Business Studies

What is covered within the Business Studies curriculum?

The Golden Thread themes that run throughout the Business Studies curriculum are:

  • Enterprise, Business and Growth
  • Economy and the External Influences
  • Finance and Accounting
  • Human Resources
  • Marketing
  • Business Operations

Key Stage 4

We study content for the Pearson Edexcel Level 1/Level 2 GCSE (9–1) in Business which consists of two externally-examined papers for Theme 1 and Theme 2. The two 105-minute exams are completed in the summer of Year 11. 

The exams consist of a series of: 

  • multiple choice questions
  • calculation questions
  • short-answers (1, 2, 3 marks)
  • long answers (6, 9, 12 marks)

Theme 1  is learnt in year 10 and concentrates on the key business concepts, issues and skills involved in starting and running a small business. 

Theme 1 comprises five topic areas.

  • Topic 1.1 Enterprise and entrepreneurship – students are introduced to the dynamic nature of business in relation to how and why business ideas come about. They also explore the impact of risk and reward on business activity and the role of entrepreneurship. 
  • Topic 1.2 Spotting a business opportunity – students will explore how new and small businesses identify opportunities through understanding customer needs and conducting market research. They will also focus on understanding the competition. 
  • Topic 1.3 Putting a business idea into practice – this topic focuses on making a business idea happen through identifying aims and objectives and concentrating on the financial aspects. 
  • Topic 1.4 Making the business effective – students will explore a range of factors that impact on the success of the business, including location, the marketing mix and the business plan.
  • Topic 1.5 Understanding external influences on business – students are introduced to a range of factors, many of which are outside of the immediate control of the business, such as stakeholders, technology, legislation and the economy. Students will explore how businesses respond to these influences. 

Theme 2 is learnt in year 11 and focuses on the key business concepts, issues and decisions used to grow a business, with emphasis on aspects of marketing, operations, finance and human resources. Theme 2 also considers the impact of the wider world on the decisions a business makes as it grows. 

Theme 2 comprises five topic areas

  • Topic 2.1 Growing the business – students are introduced to methods of growth and how and why business aims and objectives change as businesses evolve. The impact of globalisation and the ethical and environmental questions facing businesses are explored. 
  • Topic 2.2 Making marketing decisions – students will explore how each element of the marketing mix is managed and used to inform and make business decisions in a competitive marketplace. 
  • Topic 2.3 Making operational decisions – this topic focuses on meeting customer needs through the design, supply, quality and sales decisions a business makes. 
  • Topic 2.4 Making financial decisions – students will explore the tools a business has to support financial decision making, including ratio analysis and the use and limitation of a range of financial information. 
  • Topic 2.5 Making human resource decisions – growing a business means that decisions relating to organisational structure, recruitment, training and motivation need to be made to influence business activity. These aspects are considered in this final topic. 

How will I learn Business Studies?

You will learn using a variety of activities, which often include: research tasks, conducting groupwork and problem-solving challenges. 

You will develop skills in applying business concepts, analysing business decisions and evaluating business successes and failures.

Helpful links

KS4 curriculum outline: This document outlines what we expect to teach over each term in year 10 and year 11:

31 KB

Useful guide to structuring longer answers:

386 KB

A link to the exam specification followed for GCSE Business Studies is here: GCSE Business Studies Specification

You can revise the GCSE topics using BBC Bitesize. Ensure you search for the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies course. A link can be found here: GCSE Business - Edexcel - BBC Bitesize

There are many helpful videos from content creators on YouTube such as: 
Two Teachers https://www.youtube.com/@TwoTeachers 
BusinessTeacherT https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessTeacherT 
Bizconsesh https://www.youtube.com/@Bizconsesh 

Key Stage 5

We follow the Pearson BTEC National Diploma Level 3 Business Studies specification.
This is a double award subject and is equivalent to two A Levels which takes two option blocks. This is taught through a variety of:

  • Coursework 
  • Research
  • Organisation
  • Collaborative working
  • Exam 
  • Controlled assessment

What will I learn?

Year 12

  • Unit 8 Recruitment and Selection 
  • Unit 3 Personal and Business Finance (examined in January)  

Year 13

  • Unit 1 Exploring Business 
  • Unit 2 Developing a Marketing Campaign (examined in April/May)  

Unit 3: Personal and Business Finance is a 90-minute exam. Gain an understanding personal finance issues and ways to manage debt, business finance, profit or loss, cashflow and analysing business finance options. 

Unit 8: Investigate how a business carries out recruitment and selection, create job adverts, apply for jobs and participate in interviews, assess own skills. 

Unit 1: Research business by looking at ownership, how its financed, influences from a variety of stakeholders, why its successful, how innovation plays a role in a successful business. 

Unit 2: Design a marketing campaign for a selected business. Explain and justify marketing decisions regarding setting marketing objectives, budgets, which media to use etc. This will be written up over a 3-hour controlled session. 

A link to the exam specification is here: Specification - BTEC National Diploma in Business

Economics

We follow the Pearson Edexcel Economics B A Level specification.

How will we learn this?

  • debating economic issues such as inequality, globalisation and the Global Financial Crisis
  • exploring and presenting alternative courses of action
  • keeping up to date with national and international trends
  • learning about the economic environment and business through research and investigation

What will we learn? 

  • Theme 1 you will learn about how markets work and what happens when they don’t work so well. You will also learn about enterprise in the economy. 
  • You will consider the role of banks and life in a global economy in Theme 2.
  • In Theme 3 you will learn about globalisation and global issues impacting on the economy. 
  • In Theme 4 you will learn about financial markets and investigate the Global Financial Crisis.

How is it assessed?

For the A level we study all four themes and sit three exams at the end of the course:

  • Paper 1 has data response and essay questions on markets, consumers and firms and how markets work  
  • Paper 2 has data response and essay questions on competing in the global economy
  • In Paper 3 the data response and essay questions ask you to see how it all fits together. You will have a research task before the exam. The questions in the exam are linked to the context you will research. 

Economics prepares you for progression to further study or the world of work: 

  • You will have developed data handling and writing skills which are transferable to both university and employment
  • You might want to study a degree in economics, business economics, econometrics, international business or a business and management degree
  • Students have progressed into careers in accountancy and banking, commerce, the civil service and management

A link to the specification can be found here: Specification - A Level Economics

Last Updated: January 2026