“If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.”

— Steve Jobs

Business is about everything we do, everything we own, and everything we buy.  Business touches every part of our everyday lives.

At Eckington School, we have built a thriving and successful Business curriculum which currently delivers both GCSE and A level Business.  In addition the department also runs numerous enterprise activities and events such as Young Enterprise and the Tycoons in School Enterprise activity.

The Business curriculum KS4

GCSE Business (Edexcel)

Students will cover two Themes throughout the course.

Theme 1 – Investigating Small Business

In this theme, students will learn about enterprise and entrepreneurial activity, how to set up and manage a small business and understanding the external influences that affect a business and its decision making.

Theme 2 – Building a business

In this theme, students will learn about how business growth affects decision making, operational decisions, financial decisions, marketing and human resources decision too.

At the end of the course students will undertake 2 exams worth 50% of the course each, and will be well prepared to undertake A level business should they wish to.

A level Business (Edexcel)

Students will cover four Themes over the two-year course.

Theme 1 – marketing and People

Theme 2 – Managing business activities

Theme 3 –  Business decision making and strategy

Theme 4 – Global business

Theme 1 and 2 allow students to develop and build on an in-depth understanding of core  business themes and concepts.  In theme 3 and 4 students will extend the breadth and depth of knowledge through focusing on strategy and decisions, and exploring the global context in which modern businesses operate.  Students need to be able to understand how and why business decisions are made, and how a variety of people, both within and outside the business are affected.

Each year students will be asked to undertake research into a given industry to support their understanding of business for their paper 3 exam (the health and fitness industry or confectionary industry have been previous examples).  Students will need to independently research this industry and be able to link concepts and theory to real-life contexts.

Successful students in business will read around the subject and be able to talk about the business world around them to bring the theory to life.  The subject is dynamic and fast paced and students need to be able to make links between concepts and apply to real life examples with ease.

Both A level Business and GCSE Business are taught by a team of passionate and experienced staff.