Head of Accounting – Dawn Swart
Welcome to the commercial subjects at Chesterhouse. Accounting and Business Studies are taught in the higher grades of our College in Grades 8 and 9 Economic Management Studies are taught to adequately prepare those pupils that wish to take these subjects to the IGCSE and AS Level examinations.
You may reason that computers do much of these functions in the work place today, but in order to understand what the computer is doing it is vital that we are able to perform and understand the processes manually first.
Our aim is to provide our pupils with the skills to understand different forms of business organisations, the environments in which businesses operate and business functions such as marketing, operations and finance.
I work very closely with my colleague, Liam Bell, and between us we continuously develop the curriculum to ensure that it remains an exciting class to attend and that our pupils are well prepared for their external Cambridge examinations.
The approach today is to link education more closely to the real world and pupils are expected to learn the skills needed to access, criticise, analyse and practically apply financial and managerial knowledge, rather than simply absorb and repeat it. In order that pupils can relate what they learn to the world around them we use a more case study approach where pupils learn how to identify problem areas within a business and come up with innovative solutions to problems or make decisions as to whether or not to invest in the business.
We try and keep the subject as practical as we can and visit Elgin in March where we show pupils the production process of the flower and apple industry.
We look forward to working with your child and preparing them for their future of their choice by letting them understand that the books are always a very important part of anything they do!
Dawn Swart
BTech Retail Business Management; PGCSE
Liam Bell
Accounting is a relatively new subject at Chesterhouse and has only been offered since 2006. This subject provides pupils with the exciting opportunity to gain and master skills that are useful in all walks of life, such as bookkeeping, budgeting, bank reconciliations and preparing and understanding financial statements. Although having Accounting as a matric subject is not a requirement for admission into commercial and financial degrees at South African universities, this subject nevertheless provides students of B Com degrees with an invaluable background into the world of commerce and gives them a head start in these disciplines. It is also a life skill to be able to understand financial statements, and a working kowledge of Accounting is essential in order to succeed in business.
Accounting is a subject that developed over a long time. As trade developed in the world, so too did the need to have some means of payment for goods, other than bartering one commodity for another. Something of value was needed as a means of exchange = MONEY!
Accounting is relevant to all our pupils and their everyday activities, as we all use money to purchase goods and services. They are taught that one needs to budget and, ultimately, understand financial reports. Learning to determine the efficiency and value of complex companies is important.
We take part in the Banango Traders accounting and business studies external activity which allows our Grade 8 and 9 pupils to compete for the most profit when given a money making scenario – a business. Through these activities we are able to make the world of commerce studies very real, fun and keep our pupils interested and interactive.
