Edexcel A Level Business Theme 3: forecasting and investment appraisal
Edexcel A Level Business (9BS0), Theme 3 case study lessons. A garden centre forecasts sales with moving averages and a scatter graph, then appraises a café and a glasshouse with payback, ARR and NPV.
One original, fictional UK case for about three 55-minute lessons. Students forecast a garden centre’s sales with moving averages and a scatter graph, judge the limits of forecasting, then appraise two investments (a garden café and a glasshouse) with payback, average rate of return and net present value, test the results, and write a recommendation of about 180 words.
Discount factors are printed on the pages.
Lessons (three, each about 55 minutes):
Lesson 1: Where are sales heading? - Three-period and four-quarter moving averages, a trend chart and Year 4 forecast, a scatter graph with mean point and line of best fit, interpolation and extrapolation, the limits of forecasting.
Lesson 2: Is the money worth it? - Payback, ARR and NPV for two projects, with the discount factors printed, and a comparison of the techniques.
Lesson 3: Should Thistledown invest? - Sensitivity tests, a board-meeting group task, a plan, a 180-word recommendation, self-check and two homework pages.
What is included: a 20-page student workbook and a 13-page teacher guide with three lesson plans, full worked answers, finished diagrams and tables, indicative guidance for the written tasks, and support and stretch ideas. Each is supplied as a PDF and as an editable Word file, so four files in all, together in one ZIP.
Specification fit (Edexcel A Level Business (9BS0), Theme 3): Mapped to the Pearson specification (Issue 1) sections 3.3.1 and 3.3.2. Check the sections against the current specification for your own course.
How to use it: share or print the student workbook, follow the teacher guide’s lesson plans, set the homework the plans name, and use the indicative guidance to give feedback on the written tasks. The Word files let you change wording, timings and answer space.
Please note: this is an original, fictional case, so every business, person and figure is invented. Timings are estimates and the lessons have not been trialled in a classroom. The guidance for written tasks is indicative guidance, not an exam board mark scheme. Not endorsed by Pearson, and no exam board questions or past-paper material are included. The Word files were laid out and checked in LibreOffice, so check the layout when you open them in Microsoft Word.









