Our Business Studies curriculum opens a wealth of opportunities to develop skills that go beyond simply starting your own business. Our aim is to equip students with knowledge that will improve their employability. Through developing an understanding of the dynamic nature of business, the impact of technology and through our focus on ethics and the environment, our curriculum will enable students to apply their business knowledge to make decisions and solve problems by applying their understanding of cause and effect and their skills in quantitative analysis.  

As a knowledge-based curriculum, we believe that knowledge underpins and enables the application of skills, that both are entwined. Foundational knowledge is delivered and built upon using practical and real-world examples; using case studies, students develop a contextual understanding and lateral thinking through a carefully and logically sequenced curriculum.  

By the end of their education in Business Studies at Callington Community College, all students of Business Studies will:

• Understand the importance of enterprise and the nature of the business world.
• Think commercially and creatively to demonstrate business acumen.
• Appreciate a wide view of how business operates in a multicultural society.
• Develop analytical and judgement skills which will enable them to become reflective learners.
• Draw from, develop, and implement knowledge from a range of disciplines including maths, science, engineering, geography, and art.

In order to fully appreciate Business Studies and develop a deep schema, topics in Business Studies have been developed using the following rationale:

Foundational knowledge is introduced and is consolidated through the use of practical, real-world examples where students use case studies to develop their understanding at a local, national and international level.  Through a cycle of Knowledge, Application, Evaluation and Assessment students achieve mastery in their understanding as knowledge is recontextualised through the core knowledge strands which run through each topic: Marketing; Business Opportunity; Finance and Human Resources. As students progress through the course, explicit attention is given to how their knowledge links to previous learning, or how it will lead to new learning so they can develop a strong understanding.

The Business Studies Curriculum at Callington Community College has been influenced by:

• Local businesses which offer opportunities for case studies and contextualised learning.
• Online communities of Business Studies teachers and discussion boards which focus on curriculum sequencing.
• Collaboration with Business Studies departments within the trust.
• Books and audio books such as: Anyone Can Do it (Duncan Bannatyne); The Rise and Fall of Marks & Spencer... and How it Rose Again (Judi Bevan).
• Podcasts: The Role of Enterprise; The Role of Marketing; Distribution and e-commerce and others.

Our subject addresses disadvantage through:

• Sharing clear Learning Outcomes at the start of each lesson to direct and frame students’ thinking.
• Using our Get To Work Tasks to deliberately bring knowledge from the long term memory to the working memory to act as a mental Velcro for students’ thinking and learning.
• Resources developed to ensure students have a record of their knowledge which they can refer to an develop as they progress through the course.
• Lessons are designed to support student understanding through the regular use of low stakes quizzes and modelling key responses, phrases, and techniques.

We believe that Business Studies contributes to the personal development of all of our students through:

Instilling in each student the positive power of ‘why not?’ and ‘what if?’ - creative thinkers ask ‘why shouldn’t the world be different? We want our students to recognise that they can have original ideas and have the confidence to share their thoughts and ideas. We want to build their skills of effective communication so that they can make sure their voice is heard.

Opportunities to build an understanding of Social, Moral and Ethical issues are developed alongside links to the wider world, including careers through:

Where the opportunity arises, students are encouraged to explore issues relating to sexism, racism and discrimination in the workplace through discussion of employment law; students are always encouraged to express their own opinion and explore their feelings within a business context and as such develop empathy and compassion and consider the aims, beliefs, and values of others. We use opportunities such as our focus on ethics and environment to evaluate, comment and discuss moral issues relating to business practises; students will consider moral and ethical dilemmas and apply them to their own learning.