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Cultural Capital (Curriculum Enrichment)

 

What is cultural capital?

Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a student 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 future career and the world of work. Cultural capital gives children 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 education can be realised through all aspects of the curriculum – exposing pupils to a large variety of subject areas and arts; promoting character-building qualities that lead to creating well-rounded, global citizens, and providing children with meaningful knowledge and skills that will open up doors to paths in later life.

How do we promote cultural capital at Woodside Junior School through curriculum enrichment?

At Woodside Junior School we ensure that every child has the chance to access a wealth of experiences, through a variety of ways.  Our school takes pride in providing a highly inclusive environment, where children demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their education and make good progress across the curriculum.  A primary focus of our curriculum is to raise aspirations, engender a sense of personal pride in achievement, and provide a purpose and relevance for learning.  Our curriculum extends beyond the National Curriculum and includes a wide range of enriching experiences and opportunities both within and beyond the school day.  Our beautiful location in heart of the Chilterns is used in many ways to enhance and enrich our learning throughout the year. Thoughtful links are made in a wide range of areas such as geography, history as well as art.  With London on our doorstep, we ensure that our pupils enjoy visits to museums and have the opportunity to experience travel on public transport. 

We endeavour to ensure that all pupils from Year 3 up to Year 6 have the opportunity to make at least termly visits to the surrounding areas and beyond to complement topics studied. We plan for our lessons and all the extra-curricular activities to be broad, inclusive and enriching children's learning.  In addition to our exciting lessons, we also provide further opportunities to enhance children’s learning wherever possible. This includes theme days and weeks, visitors to the school, school clubs, outdoor learning (including Forest School), music and drama opportunities as well as participation in competitive sport activities amongst others. 

For our Year 6 pupils, nearing the end of their time in primary school, we have an additional range of experiences to allow them to challenge themselves in different ways and builds confidence and self-esteem as they prepare for them to continue to excel from the beginning of their secondary school education.  This includes residential trip as well as participation in 'mini-enterprise' activities.