Applied Business. Investigating a business Preston Manor High School

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AS and A Level Business Studies

Unit 1 Applied Business                          

Task 1 – Introduction

Preston Manor High School was first found in 1938 and its first head teacher was Mr Bannister, who recruited excellent staff and maintained high standards throughout the War. It provided a traditional grammar school curriculum with science and languages streams. In 2002 Preston Manor was one of the first school to be a specialist in Science and Mathematics. Preston manor is in North Wembley, Middlesex in London, and has other competitors in its borough such as Copland Community School and Alperton Community School.    

 

It has about 200 staff (teachers), 1350 students in High School and roughly 270 students in Sixth Form. Majority of the students today are of Asian origin (Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi) and others are of Afro-Caribbean and African descent. Preston manor is a really high standard school with really good records such as the KS4 students achieving A* to C GCSE has risen steadily over the past 3 years (from 70% in 2004 to 74% in 2006).

Task 2 – Aims & Objectives

Mission statement could be a sentence, paragraph or several pages describing a business’s function, markets and competitive advantages, it is a written statement of the business goals (aims) and philosophy.

A business aim is the goal a business wants to achieve.

Business objectives are a way for an organization to define its goals and direction. Objectives are more specific than aims they are broken down so that they are easier to achieve.  

Preston Manor has a secondary school and sixth form college which provides high standard education. Its mission is to provide all their pupils with an education which allows them to fulfil their intellectual, artistic and sporting potential, and which prepares them for active citizenship in wider society by teaching them to value themselves and others. The School’s Equal Opportunities Policy defines these goals as a moral issue as well as a matter of effective teaching

Preston manor educates young people, giving them a start to new life, giving enough knowledge to students, so they can build a career for themselves. It works with the community to provide students with a high standard education. The school offers the most and least popular subjects e.g. Maths, Sociology etc, or the least popular like leisure and tourism. The school is dedicated to the individual development of attitudes, skills, knowledge, and responsibility essential to successful achievement in school and society. The school actively involves parents and the community in supporting student learning and development.

Offering most and least popular subjects shows the school gives a variety of subjects so all sort of customers (students) with different interest can join the school. They provide students with highly qualified teachers who are experienced and fully trained. The school wants students to feels satisfied the service and teaching provided, they want students to have the best grades and this will make their reputation look good in the borough or even city.

The School wants to aim higher than the actual national curriculum level, in order to become an outstanding school and first in the Brent borough. The school can achieve this by focusing more on students, give additional help (after school lesson), and improve teachers teaching skills to make the teaching high standard. Another aim for Preston manor is “To improve support for learning and so academic success and personal development for all students”.

The schools aims to get a better reputation, this can be done by getting involved more in the community, offer students work experience, volunteering work (for UCAS points) and organise events in the school (fun fairs). Also, maybe have special guests (celebrities) visit the school for popularity. The school aims to improve their KS4 results from 74% A* to C in 2006 to 82% in 2010.

The schools objective is to “Strengthen pastoral support and social inclusion polices, and promote good behaviour and high motivation.” This objective is focused on making students confident and motivated to achieve excellent results. The objective also shows they are aiming to improve the behaviour of the students by making more strict policies and rules.

The schools objective is to offer more courses so more students are interested in the school. The school sets targets for students. They use student performance data to track progress and set targets. They keep the students’ parents informed through sending reports every term, to make their service and communication better and reliable.

The SMART objectives for Preston manor are:

1. Specific - the school should have their aims and objectives detailed and planned for the future. This is a good way to be organised and to manage their financial, social and economic statements. The school keeps detailed plans on how they should improve their students’ grade, they have to be specific about how to organise the teaching and how to improve it.  

2. Measurable - the school should check students report in order to keep in update on their student’s performances. They should check if they are going to reach the targets of how many students achieve passes or above. Also, they could measure the amount of students have increased or decreased, this will be able to tell if the school is doing well or not. Teachers should observe other teachers lessons and discuss in meeting on how to improve the quality of teaching, how they can make the teacher more communicative and effective.

3. Achievable - The school has to see if they can become the number 1 sixth form in Brent, but they will have to see if their students will get the results or not. They can make this achievable by focusing more on students, give the extra support.    

