Aims and Introduction

“I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I UNDERSTAND”

In the Business Studies Department we try to make Learning as experiential as possible.  For example, in Standard Grade “Business Management”, much of the course in centred on starting and running a small business.  What better way of doing this than the real thing!  In S3, students will form their own business where they will learn by doing.  Working in groups, they will invest their capital, brainstorm to arrive at their business ideas, negotiate who does what, co-operate to create their products, organise their marketing campaign, keep accounting records and generally become the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Students will use the tools available to them in the Microsoft Office Suite of programs to assist in the above enterprise activities and to produce their classwork throughout the course.  This will range from word processing, through spreadsheets, databases, desktop publishing, presentations, e-mail to using the internet to source information.  They will acquire ICT skills in a setting which relates to the work environment they will encounter when they leave school.  These ICT skills will also assist students in other subject areas, particularly when doing Higher and Advanced Higher subjects where formal essays or dissertations are required by the SQA for assessment purposes.

Education/industry links are important enhancements of the work in the Business Studies Department.  Senior students have a 2-day conference (held at the Peebles Hotel Hydro last year) run by an organisation called “Business Dynamics” (formerly called Understanding Industry).  The students are put through workshops in all aspects of Business Management such as Marketing, Human Resources, Operations and Finance.  We were supported this year by Standard Life plc, the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust and the Peebles Hotel Hydro and much gratitude is owed to these companies.

This year some students have been involved in e-mentoring where they are given e-mail access to an employee in the workplace with whom they can discuss anything related to the world of work.  At the end of the programme (usually lasting 10 weeks) the mentors eventually meet with the students and look back over the areas they have covered.  The companies involved this year were The Royal Bank of Scotland plc, Microsoft and State Street and Trust Company.  The e-mentoring scheme is sponsored by Scottish Enterprise and we again extend our thanks to them and to all the companies involved.