Business
"Dorothy Stringer Business Department cannot create entrepreneurs, that desire has to come from the individual but it is our mission to light the fire and fan the flames and make sure it burns brighter over time." Mrs Grice, Head of Business
In Year 10 and 11 pupils have the opportunity to study Business GCSE. The course is specifically aimed at pupils who are interested in the business world, possibly with ambitions of owning or managing a company in the future. The course is designed to prepare pupils for the world of work and topics include, 'Setting up a Business', 'Growing a Business' and 'Investigating Business'.
Business is not an exact science; there are no rules that work every time for all businesses. The study of businesses is an art which enables pupils to develop analytical and critical skills, transferable to college courses as well as future employment.
The best way to learn is to do! and in Business we believe in and encourage pupils gaining first hand experience of business. As a vocational course it is extremely important that pupils have as many visits and guest speakers as possible. These include three curriculum trips to Drusilla's, Thorpe Park and Disney as well as guest speakers from trading standards, entrepreneurs, fashion designers and a marketing company. Pupils are also encouraged to take part in extra curricular activities, these include: Proshare, Mini Enterprise, Global Achievers and Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow. Pupils are able to gain real experience of the business world and in most cases make money! We have enjoyed great success in many extra curricular competitions; this year's teams for Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow were placed 2nd and 4th and received some excellent prizes.
Year 9 Business Enterprise
Our new Enterprise Education course (Year 9 pupils) empowers pupils with skills to enable them to run their own businesses. The course consists of enterprise capability, supported by financial capability, economic and business understanding. It allows pupils to develop a range of skills to prepare them for running their own business such as innovation, risk-management, a 'can-do' attitude and the drive to make ideas happen.
Through activities such as the Proshare Competition and Make Your Mark pupils have the unique opportunity to put theory into practice by investing in the stock market and coming up with a business idea and managing it through to success.
ICT
"Pupils show much enthusiasm in their work and are very supportive of one another readily helping each other to overcome problems... The hardware and software is very modern and powerful providing good access to the Internet from all computer rooms." OFSTED 2007
ICT here at Stringer offers opportunities for pupils to:
- Prepare them for participation in a rapidly changing world where activities are increasingly transformed by access to ICT
- Develop initiative and independent learning skills
- Gain rapid access to ideas and experience from a wide range of people, communities and cultures
Year 7 ICT
Being at a new school and learning new information can be daunting for Year 7 students. Pupils are taught in their tutor groups and have discrete ICT 1 hour a week. We, at Dorothy Stringer, have created an inviting and exciting first year. The course initially involves looking at Using the school network system and Hardware and Software. The students will then develop their own 'Virtual Tour' of Dorothy Stringer School using some advanced Power Point tools, digital images to produce a professional presentation that is fit for purpose and appropriate for a specific audience. Pupils also learn touch-typing techniques and have opportunities to practice during every lesson. Other topics look at E-Safety using Moviemaker and Audacity, Databases, Spreadsheets and Desk Top Publishing.
Year 8 ICT
The OCR National is a GCSE equivalent course for our current Year 8 and 9 pupils. It is a challenging programme of study in which all pupils can develop a wide range of ICT skills and gain a GCSE level qualification at the end of Year 9. There are two discrete units – Unit 1 and Unit 20. Unit 1 'ICT in Business' is studied in Year 8 which allows pupils to develop a range of ICT skills including working with spreadsheets, databases, standard business documents and presentations as well as e-mail and Internet searching.
Year 9 ICT
In Year 9 pupils cover Unit 20 'Creating an animation for the www using ICT'. For this project pupils research and analyse animated graphics on a variety of web sites. They have to be aware of what their purpose is and how they improve the design of the web site. They are taught a variety of animation skills in Macromedia Flash and have to produce a 30 second animation of their own design that meets the terms of the specification.
Functional Skills in ICT
Pupils learn how to use their ICT skills to take an active and responsible role in their communities, in their everyday lives, future workplaces and educational settings. Functional ICT enables them to be able to use ICT in ways that make them effective and involved as citizens. They learn to make choices about when and where to use technology, including managing themselves. They work in small groups on a real life project, and, in order to meet the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (S.E.A.L.) each pupil is assigned a role to encourage them to make active, responsible and complimentary contributions to the group project.
"In the 21st century, our natural resource is our people - and their potential is both untapped and vast. Skills will unlock that potential. The prize for our country will be enormous - higher productivity, the creation of wealth and social justice." The Leitch Report 2006
School standards have improved over the past decade, with more young people than ever achieving five good GCSEs. And yet, more than one in six young people leave school unable to read, write and add up properly. The development of Functional Skills in schools and colleges has been designed to make significant improvements in these areas.
The term 'functional' should be considered in the broad sense of providing learners with the skills and abilities they need to take an active and responsible role in their communities, in their everyday lives, workplaces and educational settings. Functional ICT requires learners to be able to use ICT in ways that make them effective and involved as citizens, able to operate confidently in life and to work in a wide range of contexts. The ICT programme of study for key stage 4 embeds the level 2 functional skills standards. The key concepts reflect the ICT functional skills standards:
- ICT capability, where learners use a range of ICT tools in a purposeful way to tackle questions, solve problems and create ideas and solutions of value in a range of contexts, and in other areas of learning, work and life
- communication and collaboration, where learners share and exchange information safely, effectively and responsibly
- exploring ideas and manipulating information, and becoming aware of the impact of technology, including issues of risk and safety surrounding the use of ICT critical evaluation of information and of the use of ICT
The curriculum opportunities section requires that students learn to make appropriate choices about when and where to use technology, including managing themselves, their work and their learning. Students should also have opportunities to exhibit their functional skills by applying their learning to real world situations within a range of contexts and in other subjects and areas of learning. This qualification is equivalent to half a GCSE and is mandatory for all students following a Diploma programme AT BOTH Higher level (GCSE A*-C) or Advanced Level (A level).