4. Realistic - the school shouldn't assume that if they provide the best facilities, education and service they will be the top sixth form in the borough. They have to be realistic, and think in a pessimistic way, that other schools are competing and they will also try the things this school is doing; then they might think about keeping their strategies for later (when the time is right).

5. Time - the school have a suitable deadline for when they should have completed their aims and objectives. This will make them work at a certain pace which will be good for the school because the work will be done and they will keep up with their targets.  

Task 3 – External Influences

External influences are things that are not in control of the business, but they affect the business.

External influences can be divided up into different categories. These are:

Political - governments will often pass laws or pursue policies that can affect the way businesses operate: for example, directives on school lunches (food to be healthier). The government creates legislation on employment rights. Political influences might also be seen in the actions of pressure groups.  A new law such as schools providing healthy food means it will cost the school to change the suppliers of the food and cost them to make phone calls about the changes required etc. This will affect their budgets affecting their objectives to spend on facilities.

New Laws

A new law introduced can have various impacts on schools. A new law of having healthier food in the canteen will be a negative aspect for the school, because it will cost the school to change the suppliers to a healthier food provider and this will cost school time because they will need to change their financial statements. Furthermore this can be seen as a positive aspect for school who have considered the change to a healthier canteen (Preston manor is one of them), because this change shows the school is not only supporting students with their education but also providing them a better and healthier lifestyle. This will attract more students because it shows Preston manor care about their students and provide the best education with healthier food to give them a better diet. New laws will affect the school making changes in their aims and objectives; they may have to change their aim to be in the top 5 in Brent. A hypothetical example would be, a new law could be that the top schools will have to provide every subject; this will make the school spend money on organising the new courses (purchasing books, resources, equipment etc).

Ofsted – Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They report directly to Parliament and are independent and impartial. They inspect and regulate services which care for children and young people, and those providing education and skills for learners of all ages.[1] Ofsted inspects the quality of service provided to students in Preston manor. Having Ofsted inspect has some positive and negative impacts to the school. The negative impacts are that when inspectors visit the school it puts the staffs in pressure because they are one of the main people being inspected. This may cause teachers to underperform while doing their duties because they feel pressurised by the Ofsted inspectors. Teachers may not be able to teach effectively in lessons while being observed which could have an impact on the results and performance of students leading to negative impacts in the schools aims & objectives.

However, there several positive influences for having Ofsted inspectors. This will make the school teachers more aware of their actions which leads to better and effective performances, for example a teacher may teach in a more professional manner when being inspected and this shows that teachers are providing services at a professional level and are good role models for the students. Also, being under pressure can also lead to effective performances, for example being under pressure can make the staffs work at a better pace and teach efficiently.

Better for improvements – Ofsted inspection allows Preston manor to see if what areas they need to improve in. Ofsted is a good way to identify areas that can be improved. For example, according to Ofsted, “the effectiveness of safeguarding procedures” is rated second to best (2). This will help Preston Manor identify that they need to improve on their safeguarding procedures to have to the highest standards possible and making them meet their aims and objectives effectively.  

 

Economic - This has to do with things such as changes in Interest Rates, Inflation, Income, Recession, exchange rates, Unemployment, Supply & Demand, Technological cost and tax.

Advanced technology is being developed and it has grown into a necessity in society. Preston manor is providing the latest modern technology, such as electronic registration by swipe cards, smart boards (virtual learning) etc), to compete with their competitors, Copland and Alperton and maintain high standards. Competitive pressure between these schools accelerates this cost escalation of Preston Manor. Preston manor has to keep up with changes and latest trends that occur in the society. Thus, Preston Manor provides all the modern resources, facilities and equipments to students so the students are given the highest standard of education possible. However, purchasing these new modern facilities is very costly and comes out of the schools budget meaning Preston manor has to be careful as to not spending over their budget and maintaining high standards by providing the latest technology to students for best results. Furthermore, purchasing these modern technologies means that Preston manor is achieving their aims & objectives to “To develop the school effectively, develop innovative teaching and learning strategies improve their monitoring, evaluation and maintain & enhance school performances”. This aim is to develop the school effectively and the school is doing that by providing the latest technology.

