Our Approach to Business Studies
Our Business Studies department focuses on three key areas that shape everything we do, from real-world case studies to employability skills development.
Business Studies
The Business curriculum at Sandy Secondary School aims to develop students’ entrepreneurial abilities and business acumen through a vocational programme that encompasses a variety of academic and real-life knowledge and skills such as research and report writing, numeracy and mathematical skills, exam technique, presentation, role play, project management and teamwork.
We aim for our students to be reflective learners, not just of the content they explore through the business curriculum, but consciously aware of their own strengths and opportunities, and planning through the use of tools such as SWOT and Gantt.
Karen Hayward
Executive Principal
Lewis Davis
Curriculum Leader Personal Development/Careers/Teacher of Social Sciences
Subject Information Sheets
Download detailed curriculum overviews and termly subject information sheets for our BTEC Level 3 Business programme.
Subject Information Sheets
Course overviews and termly subject information for Business Studies.
Curriculum Intent, Implementation & Impact
Our Business Studies curriculum is built around three core pillars. Expand the sections below to read our full statements on what we aim to achieve, how we deliver it, and the difference it makes to our students.
Intent
- The Business curriculum at Sandy Secondary School aims to develop students’ entrepreneurial abilities and business acumen through a vocational programme that encompasses a variety of academic and real-life knowledge and skills such as research and report writing, numeracy and mathematical skills, exam technique, presentation, role play, project management and teamwork.
- We aim to build literacy skills through academic and professional report writing ensuring that skills such as time management in relation to deadlines, referencing and proofreading skills.
- We aim for our students to be reflective learners, not just of the content they explore through the business curriculum, but consciously aware of their own strengths and opportunities, and planning through the use of tools such as SWOT and Gantt.
- Students are able to apply their knowledge and understanding of business to both historical and contemporary case studies, developing their local, national and global awareness of the impact of differing scales and scopes of businesses.
- Students are able to analyse and make judgements about business practices that are politically, socially, ethically, legally and economically successful, understanding the shortcomings in practices, propose ways in which the challenges businesses face can be resolved.
- Naturally, the Level 3 Business curriculum addresses students’ personal development and employability skills through subject specific content and skills, for example developing financial literacy, event planning, skills for successfully completing job applications, positive customer relations, and inspiring leadership and management.
Implementation
- The BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Business, awarded by Pearson BTEC, is structured across Year 12 and Year 13 with a focus on both coursework and controlled assessments.
- In Year 12, the Autumn Term covers Unit 1 Exploring Business (coursework) and Unit 3 Personal and Business Finance (January exam), developing skills in research, referencing, extended report writing, numeracy, and exam techniques.
- The Spring Term introduces Unit 2 Developing a Marketing Campaign (controlled assessment in May) and Unit 4 Managing an Event (coursework), focusing on project management, evaluation, justification, and organisation.
- During the Summer Term, students continue with Unit 4 and engage in Unit 8 Recruitment and Selection Processes (coursework/role play), enhancing skills in interviews, presentations, and verbal/non-verbal communication.
- Year 13 begins in the Autumn Term with Unit 5 International Business (coursework) and Unit 6 Principles of Management (controlled assessment in January), fostering analysis, journalistic research and writing, and business organisation and management skills.
- In the Spring Term, students continue with Unit 5 and undertake Unit 14 Investigating Customer Service (coursework/role play), emphasising communication, conflict management, and self-evaluation.
Impact
- By the end of Key Stage 5, students looking to progress into Higher Education to study business-related disciplines or employment will have a clear understanding of the varying knowledge and skills they have ascertained.
- They will have completed a range of case study research and problem solving, ran a successful community event, and role played a number of scenarios that would be found in any organisation.
- As part of the wider social science curriculum, we anticipate students leave as global empathetic citizens who are socially, morally, spiritually and culturally aware of contexts of business organisations.
Begin Your Business Studies Journey
Discover how Business Studies can shape your future — explore our curriculum from KS3 through to Sixth Form.
Contact the Business Studies Department