The Business ICT Faculty is a well established faculty with an excellent record of achievement. The faculty has a number of computer suites, printing facilities, a selection of digital cameras a range of software including Microsoft Office and an IT 'lab' with its own mini network.

EDEXCEL GCSE Business

The GCSE in Business course is designed to give students a sound understanding of business and the ability to use knowledge, skills and understanding appropriately in the context of varied business situations.

The course is studied over three years. The first year is a skills-building year introducing new themes and concepts and applying them to businesses. The other two years look at two themes, investigating a small business and building a business both themes are examined at the end of the course. This assessment is made up of a range of questions from multiple choice, short answer and longer length answers. There is no controlled assessment/coursework.

Content and assessment overview

The Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9–1) in Business consists of two externally-examined papers. Students must complete all assessment in May/June in any single year.

OCR level 1/2 Cambridge National Certification in Enterprise and Marketing

OCR Level 1/2 Cambridge National Certificate in Enterprise and Marketing is currently the qualification delivered to some Year 9 and Year 10 Business students. This qualification allows students to develop applied knowledge and practical skills in enterprise and marketing. It is designed with both practical and theoretical elements, which will prepare students for further study of qualifications in enterprise, marketing or business. For example, learners may progress onto A-Level Business or BTEC Business Level 3, which are both currently offered by the schools Sixth Form.  

Cambridge Nationals have been developed to give students the practical skills and applied knowledge they will need in business. Practical elements build on theoretical knowledge so that students can put their learning into practice while also developing valuable transferable skills. The learners carry out a range of tasks that have been designed to recognise their achievements in a modern, practical way that is relevant to the workplace.

• Enterprise and marketing concepts (Exam)
• Design a business proposal (Coursework)
• Market and pitch a business proposal (Coursework)

A-level Business

We offer the subject at A Level.  We work towards the qualifications in Business Studies offered by the AQA awarding body. Students receive five periods of timetabled Business teaching each week, but this is just one of the four main elements of their study.  The other elements are:

• Completion of work outside of lessons.  One piece of homework will normally be set each week.  This will take a variety of forms: formal written work, research, preparation of presentations, etc.
• Background reading.  Each student is provided with a core textbook upon receipt of a form (signed by student and parent/carer) agreeing to return the book in good condition on completion of the course.  Other books may be borrowed from the department’s library and students may be directed towards articles and other information on the Internet.
• Maintaining an up-to-date awareness of business news and current affairs.  Any serious student of Business should expect to spend some time each week following news stories through newspapers, television, radio and the Internet.

Course Content

A Level Business Studies is the study of the factors that determine the success of a business. The course adopts a problem-solving approach to the subject. The emphasis is on encouraging students to develop their ability to recognise and define business problems, and to analyse and evaluate alternative solutions.  In the first year, the focus is on decision making and the role each functional areas plays in this. The real business arena will be investigated to enhance understanding and gain contextual knowledge. In the second (A Level) year attention turns to strategic decision making and builds on the areas covered in the first year.

The subject content is broad and varied, but may be summarised as:

• Year 1: What is business?; Managers, leadership and decision making; Decision making to improve the performance of the four functional areas (marketing, operations, finance and human resources).
• Year 2: Analysing the strategic position of a business; Choosing strategic direction; Strategic methods: how to pursue strategies; Managing strategic change

Course Structure and Assessment

In order to achieve an AS qualification students must undertake both examination papers.

This is a synoptic course so students completing the A Level qualification will be assessed on content from both year one and year two. Each paper is out of a total of 100 marks, are 2 hours in length and each paper contributes equally to the overall grade. Each paper is slightly different in its approach to fully assess the range of skills and knowledge obtained throughout the course.

• Paper 1: This is in four parts: multiple choice questions; short response answers; the last two sections each include an essay style question that can be chosen from a choice of two.
• Paper 2: This paper consists of three data response stimuli, each stimuli has a number of compulsory questions that have to be answered by the candidate.
• Paper 3 - This paper consists of questions requiring extended answers based on an unseen case study.

