Cultural Capital
‘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.'
National Curriculum
Subject Coordinator: Mrs Caroline Baker
Subject Link Governor: Barbra Dawson
What is Cultural Capital?
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 child will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.
Cultural capital promotes social mobility and success. Cultural capital is having assets that give children the desire to aspire and achieve social mobility whatever their starting point.
Research shows that when children and families’ cultures are valued, both the child’s experience of learning and progress can benefit.
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 at CPS
Every child and family who joins our school will have their own knowledge and experiences that will link to their wider family and culture. This might include: languages, beliefs, traditions, cultural and family heritage, interests, travel and work.
At Cheadle Primary School, our children benefit from a flexible curriculum that builds on what they understand and know already. We believe that exposure, not only to culture but also to situations in which the children might not have previous experiences of, is of paramount importance to their ongoing successes.
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 Reception and beyond. These include trips within our local area, museums and historic places just to name a few.
Building experiences and knowledge by immersing children in the world around them is done by thinking about people around the world; appreciating and loving music; understanding how history has shaped our future; celebrating different cultures, traditions and faiths; educational visits linked to our topics; learning about people in our community; running charity events; showcasing talents; learning beyond the classroom; supporting our local community; learning about animal welfare and much more!
CLass Names
When we returned to school in September 2021, each class was given the name of a person as their class inspiration and mascot. A person who had perhaps overcome adversity and challenge in their life.
Our Early Years classes are now named after Captain Tom Moore, the author Julia Donaldson and Mother Theresa.
Year 1 classes are named after the astronaut Tim Peake and author Beatrix Potter;
Year 2 classes are Florence Nightingale and Mahatma Ghandi.
Year 3 classes have Dr Martin Luther King and fossil finder and palaeontologist Mary Anning as their inspiration.
Year 4 classes are named after Greta Thunberg and local Olympian Adam Peaty.
Year 5 classes have Anne Frank and Stephen Hawking
Year 6 classes are named after Marie Curie and Marcus Rashford.
Rationale
At Cheadle Primary School, 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 six key areas of development that are interrelated and cumulatively contribute to the sum of a child’s cultural capital:
Personal Development
Social Development, including political and current affairs awareness
Physical Development
Spiritual Development
Moral Development
Cultural development
Click here to find out more out our school's RESPECT values.
Summary of key areas of cultural curriculum
Personal Development
Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education provision
The school’s wider pastoral framework
Growth mind-set support – resilience development strategies
Transition support
Work to develop confidence e.g. supporting peers
Activities focused on building self-esteem via our Forest School
Mental Health & well-being provision
Nurture provision
Social Development
Personal, Social and Health Education provision
Pupil Voice
Pastoral support from all staff
Nurture provision
Family breakfast
Parent workshops
School council - Children's Leadership Team
Choir visits to the elderly at Christmas
House captains
Peer mentors
Sports clubs
Physical Development
The Physical Education curriculum
Sports Week
Healthy Eating Week, policies and catering provision
Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies
The Health Education dimension of our JIGSAW PSHE programme, including strands on drugs, smoking and alcohol
The extra-curricular clubs related to sports and well-being
Spiritual Development
Explore beliefs and experience
The RE curriculum
CPS RESPECT values
Respect faiths, feeling and values
Enjoy learning about ourselves, others and the surrounding world
Use imagination and creativity
Reflect
Moral Development
School vision and aims
CPS RESPECT values
Awards Assemblies
The school’s Behaviour policy: dojos, golden star.
Gardening Club
Contributions to local, national and international charitable projects
Pupil voice: CLT, Reading Buddies, Playground Leaders, Eco Team
Displays
Understanding cause and effect, making the right choices
Nurture provision
Cultural Development
Citizenship education through PSHE
Arts education including Music and Drama
Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through the Geography and MFL curriculum
Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos and British Values informing all policy and practice.
International Day
Assemblies
Charity events – Red Nose Day; Children in Need.
World Book Day
Library
Choir
Activity Passports - Coming Sept 2022!
Here at Cheadle Primary School we believe that every child should have the opportunity to be extraordinary and future ready through a curriculum which is knowledge rich, bold and courageous.
Our curriculum aims to provide children with an education that is broad and balanced building on the knowledge, understanding and skills of all children, whatever their starting points, as they progress through each Key Stage.
To support and enhance this further, we are issuing each child with an Activity Passport. This Activity Passport will be assigned to your child on their Google Classroom account and will be full of rewarding and exciting experiences, some of which will be done in school, but most can be easily completed with just a little bit of your input at home.
The activities include baking cakes, going somewhere on a train, playing a board game or just making a daisy chain. All we ask is that every time you complete something on the list, you date the activity on your child’s Passport on Google Classroom. You can also share photos of your child’s completed activities by uploading them to Google Classroom, and if you have given us permission, we can share them on our school social media and school website.
We hope you will enjoy working through this list with your child, and that you both have fun together or as a family. Please do keep ticking off the activities throughout the year.
Please see the passport below.

Cultural Capital Overview
There are works of art, songs and pieces of music which we believe every adult should at the very least be familiar with. Therefore, we have devised a core list. One person's list of core knowledge is different to another person's, however, we are confident that our list ensures we are equipping our pupils with enough so that when they are adults, they are able to walk into any room, anywhere in the world and have a conversation with anyone about anything.
Please click on this link to view our Cultural Capital overview
Core Art
Core Fiction
Core Music
Core Non-Fiction
Core Poems
Core Phase and Sayings