What is Cultural Capital?
Cultural capital is the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a pupil 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 career and the world of work.
Cultural capital promotes social mobility and success in our stratified society.
Cultural capital gives a pupil 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.
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 Lowbrook Academy through enrichment?
At Lowbrook 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 take advantage of our prime position in the south east and enable our children to experience all that it has to offer in terms of its social, historical and geographical content. We plan for our lessons and extra-curricular activities to be broad and enriching.
We believe that learning from first hand experience is very powerful and provides lasting impact.
All visits link to the curriculum overviews. For example, children have visited Windsor Castle as a part of the history focus on the local area. Children studying sound in science have visited Kew Gardens, where children experience the drama of life inside a real beehive in the mesmerising installation. Children have taken part in a dance festivals with local primary and secondary schools to showcase their talents. Children have also performed in Maidenhead's music festival and can experience performing in front of a live audience.
We seek best value for all our trips and sometimes invite experts into our school to work with our children, including novelists, dramatists, artists, musicians, foreign language experts and representatives from local services. Experts inspire our children to learn through sharing their passion for their subject area, which can raise our children’s aspirations for their future career.
We request financial contributions to cover the costs of our trips. If you feel you are unable to pay this contribution please speak to Mrs Reid in the school office, where all requests are discreetly dealt with.
In addition to this, we organise special events, theme weeks, and immersion days to enrich our pupils’ lives and challenge them to aspire to be people who leave a mark on the world.
Year 6 Residential to Devon
Each year, we take our year 6 children away to Devon. Based in 90 acres of woodland bordering the River Dart at the River Dart Country Park, CRS Adventures is highly regarded by teachers across the country as an independent outdoor centre providing a very high standard of outdoor education and care. The purpose of this trip is to support children to gain an increased self-confidence, greater independence, better team-working and collaborative skills. To engage pupils in their learning, to build relationships and develop confidence and resilience as well as widening their understanding of the world. It is a highlight of the children's education at Lowbrook Academy, and one which provides memories for many years to come.
Theme Weeks
It is our belief that consolidation of learning and knowledge is fundamental; and therefore creating ‘Awe and Wonder’ within our curriculum is key to this. The development of Lowbrook Theme Weeks has been hugely influential with our pupils in achieving this. The Academy holds a Science Week, a Maths Week, a Book Week, an Arts & Culture Week and a Sports Week. Experts from the world outside school are planned for and invited in to work with the children; class trips and visits to industries are organised; specialists come to school to work with the children; equipment beyond the school’s means are used; and parents join us at school to tell us about how elements of that curriculum area is used in their work place.
Clubs
Children are offered the opportunity to part in different extra-curricular clubs and activities. These are often oversubscribed and offer all children a wonderful opportunity to develop interests and skills. The school uses a range of external providers that bring expertise and specialisms to our extra-curricular activities. Teachers and support staff also lead clubs each term which allows us to offer a range of clubs throughout the week.
Clubs that have been offered are:
Football, Multi-skills, Brickies Lego, Street Dance, Netball, Art and Craft, Zumba, Kickboxing, Fencing, Maths, Reading, Choir, Cricket, Gymnastics, Coding and Mandarin.