What does Cultural Capital mean at St John's C E (C) Primary School?

Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours and skills that a child can draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.

Cultural capital is the essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for their future success. It is about giving children the best possible start to their early education.

Cultural capital is understood to contribute to success in life and give the children the desire to aspire for example, being able to perform well in school, knowing how to talk in different social groups or societies, accessing higher education and being successful in work or a career.

Ofsted define cultural capital as…

“As part of making the judgement about the quality of education, inspectors will consider the extent to which schools are equipping pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

Our understanding of ‘knowledge and cultural capital’ is derived from the following wording in the national curriculum: ‘It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.’ “

How do we promote cultural capital for our pupils?

We aim to develop our children’s Cultural Capital across all areas of the curriculum and in our everyday ‘life’ at school. This includes the following areas:

• Personal skills
• Cooperative and Collaborative skills
• Communication skills
• Resilience and Ambition
• Imaginative and Inquisitive skills

A great curriculum builds cultural capital. At St John's C E (C) Primary School, children benefit from our Rainbow curriculum that builds on what they understand and know already. It revolves around the coherent cycle of learning from the past, living in the present and looking to the future.  This means our children have a deep and connected knowledge and understanding of where they came from, who they are and what they might become.  We believe that exposure, not only to culture but also to situations in which the children might not have previous experiences of, is of paramount importance to their ongoing successes.

Gradually widening children’s experiences as they progress through school is an important step in providing rich and engaging learning across the curriculum. We plan carefully for children to have progressively richer experiences in all year groups.