The year started with the retirement of Shaun Lightman after over 30 years of distinguished and loyal service. He was Head of Department for over 20 years and was instrumental in establishing the Young Enterprise Programme within the school. He has been replaced by Lynn Faulkner, who combines teaching Business with ICT.

The department has had a very successful year with excellent A level results and increasing number of students choosing to take the subject at A level. Perhaps the proudest achievement was that the vast majority of students who completed their A levels last year are now studying business related courses at University.

The Young Enterprise programme continued to be a success, with 14 students running their own businesses. They worked as directors for several business working with other members from local schools. They developed their teamwork and communication skills. The highlight was Rachael Lilley becoming an award winning Managing Director.

The students were also involved in the “Ogden Trust Business Challenge”. This is a national competition where business are given a business problem scenario and present a reasoned solution by the end of the day. The team won the area heats, beating representatives from Whitgift, Trinity and Alleyns they then narrowly missed out on a place in the national final. The team consisted of Jonathan Greenland, Alexey Stinikov and Caroline Culbert.

These are exciting times for the department with the number of students choosing to study the subject continuing to increase. Next year Economics is being introduced as an A level. Also students are competing in a National Schools Share Challenge, this involves students buying and selling in the financial markets. The aim is to develop their financial management, team working and research skills.