Extra-curricular Activities

The course includes opportunities to work with local entrepreneurs and to visit businesses.  The precise programme of activities varies from year to year.

Further information is available from: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/business-subjects/as-and-a-level/business-7131-7132

A-level Economics

Economics is taught in Key Stage 5 (the Sixth Form) only, where we offer the subject at A Level.  We work towards the qualifications offered by the AQA awarding body. Students receive five periods of timetabled Economics teaching each week, but this is just one of the four main elements of their study.  The other elements are:

• Completion of work outside of lessons.  One piece of homework will normally be set each week.  This will take a variety of forms: formal written work, research, preparation of presentations, etc.
• Background reading.  Each student is provided with a core textbook upon receipt of a form (signed by student and parent/carer) agreeing to return the book in good condition on completion of the course.  Other books may be borrowed from the department’s library and students may be directed towards articles and other information on the Internet.
• Maintaining an up-to-date awareness of economic news and current affairs.  For any serious student of Economics, keeping an eye on the news through newspapers, television, radio and the Internet should be a pleasure rather than a chore!

Course Content

A Level Economics is a wide-ranging course which introduces students to many areas of economic thought and equips them to understand, analyse and evaluate many economic issues, including:

• Economic methodology and the economic problem
• Individual economic decision making
• Price determination in a competitive market
• Production, costs and revenue
• Perfect competition, imperfectly competitive markets and monopoly
• The labour market
• The distribution of income and wealth: poverty and inequality
• The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets
• The national and international economy
• The measurement of macroeconomic performance
• How the macroeconomy works : the circular flow of income, AD/AS analysis, and related concepts
• Economic performance
• Financial markets and monetary policy
• Fiscal policy and supply-side policies
• The international economy

In the second half of the A Level course students will enhance their understanding of both Micro and Macro Economics.

Course Structure and Content.

This is a synoptic course so students completing the A Level qualification will be assessed on content from both year one and year two. Each paper is out of a total of 80 marks, are 2 hours in length and each paper contributes equally to the overall grade.

• Paper 1: Markets and market failure
• Paper 2: National and international economy
• Paper 3: Economic principles and issues

Paper 1 and Paper 2 follow the same layout:

• A choice of one from two data response questions (40 marks)
• A choice of one from three essay questions (40 marks)

Paper three consists of

• Multiple choice questions (30 marks)
• Questions requiring extended answers based on an unseen case study (50 marks)

Further information is available from: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/economics/as-and-a-level/economics-7135-7136

Key Stage 5 Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate in Business

Choosing to study BTEC Level 3 in Business is an excellent choice for anyone who has a keen interest in understanding the world of business. This two year course aims to prepare students with the knowledge they would need to work in any industry, create their own business or to further their education at university. It is equivalent to 1 A-level in size and throughout the course, students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of different enrichment opportunities such as Young Enterprise, entrepreneurship competitions and educational visits.

In this course you will study a variety of business concepts that include, the purpose of business, structure and organisation, how businesses are affected by internal and external factors, marketing, personal and business finance and additional work which could cover recruitment, customer service or business law.

The course is assessed by both internal and external assessed work.

Unit 1 Exploring Business: Set assignments are completed once topics have been taught. Internally assessed (mandatory unit)

Unit 2 Developing a marketing campaign: Learners take the assessment during a defined window and demonstrate understanding through completion of a vocational task. This is completed in 3 hours on the computer. Externally assessed (mandatory unit)

Unit 3 Personal and Business Finance: Written examination set by Pearson, 2 hours, 100 marks. Externally assessed (mandatory unit)

Additional Unit: Set assignments are completed once topics have been taught. Internally assessed (mandatory unit). The unit titles that could be used are as follows;

• Recruitment and Selection Process
• Investigating Customer Service
• Market Research

OCR Cambridge Nationals in iMedia

Cambridge Nationals in Creative iMedia are media sector-focused, including film, television, web development, gaming and animation, and have IT at their heart. They provide knowledge in many key areas in this field from pre-production skills to digital animation and have a motivating, hands-on approach to both teaching and learning. Cambridge Nationals deliver skills across the whole range of learning styles and abilities, effectively engaging and inspiring all students to achieve great things.

