Business Studies
Business Studies
The Business Studies curriculum at The Angmering School is driven by the overarching mission to foster Ambition, Respect and Courage within every learner, equipping them with the knowledge, analytical acumen, and ethical grounding required to thrive in a dynamic global economy. Designed to challenge and inspire, the curriculum builds a robust, sequential framework of knowledge aligned with the AQA specification, moving deliberately from the foundational mechanics of local small businesses to the complex, strategic decisions faced by multinational corporations. By breaking down commercial barriers, we empower our students to view themselves not merely as passive consumers, but as the innovative entrepreneurs, ethical leaders, and skilled professionals of tomorrow.
Driven by Ambition, the curriculum maintains high academic standards for all, intentionally utilising the AQA framework to develop advanced financial literacy, data analysis, and strategic modeling skills. Students delve deeply into core operational areas, including marketing, human resources, finance, and operations management, mastering the critical terminology and quantitative frameworks needed to access real-world business performance.
Fulfilling the demand for Courage, the curriculum actively pushes students out of their comfort zones, requiring them to engage with complex, ambiguous business problems where there is rarely a single "correct" answer. Through rigorous case-study analysis, students learn to weigh competing risks, justify strategic choices under financial constraints, and build resilience when assessing business failures.
Finally, rooted deeply in Respect, our curriculum places an unwavering emphasis on corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and the impact of commerce on wider society and the environment. Students explore how businesses interact with diverse stakeholders, from employees and local communities to global supply chains, embedding an empathetic understanding of workforce diversity and sustainable practices. By examining the balance between profit and ethics, students develop a mature respect for the socio-economic factors shaping the modern world.
Students say…
“Understanding life skills”
“It’s an option subject that can help me further in life”
“An option that I would like to study at college”
What course(s) is/are offered? AQA Business Studies
Business Studies
What will my child study in year 10?
Business in the Real World, Influences on Business, Marketing and Finance
What will my child study in year 11?
Operations and Human Resources
How is the course assessed?
2 Final End Point Exam:
Paper 1 - Operations and HR
Paper 2 - Marketing and Finance
What course(s) is/are offered?
What will my child study in year 12
Marketing and Finance, HR, Operations, Project Management
What will my child study in year 13
Exam Techniques, Case Studies
How is the course assessed?
3 End Point Exam - all 33.3%
What will the course allow me to progress to in the future?
The Business Studies curriculum does not just prepare students to pass an examination; it shapes well-rounded, commercially aware, and conscientious citizens ready to make a positive, independent contribution to their local community and the wider economy.
The subject requires a unique blend of literacy (for long-form evaluative essays), numeracy (for financial calculations), and real-world context. The following core pedagogical approaches are widely recognised as best practices in secondary Business education. This can be seen using case study based learning to embed the contextual element of the subject. Integrated Quantitative Drill embedding ‘Financial Literacy’. Delivering Business Studies effectivley demands that teaching approaches move students away from passive memorisation and place them directly into the shoes of a strategic decision-maker. Because the subject requires a unique blend of analytical literacy for long-form essays, precise numeracy for financial calculations, and deep real-world awareness, a variety of contextualized pedagogical strategies must be woven into a seamless instructional narrative.
At the heart of effective business education is case-study-based learning, which ensures that every theoretical concept is anchored to a real organisation from the outset. Rather than defining operational concepts abstractly, students investigate genuine corporate successes and structural failures, such as how rapid expansion can lead to communication breakdowns. This continuous grounding directly targets the application skills required by exam boards, training students to reject generic answers and instead write with the contextual precision needed for top-tier marks.
To support the highly analytical writing required in extended nine and twelve-mark exam questions, the curriculum relies on structural writing frameworks that scaffold students' arguments and prevent them from producing simple, descriptive lists. By utilizing analytical chains, such as training students to explicitly connect how an initial decision leads to a specific operational change, which therefore impacts overall profit, learners build the habits necessary to trace the full domino effect of any corporate strategy.
This literacy focus is balanced by an integrated approach to quantitative drilling, which embeds financial literacy into regular classroom routines rather than isolating it as a standalone hurdle. By weaving short, high-frequency financial problems into the start of unrelated lessons, students build calculation automaticity and lose their anxiety over formulas like break-even, contribution, and net profit margins.
Homework is set once every two weeks - this is linked to the module students are currently studying. This could be MCQ’s, finance questions or essay questions. Students will be expected to use case studies with their flip-learning and simulations will be used within lessons, this will impact their understanding of decision making.
What types of homework tasks are set (e.g., consolidation, retrieval practice, preparation for new learning, extended projects) and which online platforms are used if appropriate?
At the Angmering School we offer lots of enrichment opportunities. We work directly with large companies such as Rolls Royce Motor Cars, Schlich Legal as well as linking up with our alumni students who are thriving within the workplace. This is to enhance learning and allow students to see the opportunities that they could achieve if they apply themselves. As a department, we raise the students' aspirations and enhance their learning through out of the classroom opportunities.
