Bchs pros lc 6197

Developing Cultural Capital

What is Cultural Capital?

Cultural capital is defined as the accumulation of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a student can draw upon and which demonstrates their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence;  it is one of the key ingredients a student will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work. At BCHS we work tirelessly to build our student aspirations and expose them to a range of experiences to helps them achieve goals and become successful.

We recognise that for students 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. We do this in many ways, for example, through our curriculum, extra-curricular activities, trips and visits and careers activities.

We recognise that there are six key areas of development that are interrelated and contribute to building a student’s cultural capital:

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

Nothing can be more important for our children’s education than ensuring they are supported to be the best they can be within our ever changing, diverse and eclectic society that ensures everyone has an equal opportunity to live, learn, and achieve.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Careers and Information, advice and guidance provision; 

Personal Finance Education; 

Employability skills,  

Personal, Social and Health Education curriculum; 

The school’s wider pastoral framework; 

Transition support and induction; 

Work to develop confidence e.g. public speaking clubs and interview skills workshops; 

Activities focused on building self-esteem; 

Mental Health & well-being provision - Personalised Learning Zone; 

Form Time curriculum; 

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

PHSEE curriculum; 

Form time curriculum; 

Charity work and House fundraising activities; 

Student Voice – Student Parliament; 

Nurture Group Access; 

Healthy Schools’ Accreditation; 

Trailblazers’ programme; 

Access to counselling; 

House competitions; 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 

Physical Education curriculum; 

West Ham United Academy links and activities; 

Healthy Eating policies and catering provision; 

Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies; 

The health, drugs, alcohol, smoking and  sex and relationships and elements of the PHSEE curriculum; Extra-curricular provision; 

Extra curricular activities available for unstructured time, including lunch and break times; 

Activity-based residentials; 

Food preparation and nutrition curriculum; 

SPIRITUAL 

The Religious Education/Ethics and Philosophy Curriculum; 

Our collective acts of worship and reflection; 

Support for the expression of individual faiths; 

School-linking activities – locally, nationally and internationally; 

The Assembly programme; 

Christian Workers Charitable Trust assemblies and outreach; 

MORAL 

The Religious Education/Ethics and Philosophy Curriculum; 

Behaviour Management policies; 

Contributions to local, national and international charitable projects; 

Christian Workers Charitable Trust assemblies and outreach; 

Form time curriculum; 

CULTURAL 

Thurrock Trailblazers programme; 

Diversity Mark Silver Award 

Access to the Arts; 

Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through the curriculum and trips and visits; 

Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos; 

Co-operative values; 

Assembly programme; 

Form time curriculum; 

 

A proud partner in the Osborne Co-operative Academy Trust