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Welcome to the Department. It may
be a small Department but it has a major input into the curriculum for
years 10, 11, 12 and 13.
To the years 12 and 13 the
Department offers AS and A2 Economics whilst to year 10 and 11 students
can opt for GCSE Business and Communication Systems.
OCR
AS/A2 ECONOMICS
Economics makes you THINK about what is happening in
the UK economy and how it is affecting US.
You will find out about
·
Why is the Government
thinking of raising road tax on 4-wheel drives?
·
Why do we pay income tax?
·
Why do people in some
European countries pay less tax on their earnings than we do in the UK?
·
Why do I have to pay
tuition fees to go to University?
·
Why are there NHS waiting
lists?
Economics is about finding answers to the fundamental
problems that face all societies:
·
WHAT goods and services
should we produce given our resources of workers, raw materials and
capital equipment.
·
HOW are we going to
produce goods and service? Do we use a labour intensive method of
production? Remember, workers are expensive in the UK.
·
WHO are we producing goods
and services for? Is it for children, the retired or students?
AS/A2 seeks to find the solutions to the problems
that all economies face.
The AS course consists of 3 modules:
·
The Market System
·
Market Failure
·
The National and
International Economy
Each of which
have a one-hour examination during year 1.
For A2 Economics,
you will undertake 3 further modules:
·
Transport Economics
·
The UK Economy
·
Economics in a European
Context.
For the last paper, Economics in a European Context,
you are given a pre-released case study which assists you in answering,
in-depth, the questions being asked. These is no coursework for either
AS or A2 Economics.
So if you have an enquiring mind, are interested in
current affairs, prepared to read, watch, listen to the news and want to
know what goes on in the UK and world economies, then AS/A2 Economics is
for you!
To years 10 and
11 the Department offers:
AQA GCSE
BUSINESS AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
This 2 year course offers students
the opportunity to gain a GCSE which combines many elements of both
business studies and information technology.
It enhances your ICT skills through
developing a more advanced knowledge and practical application of word
processing, database, spreadsheets, desktop publishing and presentation
software packages.
You will also learn about the
business world, with particular emphasis on
-
The workplace and how
it affects employees (ergonomics); health and safety at work, data
protection.
-
Human resources where
you learn about all aspects of the staff recruitment process from
identifying a job vacancy, creating a job advertisement, filling in
application forms, letter of application, curriculum vitae, short
listing candidates for interview, interview techniques; equal
opportunities for all employees; training and wages and salaries
-
Communication in the
workplace where you will learn about the importance of the
communication process and the forms of communication: written,
verbal, visual and electronic. Time will be spent developing the
practical communication skills needed in business ie business
letters, memorandum, notices, reports, agendas and minutes,
organisation charts, mail-merge and itineraries.
-
A knowledge of how a
computer system works. Thus you will learn about input devices,
processing information and output devices; the use of the internet
and the intranet.
ASSESSMENT
There
is no coursework.
You
will have 2 final examinations:
-
Paper One
Practical ICT paper which covers tasks which will demonstrate
your skills in word processing, database,
spreadsheets and other software applications.
The practical paper is 2 hours in length.
67% of your final grade.
-
Paper Two
Theory paper with a series of question and written responses.
The theory paper is one hour in
length.
33% of your final grade. |
