Cultural Capital

What is Cultural Capital?

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 draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.

Ofsted’s definition of Cultural Capital is: “As part of making the judgement about the quality of education, inspectors will consider the extent to which schools are equipping pupils with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. Our understanding of ‘knowledge and cultural capital’ is derived from the following wording in the national curriculum: ‘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.’” 

How do we promote cultural capital at Hawkinge Primary School?

Promoting Cultural Capital is at the heart of our school’s curriculum. Each theme is ‘launched’ by an exciting event with the purpose of giving each child a really good understanding of the bigger picture of their thematic question of the term and to excite them into wanting to find out more. The events range from visiting history groups, field work activities, visiting Olympians, musicians visiting or pieces of art work as an inspiration. Children have learnt Chinese from a language teacher in China though Skype, had visits from local members of the community (for example adults who were once refugees in the war, local Councillors, people from the local food bank) and parents who come and talk about their job to our Reception classes. These events really enhance children’s understanding of the curriculum but enable them to develop a greater awareness of the cultural world beyond the school building, the local environment and the moment in time in which they live.

As many of the Launch Pads are held in school time we fund these ourselves as a school. Occasionally the children take a visit to somewhere in the local community – we ask for a small donation but invariably subsidise the cost of the visit ensuring money is not a barrier for attendance.

At Hawkinge Primary School we ensure that every child has the chance to access a wealth of experiences, through a variety of ways. We endeavour to ensure that all pupils from Early Years up to Year 6 have the opportunity to make regular visits to the surrounding community and beyond. We believe that learning from first-hand experience is very powerful and provides lasting impact.

We actively promote reading for pleasure at school, planning time into the school day for children to enjoy books of their own choice. Children are rewarded for reading at home by being given a book, receiving a Hawkinge Primary School book voucher etc. A popular addition to our school in 2023/2024 has been a book lending library that the children can access over breaktimes / lunchtimes and select a new book to take home with them.

We are lucky enough to live in an area that hosts an Art Exhibition every three years (The Folkestone Triennial). All children visit the Triennial and units of work are written around the visit, allowing children to really appreciate and learn about a wide range of art media and artists.

On entry at our school, we have found that children often come into school with poor language development and often with high speech and language needs. To ensure all children can access an accelerated start we employ a member of staff who has sole responsibility, working alongside KCCs SALT team, to improve outcomes for children with speech and language delay.