be presented with a short scenario and will apply their knowledge of enterprise and marketing concepts to produce a relevant response. 

R065: Design a business proposal (Internal Written Assignment) 

This whole unit will be based around a business challenge that will be set by OCR as part of an OCR-set assignment. Learners must use an OCR-set assignment to provide the required evidence for completion of this unit. This unit contains content that can be taught and practised. The content of the unit ties in with the content they will be taught for the R064 unit. 

How can I support my son with Business and Enterprise? 

• Encourage student to complete all homework and independent research. 
• Encourage student to prepare for the 1 external examination. 
• Encourage student to use websites such as tutor2u, beebusinessbee, GCSE pod and BBC bitesize. 
• Encourage student to take care and keep organised their business portfolio. 
• Check student has been responding to teacher comments in business folder (usually in a different colour) 
• Check students planner to make sure homework has been set and when it needs to be completed. ∙ For extra activities students can use Canvas where extra lesson resources. 
• Encourage student to read over completed work to secure learning and to support making improvements. 
• Encourage students to watch the news, reading business sections in newspapers and keep an eye on the development businesses in the local area.

Autumn
R066 Market and pitch a business proposal (Internal Written Assignment)

This unit will provide learners with the skills and knowledge to create a brand identity and promotional plan for their product proposal, developed in Unit R065. They will be able to pitch their product proposal to an external audience after completing a practice pitch, and complete a review of both their pitching skills and product proposal, using their learning from this qualification, self-assessment and feedback generated. 

By completing this unit, learners will know how to use a combination of branding and promotional methods that complement each other and appeal to a specific customer profile. They will gain the crucial skills of professionally pitching to an unknown audience. This will help to prepare them both for employment situations such as interviews and for starting up a business in the future, while also developing the transferable skill of presenting information to others in a clear and persuasive manner.

Spring
R066 Market and pitch a business proposal (Internal Written Assignment)

This unit will provide learners with the skills and knowledge to create a brand identity and promotional plan for their product proposal, developed in Unit R065. They will be able to pitch their product proposal to an external audience after completing a practice pitch, and complete a review of both their pitching skills and product proposal, using their learning from this qualification, self-assessment and feedback generated. 

By completing this unit, learners will know how to use a combination of branding and promotional methods that complement each other and appeal to a specific customer profile. They will gain the crucial skills of professionally pitching to an unknown audience. This will help to prepare them both for employment situations such as interviews and for starting up a business in the future, while also developing the transferable skill of presenting information.

Summer
R064: Enterprise and marketing concepts (External Written Exam)

By completing this unit, learners will understand the main activities that will need to happen to support a start-up business and what the key factors are to consider when starting up a business.

Learners will understand how and why customer segmentation is used and how to target a customer market. They will also develop an understanding of how to attract and retain customers, the techniques to use when developing products and how to investigate what makes a product viable.

These elements will provide learners with underpinning knowledge and understanding for completion of Units R065 and R066 within this qualification, as well as developing transferable knowledge and understanding to allow for progression onto related study.

Assessment

R064: Enterprise and marketing concepts (External Written Exam) 

(This is an opportunity for students to increase the grade they previously achieved in this unit) 

The external assessment will consist of a 1 hour 30 minute externally assessed examination 80 marks. This will be conducted under examination conditions. A range of different types of questions will be used, including multiple choice questions, short/medium answer questions and extended response analysis and evaluation questions. Learners will be presented with a short scenario and will apply their knowledge of enterprise and marketing concepts to produce a relevant response. 

R066 Market and pitch a business proposal (Internal Written Assignment) 

The work for this unit relates to the product designs learners developed in Unit R065, in response to the OCR-set Business Challenge provided. Learners must use an OCR-set assignment to provide the required evidence for completion of this unit. This unit contains content that can be taught and practised.

How can I support my son with Business and Enterprise? 

• Encourage student to complete all homework and independent research. 
• Encourage student to prepare for the 1 external examination. 
• Encourage student to use websites such as tutor2u, beebusinessbee, GCSE pod and BBC bitesize. 
• Encourage student to take care and keep organised their business portfolio. 
• Check student has been responding to teacher comments in business folder (usually in a different colour) 
• Check students planner to make sure homework has been set and when it needs to be completed. ∙ For extra activities students can use Canvas where extra lesson resources. 
• Encourage student to read over completed work to secure learning and to support making improvements. 
• Encourage students to watch the news, reading business sections in newspapers and keep an eye on the development businesses in the local area.