If  there is inflation (currently inflation level is high at 4.5 per-cent in 2012[2]), the schools budget are affected in a negative way because when they have to buy facilities for the students, it will cost them more and they will reduce the amount of purchasing they make to provide the students with facilities. This will affect their objectives “Continue to improve the learning environment, site and facilities and eradicate litter” because they won’t be able to spend much money on keeping a healthy environment and providing high-quality food for students which will affect the reputation of the school.  This would lead to decrease in the number of students and will put the reputation down because they won’t be able to provide the high standard education.  Also, this objective would be affected by inflation “Develop the use of information and communication technology to support learning and school effectiveness”. This means the school targets to develop the use of technology and this can be done by purchasing new equipment and facilities, however the school will be limited to how much and how good the quality of the facilities are because the prices will be extremely high and some may not be affordable as it is a public school.

Education cuts –  this is when the government cuts down on educational services like public schools; this has an impact on teachers, pupils and the budgeting cuts of the schools like Preston Manor. Budget cut mean less incentive for educators to continue teaching. There are several impacts on teachers when there are education cuts. These impacts are:

Less pay – when education cuts are made, not only the schools gets their budgets reduced but teachers’ salary pay freezes. When educational cuts occur, minority of teachers will be lucky to even have their pay raises reduced to close to nothing, in other words when education cuts occur some teachers will be lucky to even have no reduction in their salary. This has a major negative impact on the schools, pupils and especially the teachers. With frozen salaries, this would result in a “real wage” reduction because of inflation so with the current pay freeze, real wages are going down. Teachers won’t be satisfied with their job and this will deter them from putting in their full effort to do their duties. Teachers will be unenthusiastic about their role as a teacher and this will affect the pupils’ performances and results therefore affecting schools progress in a negative manner and making their goals harder to achieve. Plus, it will make it harder for senior members and head of departments to motivate their team members (teachers) because this salary reduction is a really discouraging factor to every teacher.  

Statutory Maternity pay – Preston manor pays staff to leave school for a certain amount of time if an employee is having a new born baby, this is called a Maternity leave. Maternity leave allows female employees take days of from their work to rest and take care of their condition in pregnancy. The employees’ still gets paid from the maternity allowance they receive. But employees have to qualify to receive these payments and they have to fall in to these categories to get Statutory Maternity pay:

  • employed by the same employer continuously for at least 26 weeks into the 15th week before the week your baby is due (the qualifying week)
  • earning on average an amount which at least equals the lower earnings limit which applies on the Saturday at the end of your qualifying week  

Statutory Paternity pay – For paternity leave, male employees are given permission to take care of their partner during pregnancy and they still get paid. However, there are certain requirements in order to receive this payment. To be eligible for Ordinary Statutory Paternity Pay all the following must apply:

  • you must be the biological father or adopter of the child or be the mother's (or adopter's) husband, partner or civil partner or have or expect to have responsibility for the child's upbringing
  • you must have continued to work for the same employer without a break for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before the baby is due, or employed up to and including the week your wife, partner or civil partner was matched with a child
  • you must continue to work for that employer without a break up to the date the child is born or placed for adoption
  • you must be earning an average of at least £102 a week (before tax)[3]

These maternity/paternity leave affects the performance of the school results because the staff who are on the leave they may have a very important role in the school and they may be hard to replace. For example, if a Head of business department is on the leave, then the school may struggle to operate the business department, the staffs may not know what topics they have to teach in their lessons etc. This will cause the lessons to slow down and not being taught to full effect. However, a supervisor is likely to cover for the head of business so this will reduce the problems because the supervisor is likely to have good amount of information to keep the lessons going efficiently.  

Social - Over time, people change and develop different views, needs and wants. A drive towards social awareness of the need for recycling or the use of packaging, the environment, fashion, obesity and so on, all effect different business in different ways. Preston Manor will be affected by social factor such as population. The population structure shows that the number of old people is increasing and the population of young people is decreasing[4]. This may have an effect on Preston manor because the number of students that apply to the school may decrease and may get less money from the government, making the schools budget lower. Also, there is a positive influence on Preston Manor because the modern society is increasing the need of recycling. Preston manor promotes recycling by doing presentations in school about recycling and making students more aware of recycling and its benefits. Preston manor is currently doing a campaign on recycling to promote it and encourage students to recycle[5]. Furthermore, the school has put recycling bin all over the school to encourage the students to recycle and make the environment healthier. This activity makes the objective “Continue to improve the learning environment, site and facilities and eradicate litter” more achievable.

