Our Year 11 BTEC Business Level 2 students have been taking part in the BTEC Business Food Truck Bash this week – an event where teams design their own food truck businesses and pitch them to ‘investors’ and judges. Each group creates a unique brand and financial business plan, with many reflecting their own cultures, joint research and ideas.
“The event encourages students to take real agency in their own learning, showcasing not only entrepreneurial flair but also strengthening vital skills such as communication, organisation, teamwork, critical thinking, creativity, and research,” says Adam Johnson, BTEC Business Curriculum Leader at BSB. “The experience also equips students with valuable preparation for life beyond school, giving them confidence and practical skills they can apply in future education and careers.”
The BTEC Food Truck Bash exemplifies this ethos, inviting students to dream up, design, and launch their own food truck concepts from start to finish. The challenge demands that learners combine entrepreneurial vision with practical execution: from devising pricing strategies, designing branding and visual identities, to managing real-time feedback from the judging panel made up of members of staff during the final presentations. In this way, the Food Truck Bash is no mere simulation but an activity that reflects real world challenges.
This interaction with the judging panel ensures that lessons in teamwork, problem-solving, financial literacy, and customer service feel authentic and lasting. It’s the kind of applied learning that develops transferable skills – communication, collaboration, adaptability – while building students’ confidence to think creatively and act decisively. For BSB, the challenge is a living demonstration of its belief in ‘learning by doing’ and preparing young people for a future that values innovation and resilience as much as academic success.
“One of the most valuable skills we learned from the Food Truck project, apart from the importance of teamwork, was how to create a business plan, handle a budget and monitor costs,” says Nehir, one of the Balkan Treats team. “These are real world skills which will serve us well in our future careers and our lives in general.”
At BSB, we understand that choosing the right educational path for your child’s future is one of the most significant decisions you’ll make. That’s why, in our Post-16 programme (Years 12 and 13), we proudly offer a uniquely comprehensive, two-year pre-university experience designed to support the varied individual needs of every learner. BSB stands alone as the only international school in Belgium to provide three globally recognised pre-university programmes: A Levels, the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB), and the International Business and Technology Education Council Qualification (BTEC Level 3). This breadth of choice, combined with the option to thoughtfully combine qualifications like BTEC with A Level subjects, ensures that no student is forced into a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
Our commitment is to guide students towards not only academic success but also to equip them with the skills and approaches to learning needed to thrive in their chosen life beyond Secondary School. Each pathway leads to a qualification or diploma recognised by higher education institutions worldwide. Our experienced and passionate team, including the Head of Post-16, Head of Higher Education, and BSB Futures Coordinator, provides extensive support for students and parents throughout this collaborative and student-centred options process. We encourage pursuing the most appropriately challenging pathway for their desired plans, considering academic performance, individual learning needs, passions, future goals, and higher education preferences.
BSB is proud to be the only school in Belgium offering BTEC qualifications, internationally respected vocational courses designed for students who learn best through hands-on projects and real-world applications. Recognised by universities and employers alike, BTEC combines coursework with continuous assessment, ensuring students can demonstrate their abilities across a sustained body of work rather than through final exams alone.
The results speak for themselves. BSB has achieved a 100% pass rate year after year, with the vast majority of students obtaining top marks. Graduates often progress to higher education in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and across Europe, while others enter directly into professional fields equipped with the skills, portfolios, and confidence that BTEC fosters.
The range of disciplines – Business, Sport, Applied Science, and Hospitality – resonate strongly with career-oriented learners. The Food Truck Challenge illustrates how BTEC goes further than “study”: it empowers students to develop entrepreneurial mindsets, ready to innovate in industries as diverse as finance, science, event management, or the creative sectors.
The A Level programme at BSB remains a trusted pathway for students who thrive in deep, subject-specific study. With more than 20 subjects available – from traditional academic disciplines such as Mathematics, Physics, and History to arts subjects such as Drama, Music, and Art & Design – students can tailor an education that plays to their strengths while ensuring rigour and respect from universities globally.
BSB students consistently achieve impressive results, with more than a third securing the highest A*/A grades. These outcomes and the school’s strong pastoral and academic support open pathways to the UK’s most competitive universities, as well as prestigious institutions throughout Europe, North America, and beyond.
For those who prefer broad, global study, the IB Diploma Programme offers intellectual challenge and international perspective in equal measure. Students engage with six subjects across the sciences, humanities, and arts, but just as importantly with the IB “Core” – Theory of Knowledge, Extended Essay, and Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS). These components develop young people who think critically about knowledge itself, undertake independent research, and connect learning to wider community engagement.
BSB’s IB results consistently exceed global benchmarks, underscoring the quality of teaching and the motivation of its students. Graduates secure places at leading universities worldwide, from Russell Group institutions in the UK to Ivy League, Oxbridge, and top European universities. With its focus on balance, versatility, and cross-cultural understanding, the IB experience at BSB cultivates students who are truly world ready.
Academic excellence at BSB is complemented by an unusually rich co-curricular programme. More than 100 enrichment activities each week – ranging from Model United Nations and robotics to performing arts, sports squads, and service opportunities – give students space to discover passions, develop leadership, and contribute to their community. Industry links, work experience placements, and expert guest talks add further layers of experiential learning, ensuring that education at BSB is as outward-looking as it is academically rigorous.
As one of Europe’s most diverse international schools – with around 1,300 students representing more than 70 nationalities – BSB offers a truly international education within a supportive, close-knit environment. Whether creative, practical, academic, or a blend of all three, every student at BSB is given the foundation to aspire, achieve, and succeed on the pathway that best reflects who they are and who they want to be.
Interested in joining the BSB community? Please contact our Admissions team for more details.