Cultural Capital

Vision

At Whitby Heath, we understand that every child that joins our setting will have their own experiences and knowledge that link to their culture and wider family. This includes, languages, beliefs, traditions, cultural and family heritage, interests, travel and work.  

Cultural capital is the build-up of such knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a child can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence. We believe it is one of the key ingredients a pupil will draw upon to be successful.

Research suggests that when children and families’ cultures are valued, both the child’s experience of learning and progress can benefit. Here at Whitby Heath, we pride ourselves on encouraging the children to develop their cultural capital through a range of experiences.  

Cultural capital is having assets that give children the desire to aspire and achieve regardless of their starting point.

Ofsted define cultural capital as…

“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.”

Intent

At Whitby Heath, children benefit from a flexible curriculum that builds on what they understand and know already. We believe that such learning experiences help children to learn more and therefore remember more and that exposure, not only to culture but also to situations in which the children might not have previous experiences of, is importance to their ongoing successes.

Widening children’s experiences as they progress through school is an important step in providing rich and engaging learning across the curriculum. We provide a range of opportunities to help develop a child’s cultural capital. These include trips, workshops, extra-curricular clubs, visits to places of worship, museums, sports and music venues and many more exciting opportunities for our children.