Languages, Business and Travel

Languages, Business and Travel faculty curriculum intent
Our curriculum in all three areas is coherently planned and logically sequenced so that students develop into well rounded individuals and so that the school’s vision and values are effectively embedded. The faculty strives to work together to develop and encourage international awareness of a range of different cultures and working environments in order to prepare students for life after school.

Detailed curriculum intent statements Business Studies can be accessed here.

Detailed curriculum intent statements Languages can be accessed here.

Detailed curriculum intent statements Travel and Tourism can be accessed here.

Course overviews
In Languages, Business and Travel students develop a wide range of skills and knowledge of the wider world around them both nationally and internationally. 

In Languages we teach French, German and Spanish and students develop an ability to speak in the foreign language, write in the foreign language and understand written and spoken texts in the foreign language. We teach using a range of different activities, including a wide variety of games and we like to try to bring the cultures of the countries to life, with videos, songs and films. We celebrate important cultural events, such as Karneval and el día de los muertos and our exciting schemes of work mean that students make good progress. Exam results are excellent for Languages and we have had many students progress to studying languages at both A Level and at leading universities, where they are regularly complemented on their level of knowledge.

In Business students study a wide variety of different topics including marketing, finance, human resources, operations and the business environment. Throughout all courses students are encouraged to develop their knowledge of real-life businesses from small local enterprises through to global and internationally owned businesses.   Through the use of case studies and real-life examples students develop their analytical and critical thinking skills to relate their knowledge of theories to the businesses.   Business is taught across BTEC, GCSE and A Level courses and the results our students have gained has allowed them to go on to study at university as well as starting apprenticeships.

In Travel and Tourism students study the industry, the key components and the impact it has on destinations both within the UK and abroad. Students develop their understanding of the needs of customers when they want to use the different component industries within the sector and use this to help plan holidays that are relevant to each customer type. Throughout the course students gain an understanding of the different job roles that exist within the industry and the importance of them all working together effectively. Students gain the opportunity, through their coursework, to develop their written and verbal communication skills by creating written reports, brochures, itineraries and presentations. Results for all travel courses have allowed our students to go onto study at university or start apprenticeships in a wide variety of different vocations.

We really look forward to teaching you all!

Exam Boards:

GCSE MFL - AQA

GCSE Business - Edexcel

BTEC Travel and Tourism (Key Stage 4) - Pearson

A Level Business - AQA

BTEC Business (Key Stage 5)  - Pearson

BTEC Travel and Tourism (Key Stage 5) - Pearson

Recovery curriculum
In Languages we are focusing on helping students to practise the skills they missed out on during remote learning, to ensure that all students have a solid base of language skills to build upon. This means that there is an increased focus on speaking and listening in lesson time, along with an increased emphasis on learning about the culture of the country. In addition to spending more time on listening and speaking skills, teachers are constantly revising key vocabulary in lessons and using a variety of methods to embed this, such as regular quizzing. The MFL staff are laying on additional cultural activities this year, such as plays in French, German and Spanish, as well as trips abroad. In addition exam groups are being given the opportunity to have small group support to help them identify any gaps in their knowledge and to plug these, in order to help them achieve the best grade possible.

In Business and Travel and Tourism we are ensuring that students catch up with their learning and that exam classes still achieve highly, despite the disruption due to Covid-19. A key part of this is identifying gaps in students’ understanding, knowledge, examination technique or coursework and then addressing these gaps in a timely manner. This is being done through amended schemes of work, additional support with coursework and use of Seneca Learning and Satchel quizzes.  In addition small groups of students are being identified who will be provided with extra support to ensure that they are able to achieve the best grade possible.

Visits to France, Germany or Spain

Thorpe park

Enterprise club