The Big Project

Good Morning year 11 BAFters


well as promised here we are.  All the last four units done and dusted and the marks need to be sent to the exam board by 30th April.  For those of you who have still to add or finish let me remind you what these units are::

• Unit 4   (G.C.)
• Unit 5   Business Administration & Teams       (G.C. / T.T.)
• Unit 6   (G.C)
• Unit 7   Success at Work                                (T.T.)

Now for the BIG PROJECT.  Mr Coakley had created you a template 
here so that you can complete it about your own big project:

• The OSA online shop
• Enterprise for Primary Schools
• Grease Promotion, flyers, posters, blog and ticket branding

The evidence for assessment will need to include:

• the completed Production Log including the Project Proposal Form
• a written report
• evidence , as appropriate, depending on the topic or subject area chosen e.g. an artefact, or recording
• the final presentation.

Hope you have enjoyed working on this once in a lifetime qualification as much as we have enjoyed delivering it.

Enjoy and best wishes

Mr T

Event Planning

Good afternoon year 11,


Event planning is a massive activity and more and more people get other organisations to plan their big wedding, retirement party and corporate Christmas party. However with some strategic planning and a reliable checklist to support you everyone can take on their own event and succeed.  An events checklist can be found here.


For LO3 you are required to make effective contributions to a team in order to achieve your event objectives.


Task read the event checklist and consider the following questions below for LO3


My Role in the event is....

1. What role will you play in the event? Why this role?
2. What will you take responsibility for in the planning stage?
3. What performance targets will you set your team to measure the success of the event?
4. What will you take responsibility for in the execution of the event? Why this?
5. What role will you play in the evaluation of the event ? and Why?

Have a great Easter holiday and see you for a couple of weeks next term.

Remember any outstanding work for the previous unit should be with me by Wednesday 28th March if you wish to improve your grades on unit 7.

Well done and good luck

Mr T 

The benefits of teams and the importance of individual skills and qualities

Good morning year 11


after completing the PLANE CRASH activity we will present your individual exit strategies.


After completing this task we will use the worksheet attached here to create evidence for what you have learned from the activity.


This will all be part of your Controlled Assessment evidence.


Good Luck and enjoy


Mr T 

Dear Year 11 BAFTERS


Click here to see where the marks can be had for this final unit 5 !


For your controlled assessment you will need to:


Know the health and safety requirements relevant to the business environment.

• describe procedures for identifying and reporting potential hazards and risks in a business environment. Buy the end of today you should ALL have a health and safety checklist
• Identify relevant health and safety legislation.  By the end of today you should have a list of the main Health & Safety Acts that a business must adhere to.
• outline safety procedures for dealing with emergencies.  By the end of today you should have a documented emergency evacuation plan for your own school
• By the end of today you should have completed a health and safety RISK ASSESSMENT based on your event

Sounds simple enough but have you got enough material in your folder to create this in a 1 hour controlled assessment session?

Mr T

How effective is my teams performace?

Hi Year 11 BAFTERS


As we embark on the next stage of theory for TEAM work I thought that id share a little video clip to help P5 get off to a smooth and fun start.  Click here to see what you make of it.


Task One
here is a little test to assess your teams performance so far in terms of planning your event.  Click here to seen how good you are as you start to FORM.  Remember the teams that get to PERFORM the quickest usually get the job done best and soonest.  Enter the TEAM name and PRINT. Keep the print out as evidence and date and sign it.  You can repeat this later in the term.


Task Two


Using the link here and the internet prepare a guide for managers instructing them how to build world class teams and submit it by email to me at doingbusinesswithmrt@gmail.com


good luck and enjoy


Mr T   

Unit 5 Business Admin & Teams

Hi year 11

Well we have started the final unit of the course and I am tasked at delivering the theory for learning outcome 2

'Know the health and safety requirement relevant to the business environment'

You might wish to start here at the HSE website.  The Health and Safety Executive is responsible for ensuring compliance across all sectors in the UK and can be found at the link here

Any company with more than 4 employees should have a Health and Safety Policy and written statement and example of what it should contain can be found here

The Health & Safety at Work Act ensures that everyone is responsible for the health and safety of each other in the work place and no one can ignore things that they see which are not safe. The details of the act can be found here

Health and safety has massive cost implications on a business however the cost of non compliance could be greater if an employee trips or is seriously injured or killed.  The cost of fines, compensation and reputation will soon outstrip the cost of compliance for those offenders.

Safe and secure offices will also prevent crime see video clip here

Assignment Activity
As Health and safety officer at Google's Head Office in London you have been asked to design a checklist that would be used by all section heads on a monthly basis to consider how safe their work space is and identify what needs to be reported. The checklist should be very comprehensive and include all sections of the company's health and safety policy.

Identify a policy 
Identify a policy / procedure for reporting hazards or potential accidents that need to be addressed when they are identified by the monthly Health and Safety checklist.


Once youve had a good read and are confident with the topic why not click here and take the online test


Enjoy


Mr T

Download a fun activity to see if you can spot the HAZARDS here

Controlled Assessment and filling the gaps...

