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 (Hussain et al., 2018 and Gazzard, E.2018).

Cultural capital is the accumulation 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 pupil will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.

Cultural capital gives power.  It helps children achieve goals, become successful and rise up the social ladder 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.

At Dell Primary, children benefit from a carefully sequenced curriculum that builds on what they understand and know already.  We believe that exposure, not only to culture but also to situations in which children might not have previous experiences of, is of paramount importance to their ongoing success. 

Gradually widening children’s experiences as they progress through school is an important step in providing rich and engaging learning across the curriculum.  We plan carefully for children to have progressively richer experiences in nursery and beyond. 

We recognise that it is likely that not all children at Dell Primary regularly benefit from culture rich opportunities.  Therefore, we endeavour to provide these for our pupils throughout each academic year.

Additionally we recognise that cultural capital extends beyond trips and visits to the amount of powerful knowledge children have.  Therefore we have ensured that children get the opportunity to experience and retain a wide range of powerful knowledge through the curriculum choices we have made.

• Appreciation and love for music
• Learning about different cultures and faiths
• Educational visits linked to our topics
• We get creative in the kitchen
• Learning beyond the classroom
• Supporting the local community
• Being informed, feeling empowered and making a difference
• Junior Leadership Teams