At the start of the Summer Term, the College's business department was hard at work taking pupils on two trips in as many weeks. First, a group of CTEC pupils travelled to Thorpe Park to gather market research and, in the second week, a large cohort of GCSE and A-level pupils descended on London for an exam booster workshop. The following write-ups come to you courtesy of Mrs Bayley and Mr Olhausen.
Thorpe Park Market Research
Year 12 CTEC business students went to Thorpe Park on Tuesday 18 April to gather market research to complete their Unit 5 coursework. They arrived early, as the gates opened, and commenced their first task. Pupils had 45 minutes to walk around the park and take pictures of all the accessibility signage and adjustments that Thorpe Park have made for customers who require specific access.
Pupils then attended an in-depth marketing presentation in the Angry Birds 4D Theatre where they learned about the marketing mix and how Thorpe Park have repositioned themselves as an entertainment venue. They also learned about how the park is recovering post-covid and the marketing strategies they are implementing to increase return customers. They were then able to ask probing questions about how the park supports customers who need assistance or access arrangements, and they learned more about the exciting upcoming plans of the park.
After lunch, everyone then had the rest of their time to experience the attractions. The purpose of their visit was to experience the park through the eyes of customers with additional needs such as wheelchair access, or those with prosthetics, sensory needs or even customers with carers or guide dogs. They are now going to use this experience to design their own market research to gather data that will allow them to develop a proposal that will improve the experience of those with additional needs visiting Thorpe Park.
Report: Mrs Bayley
Booster Workshop
On Thursday 27 April, 50 business pupils (preparing to sit their GCSE and A-level exams) attended a grade booster day which was hosted by Tutor2U in Westfield, London. The day was designed to provide an interactive and engaging environment to help pupils improve their grades and develop their exam technique.
The format for the day was as follows:
GCSE
The GCSE workshop was split into four sessions:
- Session 1: Business basics and getting to grips with "explain" and "analyse" questions
- Session 2: Nailing the nine-mark questions
- Session 3: Maximising performance in 12-mark questions
- Session 4: Revision of key topic areas and numerical concepts
A-level
The A-level workshop was split into four sessions:
- Session 1: The exam challenge in 2023
- Session 2: Nailing the assessment skills of application and analysis
- Session 3: All about evaluation and extended response questions
- Session 4: Quantitative skills and key topic revision blast
For both sets of workshops, the tutors covered a range of tips and tricks for different mark questions and gave the students some particularly helpful strategies to gain those extra marks in the longer mark questions.
The tutors also gave the students some valuable insights into what examiners are looking for in the written responses and shared lessons learned (common mistakes!) from previous exams.
Overall, the GCSE and A level grade booster day was a great success, and everyone left feeling more motivated and confident, with practical tools and techniques to help them achieve their best grades in their upcoming business exams.
Report: Mr Olhausen