Good morning year 11 BAFters


The meaning and features of money and securing your key job role

• It would appear that the guidance booklets that you have created have a common weakness and that being your need to explain the features of income and taxation on your chosen areas of employment.  Some have done this better than others so today whilst the interviews are taking place those that need to can improve your submission. The following resources will help with this:

1. Directgov
2. Bank of England 'Money Matters' Pounds and Pence is full of tax and national insurance advice and guidance and can be found by clicking here  Again we have looked at this before

• Can you also ensure that your guidance booklet includes a short briefing document explaining the skills, personal attributes and knowledge required to secure and retain your own chosen employment.

• Finally and a weakness in all your scripts can we revisit the key aspects of personal financial planning and include in our submissions the following:

1. Sources of financial advice.  Why not try the Personal Finance Education Group or DOUGHUK
2. the costs of such advice
3. the benefits and risks associated with financial services
4. the main types of financial services and exchange rates for overseas travel

You might wish to use 'comparison websites' and magazine style 'best buy' or Which Magazine approaches to compare products as the assignment asks you to research the main types of financial services required for your future careers and produce an appropriate MIX of financial services. We have looked at this in a previous blog page. Click here if you can't remember

This should see us through to a successful conclusion.

Good luck and well done

Mr T

Unit 7 Success at Work - Interview Success

Hi year 11

this is the final furlong of your controlled assessment and I am pleased to say that one of you BAFter's have successfully completed it.  Perhaps you might like Charlie to coach you to a successful completion also. See him here on You Tube above.


I have attached a few goodies to the blog page to help you check that your prepared.  These include:

• A witness statement
• Interview panel questions
• Self evaluation sheet or SWOT analysis on your performance
• A wee website for those who need a job description or people spec or don't have a Scooby Doo clue of what types of jobs you are thinking about doing !

Don't forget to make sure that you have:

• Your covering letter and CV
• A real completed job application form
• A job description and person specification for your chosen career job role.

Think that's all folks

Ill give you some feedback next week so you can make any corrections to your:

1. Careers Booklet ' Success at Work' remember the best one will be forwarded to Connexion to print.
2. Your 'Career Development Plan'

Getting my Career Development Plan right in the controlled assessment

He Guys and girls


let me know if this helps.  Click here and complete yours. A template here might prove helpful


when completing your CDP with SMART objectives also.


Interviews next week.  Remember you are preparing for your chosen job role.


CV and letter of application submitted.  Try to research the job and Ill arrange a list of interview times


during next Friday.  To be carried out between Mr C & Mr T


Happy Friday


Mr T

Financial products to match my career development plan

Good morning year 11 BAF ters
Just before we crack on with the 3rd and 4th session of the 'Controlled Assessment'


I took the liberty of asking 'Connexions' if we can submit the best controlled assessment for them to print and give to young people in Oxfordshire so make sure that its good enough to PASS the controlled assessment and maybe get you a story in the local Oxford & County Newspaper press.


Financial products and services


For those of you last week who felt that we had not done enough on this area I thought a quick post to the blog might help.  I opened a bank account with Barclays Bank when I was 16 years old and I still have the same account.  Click on the link here and see if they can offer you an account for NOW and accounts that will meet your wants and needs in the future.  Have a look at the following:


Barclays Student Account
Barclays Cash-card Account
Barclays Current Account Plus - basic banking - what is it?
Barclays Additions Active - What do you get free with this account?
Barclays Premiere Life - How much do you need to earn or have saved to have this account?
Barclays Wealth - How much do you need to earn or have saved to have this account?

You might also like to look at some financial products that you may wish to consider.  Generally reward is linked to risk.  The higher the risk of the investment the greater the reward.  Likewise the lower the risk the lower the reward.  Look on the Barclays website and see what deals are to be had and what products they have on offer:

• Savings accounts
• ISA's
• Pensions
• Stocks and share dealing facilities
• Endownment policies
• Mortgages
• Plus anything else that you might like the look of if your disposable income allows it

 Enjoy and crack on three sessions to go and we are done on Unit 7.  You should be proud of yourselves, I am !


Mr T

Interview Techniques made easy

Good morning year 11 BAFter's and welcome back to OSA

Today you have an opportunity to brush up on your interview techniques before you start your controlled assessment.  Remember to PASS Unit 7 Success at Work you will need to successfully plan, prepare and carry out a real interview for a position posted to this blog.  Job description and people specification will be provided. 

I don't know if you've come across Careersbox before, but this website has a series of 7 short videos (each is about a few minutes' long) covering the different stages in preparing for an interview.  

Go to:

http://www.careersbox.co.uk/films/level7/?filmID=1514&sector=40&jumppage=3  

If this link doesn't work, go to www.careersbox.co.uk and put in 'interview techniques' in the search box.

'That's all folk's'  You are now ready to start the controlled assessment.  As soon as the class feels comfortable with their resources and research we will commence.  I'm thinking that half way through period 2 today you will be ready to start planning it and the first of 5 hours will be period 5.

