Wider Curriculum Opportunities & Cultural Capital
Our curriculum extends beyond the National Curriculum and includes a wide range of enriching experiences and opportunities both within and beyond the school day. This includes a programme of after-school clubs, that support the core curriculum offer, as well as planned opportunities which develop specific skills and opportunity for children to gain a wide range of expereinces – from which they can each find their own ‘element’ (area of life where they fully succeed. 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 through giving child access to as much ‘Cultural Capital’ as possible.
The school takes pride in providing a highly inclusive environment, where learners demonstrate high levels of enjoyment in their education and make very good progress across the curriculum. Children at all levels are helped to achieve their potential. Those who are most able are challenged and supported through being offered tasks which provide opportunities for greater depth and those who can struggle are encouraged and given targeted support to embed skills, to develop at their own pace or simply to learn in a style that best suits their individual needs.
Cultural Capital
What does Cultural Capital mean at Cockfield Primary School?
Cultural capital is the gathering 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. It is the essential knowledge that pupils need to be educated citizens, introducing them to the best that has been thought and said and helping to engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.
Cultural capital gives a child power. It helps them achieve goals, become successful 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.
What does Cultural Capital look like at Cockfield?
Every child and family who joins our school will have their own knowledge and experiences that will link to their culture and wider family. This might include: languages, beliefs, traditions, cultural and family heritage, interests, travel and work. Research shows that when children and families’ cultures are valued, both the child’s experience of learning and progress can benefit. At Cockfield everyone is valued and welcome.
We have devised a bespoke curriculum for our children, which exposes them to skills and knowledge in our local context which they can transfer to more abstract areas. We have ensured that our teaching is language rich, with vocabulary taught discretely and also exposing children to subject specific vocabulary, through their knowledge organisers.
Children are exposed to a wide range of texts, either through our text-led curriculum, reading sessions or the plethora of reading activities we run through school such as: library visits, or recommended reading books in each year group. Reading is a high priority and we ensure that children are exposed to a wide range of diverse books that they might not encounter away from school.
Our curriculum has been carefully designed so that we expose our children to experiences they normally wouldn’t have. We organise several trips throughout the school year to broaden the children’s experiences of the world and cement their learning. Children get the opportunity to go on more adventurous and residential visits in Class 4, where they are exposed to the challenges beyond their immediate world. In music, we employ a specialist to teach Y3/4 and Year 5/6 children to play musical instruments. Children then perform to families over the year. Our children also have the opportunity to learn flute or clarinet in school. All children have access to a variety of after school clubs, that enhance cultural capital. Sports clubs, cookery, arts and crafts, animation and around the world clubs have all been extremely popular. We work with parents and children, so they have a voice in what clubs they feel are most beneficial to them.
Our main vision for our children is for our children to be good people who go on to do great things. We want them to become life-long learners and global citizens that aspire to achieve great accomplishments in their life by having a desire and belief in their ability. Gradually widening children’s experiences as they progress through school is an important step in providing rich and engaging learning across the curriculum.
At Cockfield 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.
There are six key areas of development that form a golden thread within our school
- Personal Development
- Social Development, including political and current affairs awareness
- Physical Development
- Spiritual Development
- Moral Development
- Cultural development
When planning events throughout the year we aim to to ensure these purposefully support at least one of these key areas of development.