Business Key Groups

All areas of our curriculum at Boldon School, is successfully adapted, designed and developed to be ambitious and meet the needs of all students. Each subject area develops their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do this with increasing fluency and independence.

Our teachers check pupils’ understanding systematically, identify misconceptions accurately and provide clear, direct feedback. They respond and adapt their teaching as necessary without unnecessarily elaborate or individualised approaches. This is to get the very best outcomes for our students whether they are SEND, disadvantaged or to challenge our higher ability students. This will ensure that students are ready for their next stage of education, employment or training to gain qualifications that allow them to go on to destinations that meet their interests and aspirations and the intention of their course of study.

How the business Curriculum supports our SEND students:

The Department for Education states, ‘Children and young people with SEND all have learning difficulties or disabilities that make it harder for them to learn than most children and young people of the same age. These children and young people may need extra or different help from that given to others.’

Boldon School is an inclusive school where every student is encouraged to develop a thirst for knowledge, to enjoy their curriculum and feel valued as a member of our school community. We are committed to the progress, inclusion and resilience of each student and support the learning journey that they require. Our curriculum is successfully adapted, designed or developed to be ambitious and meet the needs of pupils with SEND, developing their knowledge, skills and abilities to apply what they know and can do with increasing fluency and independence across all subject areas.

Students with SEND are supported in the business curriculum by teachers creating a range of material that help support and challenge students of all abilities and with different needs. Learning support assistants, physical resources and digital tools are used to help support our students thrive whilst following the business curriculum. Lessons are suitably modified by each of our teachers to support students with specific needs and our teachers use tailor made seating plans to identify where more focus is needed within their classrooms to ensure that students’ needs are met to the best of their ability. As technology is at the forefront of our faculty we use a range of online resources and tools that help further support students in accessing the business curriculum.

  • Resources are accessible but challenging, all students follow the same schemes and sequences.
  • Adaptive learning strategies are used.
  • Scaffolding and modelling provided on paper and digitally
  • Teach to the top approach.
  • Teacher feedback. Summative and Formative.
  • Green for growth – self assessment.

How the business Curriculum supports our disadvantaged students:

The Secretary of State for Education set out the government’s national plan to support children and young people to reach their full potential, regardless of their backgrounds. With an overarching goal and aim of improving social mobility through education, and delivering better educational and career outcomes more evenly across England.

At Boldon School we have 50% of our students with high levels of deprivation, but strive to raise the attainment and aspirations of all students regardless of social background. We have a robust allocation system of pupil premium funding to obtain the most successful outcomes for our students and to narrow the gaps in attainment across all subject areas.

Disadvantaged students are supported in a wide range of ways that are provided free by the faculty. Students have access to the Google suite of facilities so they are able to access a lot of the software that we use at school at home as well. The software provided allows students to explore a range of tools that they feel might help them develop their skills in an area of their interest. Trips and projects can also be offered to a range of students which are fully funded within the faculty such as creative enterprise projects that we run every year or visits to external providers to give students an insight into a career in the business industry.

  • Resources are accessible but challenging, all students follow the same schemes and sequences.
  • Adaptive learning strategies are used.
  • We use Learning Mats and online revision learning materials.
  • Scaffolding provided on paper and digitally
  • Help guides
  • Free access to industry used softwares
  • Teach to the top approach.
  • Teacher feedback. Summative and Formative.
  • Green for growth – self assessment.
  • Free digital and paper help guides

How the business Curriculum supports our higher ability students:

HM Chief Inspector stated, If we are going to succeed as an economy and as a society, we have to make more of our most able young people. We need them to become the political, commercial and professional leaders of tomorrow. 

At Boldon school we aim to nurture scholastic excellence through a challenging curriculum where the work given to students is demanding and matches the aims of the curriculum in being coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge. We recognise the need to stretch and challenge all students but especially our MAT and higher ability students to obtain maximum progress.

Higher ability students are supported in Business by encouraging them to explore a range of solutions that can be used for problem solving. Students are given opportunities to develop their more creative business skills when developing products to explore a wider range of tools that can be used across a range of software and platforms. Stretch and Challenge activities are planned for every lesson to ensure students are pushing themselves to achieve the very best in business. These activities are designed to get students to expand, explore and apply their understanding to a range of tasks rather than just extending what they already know. BAR activities are also built into every lesson which gives the students three levels of challenge for every task students are always pushed to complete the activity that will challenge them the most.

  • Stretch and challenge
  • Self assessment (GREEN FOR GROWTH)
  • Using exemplar materials
  • Digital systems such as Know it All Ninja
  • Scaffolding and modelling