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Cultural Capital at Christ the King School

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

Cultural capital promotes social mobility and success in our stratified society. We recognise that it is having assets that give pupils the desire to aspire and achieve social mobility, whatever their starting point.

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.

At Christ the King we recognise that for all pupils 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. In order for them to achieve this, we have designed a curriculum with the aim of giving all learners the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. In order to ensure all children have equality of opportunity, we are ambitious in regards to the knowledge and experiences our children are exposed to.

We want to ensure our pupils gain the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping them to gain an appreciation of human creativity and achievement, whilst having a curriculum that is culturally rich for all our pupils. We constantly give the pupils access to cultural references and experiences throughout our day to day teaching and school environment.

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

Each subject taught within the school day makes its own contribution to pupils’ cultural capital development.

Personal development

Personal Finance Education.
Employability skills.
Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education provision.
The school’s wider pastoral framework.
Growth mindset and metacognition - Resilience development strategies.
Transition support.
Work to develop confidence e.g. public speaking in speaking and listening.
Developing vocabulary – word of the week on newsletter and display within school promoted by staff.
Activities focused on building self-esteem.
Mental Health & well-being provision.

Social Development

Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education provision.
Watching Newsround for current affairs awareness and having opportunity to discuss and debate issues.
Charitable works.
Pupil Voice – School Council.
Nurture Group Access.
Access to counselling.

Physical Development

Healthy Eating policies and catering provision.
Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies.
The extra-curricular programme related to sports and well-being.
The celebration of sporting achievement including personal fitness and competitive sport.
Cycling proficiency training.
Activities available for unstructured time, including lunch and break times.
Activity-based residentials in year 4 and 6.
The curricular programme related to food preparation and nutrition.
Advice & Guidance to parents on all aspects of pupil lifestyle.
The promotion of walking or cycling to school.

Spiritual Development

The Religious Education Curriculum.
Our collective acts of worship and prayer services.
Inter-faith and faith-specific activities and speakers.
Visits to religious buildings and centres.
The Assembly programme of Gospel Virtues.

Moral Development

The Religious Education Curriculum.
School’s Behaviour Management policies.
Contributions to local and national charitable projects.
Gospel Virtues focus.

Cultural Development

Access to the Arts.
Half termly artist focus with competition.
Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through the topic curriculum and trips and visits.
Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos, informing all policy and practice.
Music lessons for all in year 4.
Auditioned choir.
Weekly focus on a rota – Artist- musician- influential figure- important event- countries of the world.