Business Studies

Business Studies is one of the most popular subjects introduced to Saint Bonaventure's school in the last decade. Since its initial setup, the department has grown from strength to strength. The department has its own dedicated IT suite which is used extensively for teaching purposes. The multimedia capabilities of the computer and the functionality of the internet as a research tool, enables students to extend there own learning capabilities to beyond what they are taught in the classroom.

The Business Studies Department aims to allow pupils to develop:

1) an ability to make effective use of terminology, concepts and methods relevant to business studies and to recognise the strengths and limitations of the ideas used;

2) an ability to apply their knowledge and understanding in a wide range of contexts, distinguishing between facts and opinions and evaluating data in order to make informed judgements;

3) knowledge and understanding of the features and dynamics of business activity from a range of perspectives. The perspectives concerned are theoretical (for example economics, sociology and psychology) and role-specific (for example the consumer, the shareholder, the employee and the manager).

The department aims to increase student's understanding of business activities, which they can apply to other subjects within the curriculum. Pupils are required to:

1) Demonstrate specified knowledge and understanding of:

(i) the relationship between business activity and the environment within which it takes place;
(ii) the structure, organisation and control of the main forms of business.

2) Demonstrate specified knowledge and critical understanding of business by applying the specified content to the following:

(i) the aims and objectives of business and the criteria for judging success, eg wealth creation, market share, profitability;
(ii) roles, relationships and management in business, e.g. recruitment, motivation, training, communication;
(iii) the sources, uses and management of finance e.g. capitalisation, balance sheet analysis, cash flow forecasting;
(iv) production and marketing objectives and related strategies, e.g. cost/output relationships, pricing, product promotion.

Scheme of Assessment for Business Studies GCSE

Pupils will be assessed by means of a terminal examination consisting of a written paper weighted at 75% of the total marks and coursework weighted at 25% of the total marks.

The terminal examination will be by means of an externally marked written paper, and the coursework will require students to submit one of the assignments which will be set by the Council.

The scheme of assessment is designed to ensure that candidates across the ability range are provided with the opportunity to show what they know, understand and can do. To allow awards to he made across grades 6 to A* the terminal examination will offer two tiers of assessment and require a choice to be made from two differentiated papers:

Paper 1: Foundation - 2 hours Grades G - C

or Paper 2: Higher - 2 hours Grades D - A*

Syllabus

Unit 1 Business activity and the changing environment
1.1 Objectives
1.2 Types of organisation
1.3 Factors of production
1.4 Primary, secondary and tertiary activity
1.5 Location

Unit 2 Human Resources
2.1 Internal organisation
2.2 Communication
2.3 Recruitment and selection

Unit 3 Accounting and finance
3.1 External and internal sources
3.2 Budgets and cash flow forecasts
3.3 Costs and break even analysis
3.4 Final accounts

Unit 4 Marketing
4.1 The market

Unit 5 Production
5.1 Economies and diseconomies of scale
5.2 Methods of production
5.3 Productivity
5.4 Quality

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