For those who still don't have the assignment brief printed you can get a copy of it here

The smart learners in the group will spend some time understanding the marking criteria.  If you know where the marks are accessed you will be able to get them all !

Have a great day and enjoy

Mr T 

Money matters

Hi year 11 BAFters


here is an interesting link that might support your 'controlled assessment' work that we will start on Friday; 


'pounds and pence' is the Bank of England's let me know what you think as this has lots of tax and NI resources.


The presentation that you received last week called 'earn your wages' might also prove helpful.


Ill find some more if that's not user friendly


Mr T

Success at Work - Controlled assessment Unit 7

Good morning year you BAFters


here we go this is the FINAL power point presentation for you to use for the controlled assessment which is also attached here.


Remember you have covered a lot in a very short time.  The challenge now is to convert this into an outstanding piece of work to secure an OUTSTANDING mark for this unit.


Those that have activities missing might find this tough.  You know who you are and there is a CHECKLIST available to sort yourself out between writing sessions


I will deliver a session on interview techniques ASAP to allow you to plan and prepare for this part of the assessment.


Any problems or questions just shout.  Remember the RULES of ENGAGEMENT of CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT and don't let yourself down




Good luck and enjoy


Mr T

Unit 7 Success at work - Preparing for the controlled assessment

Hi you BAF Diploma peeps

attached is a draft assignment for your perusal.

My question is how confident do you feel about carrying out this if you had to do this today and

what else do you need from me to allow you to do so.

Download this document as a word document and RAG rate it by highlighting what you could do in GREEN and what you will struggle with in RED.  Anything in ORANGE is what your OK with

then save it to your user area and email me a copy

Good luck and we will discuss this before the end of P5 today

Mr T

Is career development planning the secret for success at work ?

Good afternoon you lovely BAF learners

the last task for this part of the course is to start carving out your PLAN for the next 5 years.

This will be based around three little questions:

• Where are you now ?
• Where do you want to be ?
• How will you get there ?

You can't leave any of this to chance as the world is getting more and more competitive every day.

If you don't believe me look at the video clip here - you'll need earphones or speakers to listen to it but its worth 10 minutes of your time.

I have set out a template to help you with this task so that its not too daunting.  Its broken down into:

• short term - rest of year 11
• medium term - next 3 years inc college
• long term - next five years inc University or your first job.

Every 10 minutes planning saves you hours of doing so as Mr T say's on the 'A-team'

"I like it when a plan comes together" this is probably your first real chance of creating your game plan

Good luck and enjoy

Mr T

Homework

Easy peasy - finish your CDP plan by next friday and make sure its got some healthy detail in it



Applying for your dream job, work experience or apprenticeship

Good morning Yr11BAF


Have you got what it takes to apply for a job or work experience in Business & Finance.  Which blue chip company would you like to work for?  How are you going to impress a potential employer and compete for a place in the current economic climate? Would you believe it if I told you that nearly one million young people between the age of 16 and 18 are NOT in any sort of employment, education or training!

Where do you start to get your CV at the top of the pile? How important is your covering letter?
By now you have probably got a career path in mind so who do you rate as the best employers in the market and what positions are they currently advertising. Try looking at the following websites and find a position  that you feel confident applying for:
 www.gumtree.com
http://www.totaljobs.com/
jobcentreplus
http://www.connexions-cw.co.uk/
http://www.apprenticeships.org.uk/

Once your happy with a position that's appropriate to your skills, experience and personal attributes that you have identifies, tailor your CV to represent this and create a covering letter to post out with it.

Creating a CV link
Job application form link 
Covering letter click this link or this link

I would like to get these in the post for 5pm but if we dont manage it you can finish it for homework and email it to me before next week

Good luck and enjoy

Mr T

BAF Diploma - Unit 7 Success at Work

Good morning year 11

The aim of this unit 'Me and my future' is to help you achieve your personal financial and career goals.  To achieve this unit you will:

• understand the financial benefits of employment and the requirements to secure and retain employment
• be able to research information on personal financial requirements
• to be able to prepare for and take part in an interview for a job
• to be able to plan and achieve your own career goals.

The first assessment will require you to make a short powerpoint presentation about yourself.  To get to know yourself better I have created several activity tests and subscribed to software packages for you to

1. Connexions Kudos - online
2. Skills audit - written
3. Personality test - online
4. Self appraisal

PLTS passport evidence -  Independent enquiry & effective participants

As we only have two lessons a week anything that you dont manage to get done will need to be completed as homework.  Completed activities can be saved to your user area in a folder titled Unit 7 Success at work or printed out and kept in your class notes folder.
I hope you enjoy this unit as much as I enjoy delivering it.

Homework

Using the information from the above four activities and use it to create a PowerPoint presentation about yourselves and email it to me at TThompson@oxfordspiresacademy.org before our nexct lesson next on Friday 16th September 2011.

I hope you enjoy this unit as much as I enjoy delivering it.

Best wishes and good luck

Mr T