Cultural Capital

What is Cultural Capital?

The 2014 National Curriculum defined Cultural Capital as ‘the essential knowledge pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said’. Whilst aimed at all children, this phrase has become particularly associated with ensuring that disadvantaged pupils are provided the cultural experiences and knowledge that non-disadvantaged pupils are more likely to have access to.

Ofsted, in their new inspection framework (September, 2019), go one step further and believe that a school cannot be judged ‘good’ unless it’s curriculum provides, ‘the essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for their future success.’

What do we do at Wold Newton Foundation School?

At Wold Newton Foundation School, our aims thread through everything that we do. In doing so, we believe that we ensure every child has an equality of opportunity to a broad and balanced curriculum that provides the essential knowledge and skills in order to prepare them for future success.

Our Aims

1. Challenge and support all children with a Broad and Balanced Curriculum that aims to prepare them for the next stage in their learning and encourage their desire to be aspirational learners.
2. Teach the children to become confident, independent, resilient and cooperative learners, who are tolerant and respectful of others.
3. Ensure children understand how to keep themselves and others, healthy and safe.

There are many opportunities within our curriculum offer that ensure we provide the essential knowledge to prepare the pupils for future success, some of which are listed below:

• We teach from the National Curriculum.
• Our small school context enables us to closely track individual children’s progress. We use this data to ensure that every child is challenged and supported to achieve as highly as possible. This was a particular strength when we were awarded the Basic Skills Quality Mark.
• Middle leaders ‘deep dive’ into the curriculum subjects they lead to ensure the school then plans to effectively develop standards in all curriculum areas.
• Disadvantaged children are closely tracked to ensure they not only have the best taught curriculum but we also reflect on the extra-curricular opportunities they have received and plan for further opportunities, that will enhance their cultural capital.
• The school engages with the community and the PTA to ensure all children have access to quality extra-curricular opportunities and educational visits and/or visitors including strong links with local secondary schools.
• Senior Leaders use the school’s finances effectively to ensure all areas of the curriculum are strong and that all children have access to quality extra-curricular opportunities and educational visits and/or visitors.
• We believe that every child should be a reader and with this essential skill, this will set them up to access all areas of the curriculum.
• We have analysed the needs of our school community and agreed as a school, six values that we would like our children to develop whilst they are at our school. These are: Morals, Individual Liberty, Understanding of Faiths and Cultures, Mutual Respect, Aspiration and ‘Healthy and Safe’. The close focus on these values ensures that our children not only have a firm grounding in British Values but also develop in their understanding of how to be a good citizen in modern Britain.
• The school believes strongly that we should develop the ‘whole child’ and have a pastoral curriculum to match.