The Economics & Business Studies Department runs GCSE and IB courses for KS4 and KS5 students.

Economics and Business Studies are very popular options, and we believe that students choose these subjects for two main reasons: (a) the subjects provide a change from their prior learning; and (b) the students believe that qualifications in these subjects will open up a variety of academic and career paths in the future. From our point of view, we believe that the subjects provide students with a key to understanding the commercial world around us. Economics is an academic subject that builds upon a tightly bound set of theories. In comparison, Business Studies provides a more varied approach to commerce. Either subject can be positioned as a lead subject for Higher Education, or to complement non-related subjects in the Sixth Form - this is particularly true of Business Studies.

Key Stage 4 Business Studies

Pupils follow the AQA specification for GCSE Business Studies. The course focuses on four main components: Marketing, Finance, Operations, and Human Resources. As a result of these studies, pupils are able to evaluate, for example:

• How firms assess their markets, how they promote themselves, and how they survive and prosper in differing market conditions;
• How firms generate finance from internal and external sources, and how finance is planned, monitored and controlled; 
• How firms structure their functional and human resources to optimise their performance, and how managers lead and motivate employees;

Whilst a GCSE is certainly not a pre-requisite for further study in the subject, many of our GCSE students do opt to follow Business Studies and/or Economics in the Sixth Form.

Key Stage 4 Economics

Pupils follow the OCR specification for GCSE Economics. As mentioned, this is an academic subject and we recommend this course to those students who have an exemplary attitude to learning, and who are at ease with Mathematics. Similar to GCSE Business Studies the course is split into four main components: Introduction to Economics, The Role of Markets and Money, Economic Objectives and The Role of Government and International Trade and the Global Economy. 

Sixth Form

The Business Management and Economics International Baccalaureate course components are broadly similar to their A-level counterparts.  The IB will appeal to the more independent learner wishing to study a wider span of subjects.  The emphasis in the IB subjects are global and international issues whereas A level requires specific knowledge of the UK economy, UK government economic policy and UK business.  The A level has no coursework whereas IB subjects comprise of Internal Assessments to provide practical applications for theory.  

Extracurricular activities

Since our subjects relate directly to the world of work and commerce, we run a number of extracurricular activities which can be found on the BGS Opportunities website.  

We have arranged presentations from interesting companies e.g. HSBC, Jane Brown (the shoe designer competing with Jimmy Choo), Johnson Banks (arguably the UK's leading graphics company) visited the school. We arrange international field trips: For the past 14 years we have taken Year13 Economists and Business Studies students to international destinations, often the USA or China. We also take year 10 Economists to the Bank of England.