At St Mary’s, we pride ourselves on a whole school approach to promoting the spiritual, moral, social, vocational, cultural, mental and physical developments of our pupils. Many studies show that education and health are very closely linked, so promoting the health and wellbeing of all pupils within school, has the potential to improve their educational outcomes, along with preparing them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

Cultural Capital

The term ‘cultural capital’ is associated with French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002). He used it to suggest why some children achieve better from an educational perspective than others. Bourdieu defined cultural capital as the various assets that people have including the way they speak, their level of education and their hobbies and interests. It is suggested that the amount of cultural capital you have can determine your academic achievements and success in the wider world.

From an educational perspective, in 2019, Ofsted defined cultural capital as “important to providing children with the essential knowledge they need to be educated citizens, preparing them for their future success”. In schools, this means providing knowledge, skills and a wide array of experiences about culture and the world in the past, present and future.

Rationale

At St Mary’s, we recognise that for children 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.

The school recognises that there are seven key areas of development that are interrelated and cumulatively contribute to the sum of a child’s cultural capital:

  1. Personal Development
  2. Social Development, including political and current affairs awareness
  3. Physical Development
  4. Spiritual Development
  5. Vocational Development
  6. Moral Development
  7. Cultural development

Summary of the key areas of coverage for each area of Cultural Capital Development:

Personal Development

  1. Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) provision;
  2. Relationships Education provision (through our Life to the Full programme);
  3. The school’s wider pastoral framework;
  4. Extra-curricular activity clubs and enrichment;
  5. A wide-range of pupil leadership opportunities;
  6. The school’s wider pastoral framework;
  7. Growth mindset support – resilience development strategies;
  8. Transition support (within all phases and year groups);
  9. Work to develop confidence e.g. oracy, role play, supporting peers;
  10. Activities focused on building self-esteem;
  11. Mental Health & well-being provision.
  12. Career’s Education;
  13. Our fundamental British Values curriculum;

Social Development

  1. Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) provision;
  2. Relationships Education provision (through our Life to the Full programme);
  3. Our Behaviour Curriculum;
  4. Volunteering and charitable work – eg. raising funds for Father Hudson’s Homes, Mary’s Meals, NSPCC; choir singing at Christmas for elderly in a local residential home etc
  5. Pupil Voice – School Council; House Captains; Head Boy/Girl and Deputy Head Boy/Girl;
  6. Our Pastoral and Inclusion Team;
  7. Provisions linked to the school’s accreditation of the Green Flag Award, School of Sanctuary and Live Simply Award;
  8. Pastoral support from all staff;
  9. Oracy provision through the curriculum;

Physical Development

  1. The Physical Education curriculum;
  2. Our outdoor classroom and Wild Tribe curriculum;
  3. Healthy Eating policies and catering provision;
  4. Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies, including child-friendly versions;
  5. The Health Education dimension of our PSHE curriculum, including strands on healthy eating, drugs, smoking and alcohol;
  6. Our extensive range of extra-curricular activity clubs related to sports and wellbeing;
  7. The celebration of sporting achievements across all phases of school;
  8. Activity-based educational visits (e.g. Kingswood and Pioneer Centre);
  9. Design and Technology units related to food preparation and nutrition;
  10. Opportunities to participate in a range of community events;
  11. Sporting Opportunities week for all year groups;

Spiritual Development

  1. Our Religious Education Curriculum;
  2. Our Relationships Education provision (through our Life to the Full programme)
  3. Our Catholic Social Teaching (CST) principles;
  4. Our Prayer & Liturgy throughout each week;
  5. Weekly celebrations of Holy Mass;
  6. Services of the Word in Church for all year groups;
  7. Support for the expression of individual faiths (through our Wider-Religion Curriculum);
  8. Inter-faith and faith-specific activities and speakers;
  9. Visits to religious buildings and centres (e.g the Islamic Centre in Birmingham and the Gurdwara in Wednesfield);
  10. Face to face or online retreats throughout the year for all year groups (e.g OneLife music);
  11. Our wider chaplaincy provision;
  12. Our outdoor prayer gardens;

Vocational Development

  1. Our service to others by helping those in need in the community, demonstrating sacrifice and almsgiving;
  2. Our support to encourage children to show forgiveness, mercy, tolerance, peace and compassion;
  3. Dedicated time re-visiting our school mission;

Moral Development

  1. Our Religious Education Curriculum;
  2. Our Catholic Social Teaching (CST) principles;
  3. Assemblies to promote school values, human rights, global issues and special festivals and culturally important events;
  4. Being a ‘CAFOD Live Simply’ school;
  5. Our Behaviour Policy (values and human rights ethos);
  6. Our Behaviour curriculum and school rules;
  7. Contributions to local, national and international charitable projects;
  8. Our work as a School of Sanctuary;

Cultural Development

  1. Citizenship education through our PSHE curriculum;
  2. Our Music curriculum;
  3. Our Art curriculum;
  4. Our extensive range of extra-curricular clubs focusing on the arts;
  5. Our extensive range of enrichment activities, including educational visits;
  6. Our Equality Officers (including parent/carer equality ambassadors);
  7. Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through the curriculum (both Foundation and Core subjects);
  8. Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos, informing all policy and practice;
  9. Our extensive range and variety of diverse texts;
  10. Our fundamental British Values curriculum;

Each discrete curriculum area makes its own contribution to children’s cultural capital development and supports SMSVC across St Mary’s.

Please request to see our whole school Personal Development Overview when you visit school.

Cultural Capital Opportunities at St Mary’s

St Mary’s Back Pack

Please see our ‘St Mary’s Back Pack‘ page for details of how we aim to develop our pupils’ cultural capital during their time with us at St Mary’s.

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