The table below provides a summary of the age structure of the UK population using data from the 2001 census and estimates for population change published by the Office for National Statistics.

Parents – From my research and own personal experience. I found out that if parents place a high value on education and help their kids to do well and encourage them to push themselves to learn then factors like schools located in a lower income are not much of an issue. This is because students achieving good results and being well behaved partly involves good parenting and to some extent the level of involvement in their kids’ education. With good parenting comes well behaved and focused students’ making teachers’ job easier. Furthermore, teachers are motivated by parents’ involvement in education because this enhances the value of the teachers’ role which is to provide education and this makes teachers feel more valued in their jobs because they educate the students who are the future of the society. Also, at parent evenings, Preston manor teachers get a chance to discuss any issues with the parents of the students making their work easier with the support of the parents…    

Preston Manor has several parents involved in the school according to Ofsted:

[6]

 

Technological - changes in technology can revolutionise the way a business works or leave it in a position where it will be difficult to survive. This impacts the school communication by the use of computers, telephones etc. The better technology they have the more effective the communication will be. New development such as introduction of modern technology means the school can achieve some objectives more easily like “Implement further changes and improvements to provisions for 14-19 year old” because adding modern technology is improvements to provisions for students and this is a good method to attract more students to this school because of the modern technology provided. However, some objectives may not be achievable as much as they are supposed to be. For example, “Develop the use of information and communication technology to support learning and school effectiveness”. This objective is to improve the use of technology and by purchasing more modern technology for improvements means they can attract more students and provide high standard facilities. However the schools budget will get lower and financial issues may occur due to purchases made on these modern technologies. This can lead to Preston Manor to cut down on the amount of purchasing they make on modern technology which means they won’t have high quality facilities or enough facilities and the objective won’t be fully achieved. Their reputation is likely to go down and fewer students will be applying to the school.

 However, in reality this is not the case. I interviewed one of the senior members of the school, Mr. Rigby, who knows about the schools financial position. The schools financial position is pretty good with up to approximately £7.15m year budget and they can afford to provide enough facilities and modern technology; but Preston manor does control how much they provide and not purchase any useless things that are not even going to benefit the school in any way (evidence is available in the interview research I done).  

Preston manor is providing the latest modern technology, such as electronic registration by swipe cards, smart boards (virtual learning) etc. Preston manor has to keep up with changes and latest trends that occur in the society. Thus, Preston Manor provides all the modern resources, facilities and equipment to students so the students are given the highest standard of education possible. However, purchasing these new modern facilities is very costly and comes out of the schools budget meaning Preston manor has to be careful as to not spending over their budget and maintaining high standards by providing the latest technology to students for best results.

Unemployment/tax (economical)

With less tax paid, governments are forced to cut back government spending to balance out the budget. Preston Manor is a foundation school. “Foundation schools are a kind of "maintained school, meaning that they are funded by central government via the Local Education Authority, and do not charge fees to students. As with voluntary controlled schools, all capital and running costs are met by the government”[7]. Teachers are paid their wages from the government, and if the government doesn’t have much to spend, then this means there will be fewer teachers. This means the school struggles to achieve their aims and objectives because they will have less staff to help and provide service to customers compared to if unemployment is low. With high level of unemployment, the school also loses students because if the school is not organised due to few teachers, then the students are likely not to go to a school which is not doing well. However, this will also affect the competitors (Alperton and Copland) so Preston manor is not the only school to be struggling with their objectives. And this means other good points like, providing various courses or facilities, will be considered by the students when choosing the school and Preston manor has to ensure they are strong in all the other areas to impress the students.

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Plus, if there is a high level of unemployment, the government will have to give benefits to the unemployed, which means there will be less money for the school to spend because the government is giving money to the unemployed as well. This will affect their objective which is to “Implement further changes and improvements to provisions for 14-19 year old”, this means giving more facilities and recourses for the student but with the unemployment this objective becomes harder to achieve due to budget reduction.

 

Unemployment rate:

Political – Government spending on:

NHS – this will ...

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Applied Business. Investigating a business Preston Manor High School
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