Cultural Capital at Abercrombie Primary School and Nursery

What is Cultural Capital?  

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

Cultural capital promotes social mobility and success. 

Cultural capital gives a child 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 children the desire to aspire and achieve social mobility whatever their starting point. 

Policy Rationale  

At Abercrombie Primary School, we recognise that for children to aspire and be successful academically and in the wider areas of their lives, they need to be given rich and sustained opportunities and learning experiences 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 child’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

 

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

 

Personal Development
  1. Personal, Social and Health Education provision;
  2. The school’s wider pastoral framework;
  3. Growth mindset support – resilience development strategies;
  4. Transition support;
  5. Work to develop confidence e.g. role play, performances, supporting peers;
  6. Activities and visits focused on building self-esteem;
  7. Mental Health & well-being provision.  
Social Development 
  1. Personal, Social and Health Education provision (PSHE);
  2. Volunteering and charitable work – e.g. raising funds for Charities throughout the year; singing at Christmas or at Sheffield Arena
  3. Pupil Voice – Young Ambassadors, Mini Leaders, Librarians, School Council
  4. Child and Family Support Worker support;
  5. Pastoral support from all staff  
Physical Development
  1. The Physical Education curriculum – Complete P.E.
  2. Healthy Eating policies and catering provision including the Healthy Me PSHE strand;
  3. Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies: Friendship Week, NSPCC
  4. The Health Education dimension of the PSHE programme, including strands on drugs, smoking and alcohol;
  5. The extra-curricular clubs related to sports and well-being;
  6. The celebration of sporting achievement including personal fitness and competitive sport;
  7. Activity-based residential visits.
  8. Design and Technology units related to food preparation and nutrition;  

Spiritual Development 

  1. The Religious Education (R.E.) Curriculum; 
  2. Our collective acts of reflection;
  3. Inter-faith and faith-specific activities and speakers;
  4. Visits to religious buildings and centres;
  5. Workshops from Derby Open Centre  

Moral Development 

  1. The Religious Education R.E. Curriculum;
  2. The School’s Behaviour Policy and our school values and our curriculum aims;
  3. Contributions to local, national and international charitable projects.
  4. Sustainability learning and Eco Committee  
Cultural Development 
  1. Citizenship education through PSHE;
  2. Arts education including Art, Music and Drama;
  3. Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through the Geography and MFL curriculum;
  4. Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos, Jigsaw lessons that inform all policy and practice.

Each curriculum area makes its own contribution to children’s cultural capital development and supports SMSC across the school.  Subject leaders perceive their area to be ever evolving and they evaluate the content to ensure children at Abercrombie are taught with the best possible resources planned by experts in their field. (Examples include Discovery RE, Purple Mash (computing) Kapow Art, Jigsaw RSE and PSHE etc.)