Our aim in the Economics department is to offer a progressive, diverse, high quality and challenging curriculum.  It will support students at every stage, in their journey to enter the world of work as confident, articulate and well-rounded individuals.    

We want all students to apply economic theory to support analysis of current economic problems and issues.  We strive to enable students to develop the knowledge and skills needed to understand and analyse data, think critically about current economic issues and make informed decisions.  

By the end of Year 13, students will have developed a critical approach to economic models and methods of enquiry. They will have a good knowledge of developments in the UK economy and government policies over the past fifteen years.

Subject content in Year 10: 

• Economic foundations 
• Resource allocation 
• How prices are determined
• Production, costs, revenue, profit 
• Competitive and concentrated markets 
• Market failure

Key Words

Needs
Wants
Scarcity
Opportunity Cost
Factors of Production
Demand
Supply
Profit
Monopoly
Producer
Consumer
Government
Elasticity
Externality
Cost
Revenue
Welfare
Perfect Competition

Autumn
Introduction to Economics and students will look at economic foundations such as the nature and purpose of economic activity, the factors of production and the importance of making choices.

Spring
Students will look at how resources are allocated using a market mechanism. The central aspect will be an investigation of how prices are determined. This introduces students to concepts such as supply and demand, intermarket relationships and price elasticity.

Summer
Students investigate the significance of costs, revenue and profit for producers, leading to an understanding of the concepts of production, productivity and economies of scale. Students will then explore the importance of competition in relation to resource allocation, leading to an investigation of the factors that lead to market failure, with an emphasis on the significance of externalities.

Assessment

The Economics GCSE course is a linear course meaning all external exams will take place in summer of Year 11.

How can I support my son with Economics? 

• Encourage student to complete all homework and work set. 
• Encourage student to use websites such as tutor2u, the Economist, the Guardian & BBC Bitesize 
• Support student preparing for end of year mock exam. 
• Encourage student to take care and keep their economics exercise book organised. 
• Check students planner to make sure homework has been set and when it needs to be completed. ∙ Check student has been responding to teacher comments in exercise book 
• For extra activates students can use Doodle where extra quizzes and lessons are available. 
• Encourage students to watch the news, reading Economics sections in newspapers.

Key Words

Needs
Wants
Scarcity
Opportunity Cost
Factors of Production
Demand
Supply
Profit
Monopoly
Producer
Consumer
Government
Elasticity
Externality
Cost

Autumn
Students are introduced to the wider economy from the perspective of the main economic groups: consumers, producers and government. Students explore the significance of interest rates including their impact on saving, borrowing and spending.

Spring
Students also examine why countries trade, and the significance of the global economy, including free trade agreements. Finally, students will explore the role of money and the significance of the financial markets in modern economies.

Summer
Students will be engaged in extensive revision of topics covered in Year 10 & Year 11 including mock exams, past paper questions & revision workshops.

Assessment

Paper 1 – How markets work

Written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes 80 marks 50% of GCSE Content:

• Economic foundations
• Resource allocation
• How prices are determined
• Production, costs, revenue, profit
• Competitive and concentrated markets
• Market failure

Questions:

Section A: 10 multiple choice questions followed by a range of calculation, short and extended response questions.

Section B: five questions involving a mix of calculations, short and extended responses.

Paper 2 – How the economy works

Written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes 80 marks 50% of GCSE Content:

• Introduction to the national economy
• Government objectives
• How the government manages the economy
• International trade and the global economy
• The role of money and financial markets

Questions:

Section A: 10 multiple choice questions followed by a range of calculation, short and extended response questions.

Section B: five questions involving a mix of calculations, short and extended responses.

How can I support my son with Economics? 

• Encourage student to complete all homework and work set.
• Encourage student to use websites such as tutor2u, the Economist, the Guardian & BBC Bitesize
• Support student preparing for end of year mock exam.
• Encourage student to take care and keep their economics exercise book organised.
• Check students planner to make sure homework has been set and when it needs to be completed. ∙ Check student has been responding to teacher comments in exercise book
• For extra activates students can use Doodle where extra quizzes and lessons are available.
• Encourage students to watch the news, reading Economics sections in newspapers.

Tutor2U – some free resources, also possible to buy Revision books

The Economist – online version of this weekly publication, some free news, student rate subscription also available

The Guardian  – online version of daily newspaper with free Business News