Business
Vision
At Birchwood Community High School, our vision for the Business curriculum is to inspire students to understand and inspire them to play a full part in Business organisations. We aim to foster a deep appreciation and understanding of the role of business organisations and the skills and qualities of the people who run them in our society by broadening our students understanding of modern commerce. We want our students to understand the skills and qualities required to be a leader in a successful enterprise are accessible to all.
How do we cover the KS3 National Curriculum and beyond?
At KS3, we include an overview of the skills and qualities of an entrepreneur along with information on how business success is measured. As part of a section of the computing curriculum, students address some key elements of the core principles of the subject to provide a foundation for further study.
What do we cover in KS4 and how do we aspire towards KS5?
AT KS4 we offer the Enterprise course that enables students to understand how enterprises and the various elements needed to make them successful. The curriculum covers:
- How and why enterprises and entrepreneurs are successful
- How market research helps enterprises understand customer needs
- How to plan and present a micro-enterprise idea
- How marketing activities contribute to a successful enterprise
- How an enterprise uses financial planning and recording
The KS4 curriculum emphasises how businesses operate and function and much of the work is based on case studies of businesses that have been successful or have learned from errors. This aims to develop deep understanding of the knowledge needed to be successful both as a student and participant in business.
We aim to ensure that students are ready for business education beyond KS4 by including a range of resources that include more depth in how businesses are run than is required for the KS4 course. This helps our students understand the business tools that will help in KS5 study and engage them in the understanding of the business and enterprise world.
KS5 Curriculum
Our KS5 course is accessible for all students regardless of prior study. The KS5 course is modular and each section includes induction sessions which give students who are new to business education an overview of the knowledge needed and a reminder to students who have studied the ideas before. As with KS4 we develop understanding by focusing on case studies of businesses and their performance to assist the depth of knowledge required to be successful.
We understand the role of the KS5 curriculum as platform for higher education and employment. We aim to foster the independent research skills students need to be successful in higher education. We encourage the study of Business education beyond KS5 by signposting key elements of the curriculum that are part of many HE courses. We also refer students to current employment practice in our teaching to help with the understanding of the workplace.
