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Why study Business?

1. Business combines well with Geography, History, Economics, Languages, Mathematics and English but can also be taken with other subjects, as it does not necessarily require the support of another discipline. It can be difficult to timetable all the combinations requested.

2. 

   Business courses in higher education are very popular. Many institutions offer a combination of subjects, which enable students to choose the path that best suits their particular talents. They are several routes to achieving a Business degree including marketing, accounting and finance, operations management and international business management. Many students combine a language with Business to allow them to work overseas after graduation.

3. There is very little limit to the career opportunities open to Business students. Many choose to go into banking, national and international finance, education, finance and accountancy, marketing, retail management and a variety of posts in the public sector.

AQA Specifications

Candidates should have achieved the minimum of grade B at GCSE in both English and Mathematics. Students that have completed a GCSE in Business will have to have obtained a minimum of a B grade.

The course consists of the following areas: –

Year 1

1. What is business?
2. Managers, leadership & decision making
3. Decision making to improve marketing performance
4. Decision making to improve operational performance
5. Decision making to improve financial performance
6. Decision making to improve human resource performance

Year 2

7. Analysing the strategic position of a business
8. Choosing strategic direction
9. Strategic methods: how to pursue strategies
10. Managing strategic change

The aim of the AS Business course is to introduce students to the subject and give them the skills necessary to begin to analyse the behaviour of businesses. They will develop an ability to apply concepts and theories through a critical consideration of the wider business environment. The emphasis will be on using real world resources such as newspapers, companies’ annual reports and the Internet. Students will use real world resources to support the theoretical discipline of the subject and make it relevant. Students will be expected to organise and present ideas in a logical way drawing conclusions from the evidence that is used. Students will develop problem-solving skills and they will learn to interpret statistics and data from a variety of sources. The A2 course will develop the analytical nature of the subject and deepen students’ understanding of Business.

There will be at least one visit to a production facility such as Jaguar Land Rover or Coca-Cola.

Key Stage 5 – AS Level

The course is split into the AS units – Units 1 – 6. There will be no official AS exams but these topics will be examined internally at the end of the year.

Key Stage 5 – A2 Level

Papers 1, 2 & 3 will be sat at the end of Year 13 to achieve the A level qualification.