‘The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.’
Socrates

Our curriculum vision

It is our vision and intent as a department to develop students who have a real world understanding of business and economics through application of theory to find exciting and innovative solutions to real world problems. As well as knowledge of business and economic theories and practice, we develop the creativity, communication, collaborative, and critical thinking skills that our students need to be ready and able to solve the business problems of the future.

Our approach is deeply rooted in our whole school ethos: we encourage young enterprise to fuel ambition; we develop altruism through group work to encourage communication and collaboration; we instil accountability through the high expectations we have of our students to perform to the best of their ability and take pride in their work inside and outside of class. We develop young entrepreneurs through offering our students opportunities to test their business acumen in a variety of competitions.

Studying Business and Economics at Harlington is an experience which our students enjoy and with excellent long-term results.

Years 10 and 11

We offer separate GCSE courses in Business Studies and Economics at Key Stage 4.

In Business Studies, students explore business practices in the real world with projects. The course develops students who are knowledgeable about the nature of business activity and those factors that influence business decisions. Because it provides comprehensive coverage of all elements of the business process, this course is excellent preparation for our A level Business Studies course and apprenticeships and degree level study in related subjects beyond school.

Economics is an academic course that introduces students to fundamental economic concepts, helping them to develop the thinking and analytical skills required to think like an economist in the modern world. Through learning about how consumers, producers and governments interact, students gain understanding of the theories in practice. We explore current issues through an economic lens, developing students’ understanding of the decision-making process of governments and the impacts these can have on markets. This course is superb preparation for students who want to explore and evaluate the impacts of economics on our day to day lives.

How to find out more

AQA GCSE Business Studies – https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/business/gcse/business-8132/specification-at-a-glance

OCR GCSE Economics – https://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/economics-j205-from-2017/​