Cultural Capital

What is Cultural Capital?

Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a pupil can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the key ingredients a pupil will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.

Cultural capital promotes social mobility and success in our stratified society.

Cultural capital gives a pupil power. It helps them achieve goals, become successful, and rise up the social ladder without necessarily having wealth or financial capital.

Cultural capital is having assets that give pupils the desire to aspire and achieve social mobility whatever their starting point.

Cultural Capital in our Classes 

At Saint Mary's we know the importance of educating children wholly; we strive to provide experiences for them that enrich them educationally but also spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. 

Each class at school has created a set of Mary's Milestones. These are milestones we would hope each child has had the chance to experience in their class. There are also some whole school Mary's Milestones which we hope all children will achieve and experience during their time with us. 

Take a look below at the class and whole school Mary's Milestones:

Cultural Capital in our Subjects 

At Saint Mary's RC Primary School, we recognise that for students to aspire and be successful academically and in the wider areas of their lives, they need to be given rich and sustained opportunities to develop their cultural capital.

The school recognises that there are six key areas of development that are interrelated and cumulatively contribute to the sum of a student’s cultural capital:

1. Personal Development
2. Social Development, including political and current affairs awareness
3. Physical Development
4. Spiritual Development
5. Moral Development
6. Cultural development
7.  

Summary of the key areas of coverage for each area of Cultural Capital Development:

 

1. Personal development:
   1. Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education provision;
   2. The school’s wider pastoral framework;
   3. Growth mindset and metacognition - Resilience development strategies;
   4. Transition support;
   5. Work to develop confidence e.g. public speaking 
   6. Activities focused on building self-esteem;
   7. Mental Health & well-being provision.
2. Social Development:
   1. Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education provision;
   2. Student charitable works;
   3. Student Voice – GIFT Team, Eco Committee and School Council;
   4. Nurture Group Access;
   5. Provisions linked to the school’s Healthy Schools’ Accreditation;
   6. Provisions linked to the school’s support of Mental Health;
   7. In school and wider community engagement programmes;
   8. Access to counselling.
3. Physical Development:
   1. The Physical Education curriculum;
   2. Healthy Eating policies and catering provision;
   3. Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies;
   4. The extra-curricular programme related to sports and well-being;
   5. The celebration of sporting achievement including personal fitness and competitive sport;
   6. Cycling proficiency training- Bikability;
   7. Activities available for unstructured time, including lunch and break times;
   8. Activity-based residentials;
   9. The curricular programme related to food preparation and nutrition;
   10. Advice & Guidance to parents on all aspects of student lifestyle;
   11. The promotion of walking or cycling to school.
4. Spiritual Development:
   1. The Religious Education Curriculum;
   2. Our collective acts of worship and reflection;
   3. Support for the expression of individual faiths;
   4. Inter-faith and faith-specific activities and speakers;
   5. Visits to religious buildings and centres;
   6. Classes with speakers focusing on spiritual issues;
   7. School-linking activities – locally, nationally and internationally;
   8. The Assembly programme.
5. Moral Development:
   1. The Religious Education Curriculum;
   2. The Behaviour Management policies;
   3. Contributions to local, national and international charitable projects
   4. CARITAS in Action work
6. Cultural Development:
   1. Citizenship Education;
   2. Access to the Arts;
   3. Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through the curriculum and trips and visits;
   4. Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos, informing all policy and practice.

 

Each subject makes its own contribution to pupils’ cultural capital development. Follow the links for an overview of the contribution of each subject area: