Business

By the end of the Year 11 students at Pendle Vale College will: 

• The learning in KS4 is the foundation on which they build and strengthen their understanding at KS5.  
• To have the skills, knowledge and understanding to complete and work on vocational course assignments post 16 e.g. deadlines, explaining, laying out their work correctly for assessment and knowing how to write assignments for an examiner.  
• Know what potential careers the KS4 course they have chosen may potentially lead to.  
• Build links with employers from placements and employer input in KS4 which can they support in the future with employement opportunities, work placements and experiencing the world of work.  

We fully believe that the vocational subjects above contribute to the development of all students at Pendle Vale College through our unrelenting focus on: 

• Core Skills: for students to be successful in meeting deadlines for assignments and writing succinctly with illustrative examples to show depth of learning. The skills developed may be needed for a licence to practice, for example. In Business, students are taught the foundation skills and knowledge to pursue the course post 16.  
• Currency: High expectations are at the heart of the vocational courses and directly linked to why these courses produce high Progress 8 results each year. Teachers set high expecatations for themselves in planning and teaching the courses to BTEC specified standards. We expect high epectations of learners, setting clear deadlines, clear instructions for what needs to be completed and to what depth to enable students to achieve at, or above, their target grades.  
• Character: Focus on future post 16 pathways many of our students pursue Childcare and Business at a vocational level post 16. We have excellent links with the local Colleges and work placement providers and ensure there is a smooth transition between KS4 and KS5.  

We instill a love of learning in all our students by: 

• providing well qualified ‘subject specialist’ teachers to ensure students are taught well and their knowledge is secure to help them complete their assignments/exams. We focus on strategies to teach mastery and not ‘topics’, so pupils can apply and use their learning independently (Fiorella & Mayer, 2015) 
• encouraging students to learn outside of the classroom through the use of real life examples, real employers and businesses to demonstrate how their learning in class applies to the workplace. Linking the learning to the workplace and showing students how this can help with their future employability.  
• having a culture of resilience and determination to work on drafts of work, and use feedback as a tool to improve further independently and aim for the higher grades through scaffolding.  
• choosing courses and exam boards which are best matched to our students, and their needs, to ensure they can make great progress on their courses they have chosen.  

In order to achieve a true understanding of Business topics have been intelligently sequenced based on the following rationale: 

• all tasks meet BTEC exam board specifications in terms of depth and knowledge to allow students  to use this learning to complete assessments.  
• all the ‘pass’ criteria tasks are taught first to all students in the sequence, and they build on this prior knowledge through completing the ‘merit’ and ‘distinction’ tasks. There is a focus on concepts and ‘bigger picture’ to allow understanding and recall of learning later on.  
• We bring the learning to life through the use of ‘real life stories’ as a technique to encourage students to recall information later on.  

The vocational subjects above contribute to the development of students at Pendle Vale through their development in five key areas: 

• Social development is encouraged through team work, working with employers, developing employability skills and quality classroom activities which enable collaboration with others but individual development.  
• Moral development of students is promoted when we look at equity in Business Studies in terms of employer/employee rights and the morally right way to run a business such as Fair trade and equal rights.
• Spiritual development is respecting the viewpoints of other people, their beliefs and guiding faith and how this might apply to some of the curriculum in Business Studies. We challenge misconceptions and encourage students to explore beliefs which may be different to their own to foster an understanding of the world they live in.  

• The curriculum contributes to the cultural development of students in encouraging them to discover things they may not have been aware of which help to develop cultural capital, such as exposure to businesses as employers. We challenge the misconceptions around ‘male/female’ subjects and encourage equal opportunities for all students to study the subject they are passionate about.  
• Personal development is taught by mutal respect between teachers and students; and students to students in terms of healthy working relationships and wellbeing. We explore safe working practices in the world of work through practical examples used in each subject area. We encourage self confidence and self belief through the activities students take part in during their learning.  

The vocational subjects above curriculum ensures that any potential equality issues are mitigated by: 

• All students are encouraged to study these subjects regardless of background, gender or ability.  
• No student is disadvantaged through learning need or ability – all students are supported with scaffolding activities In class to allow them to achieve to the best of their ability, many exceed expectations due to the support their receive by their classroom teachers. We do not encourage the use of ‘setting’ to allow students to aim high. We work closely with parents to identify any issues and address them promptly.  
• Revision guides are purchased for students, and knowledge organisers are provided.  

Our belief is that homework should be a deliberate practice of what has been modelled and taught in lessons, as well as interleaved revision to ensure students are embedding previously learn knowledge but also developing high level skills alongside powerful knowledge. All Science homework is meaningful and contributes towards students’ progress. KS3 tasks focuses on literacy and key terminology and KS4 focuses on long term memory; repetition and retrieval.  

Opportunities are built in to make links to the world of work to enhance the careers, advice and guidance that students are exposed to including: 

• Students experience the world of work from the perspective of the employer and what they are looking for, through talks and visits to the workplace.  
• Building links with employers from placements and employer input in KS4 which can they support in the future with employment opportunities, work placements and just experiencing the world of work.  

Whilst ensuring students are well prepared for their BTEC examinations, we teach beyond the exam specification by: 

• Taking students on visits to see the learning in class come to life. 
• We encourage students to make links between these courses and College study and university studies at a later stage in the future.  
• Students experience the world of work from the perspective of the employer and what they are looking for, through talks and visits to the workplace.  

The vocational subjects curriculum at Pendle Vale has been influenced by: 

• Fiorella & Mayer’s ‘Generative Learning’ theory to allow students to not just recall what they have learnt in lessons but to apply it through mastery. We use the following techniques in lessons to promote student understanding beyond fact recall through use of the following eght student activities: summarising, mapping, drawing, imagining, self-testing, self-explaining, teaching and enacting. (Fiorella, L. & Mayer R. (2015) ‘Learning as a Generative Activity’, Cambridge University Press.)