• Unit R081: Pre-production skills
• Unit R082: Creating digital graphics
• Unit R085: Creating a multi-page website
• Unit R088: Creating a digital sound sequence

The qualification assesses the application of creative media skills through their practical use. It provides learners with essential knowledge, transferable skills and tools to improve their learning in other subjects with the aims of enhancing their employability when they leave education, contributing to their personal development and future economic well-being. iMedia encourages independence, creativity and awareness of the digital media sector. The Cambridge Nationals in Creative iMedia equips learners with a range of creative media skills and provide opportunities to develop, in context, desirable, transferable skills such as research, planning, and review, working with others and communicating creative concepts effectively. Learners will ultimately be creating fit-for-purpose creative media products.

BTEC Tech Award in Creative Media Production

The BTEC Tech Award in Creative Media Production consists of three components designed to test understanding and creation of different media products. The component titles are:

1. Exploring Media Products
2. Developing Digital Media Production Skills
3. Create a Media Product in Response to a Brief

Students initially research a variety of past and present media products which can include films, advertisements, magazines, computer games, mobile apps and interactive websites, they then analyse a selection of these products discussing aspects such as target audience and purpose. Students then plan and create a portfolio showing creation of some of these products, before finally being tasked with the production of a media product in timed conditions following a brief set by the exam board.

Students can achieve either a Level 1 or 2 qualification at the end of this course.

GCSE Computer Science

Those students who opt to study Computer Science at GCSE will take the Edexcel GCSE Computer Science Course. GCSE Computer Science has three components: two exams (50% & 50%) and an unassessed coursework assessment.

The coursework assignment consists of one controlled practical programming assignment, set by the examining board. The programming language used to complete this assignment will be Python. Students will work through a number of units to help prepare themselves for both the theoretical exam and practical controlled assessment. Students will follow a number of schemes of work with a focus on:

• Exploring how computers work, for example, by studying concepts such as binary, hardware, software
• Understand and apply the fundamental principles and concepts of computer science, including abstraction, decomposition, logic, algorithms, and data representation
• Develop awareness of current and emerging trends in computing technologies and understand the impacts of digital technology to the individual and to wider society
• Think computationally and start learning about programming principles such as algorithms, loops, selection statements and arrays.
• Learn how to program using a programming language such as Python.
• Think creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically and critically when finding computerised solutions to a problem.

Key Stage 5 OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Introductory Diploma in IT

The course consists of three units of coursework and two exams, with one exam done in January of each year.

In preparation for the exams you will gain an understanding of information in the public domain, in the cloud and across the Internet and how it’s used by individuals and organisations. You will also discover that good management of both data and information is essential in order to give an organisation a competitive edge, you will then sit the ‘Global Information’ paper. You will also take the ‘Fundamentals of IT’ examination having gained a solid understanding of software, hardware, networks, the ethical use of computers and how businesses use IT.

The coursework units are based around virtual and augmented reality, hardware and the ‘Internet of Everything’.

The virtual and augmented reality unit explores simulated and enhanced environments, leading to you creating your own augmented reality program. We explore how this technology is used in different sectors and try to supplement this unit with an educational visit.

The hardware unit gives you ‘hands on’ experience of component parts, allowing you to explore what a computer is made of and gain an understanding of how it works.

The Internet of Everything looks at how the Internet is impacting on people and society within the home, businesses and cities around the world. For this you will research, plan and present a proposal for a new device utilising this connectivity.

9 Week Plans: