Every child and family who joins our setting 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 Front Lawn Primary Academy, 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. These include trips to the local park, shops and visits to places of worship, museum, sports and music venues just to name a few.
We recognise that being in a disadvantaged area; it is likely that children at Front Lawn Primary Academy may not 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. Our aim is that this will allow them to be able to engage in philosophical debate and make informed choices as they move onto secondary school. The core and procedural knowledge that children will be taught is located in the progression of knowledge documents. The facilitating knowledge, which will help to build their cultural capital and make links between topics and subjects, is located in the Knowledge webs.
Appreciation and love for music
Understanding how music has shaped our future
Learning about different cultures and faiths
Educational visits linked to our topics
Learning about and supporting people in our community
Taking part in charity events
We get creative in the kitchen
Learning beyond the classroom
Supporting the local community
Adding imagination to our learning
Being informed, feeling empowered and making a difference
Trips and visitors at Front Lawn - 2021/2022