Cultural Capital and Enrichment and Extra Curricular Activities

Cultural Capital – Going Beyond the Classroom

What is Cultural Capital?

Cultural capital is defined as the gathering of knowledge, behaviours, and skills that a pupil can draw upon and which establishes their cultural awareness, knowledge, and competence; it is one of the important components a pupil will draw upon to be successful in wider society, their career and beyond The Marvell College. At The Marvell College we continue to build and develop our pupils’ cultural capital through strategically mapping this both within the curriculum and through wider school life with the aim of ensuring our pupils’ aspirations are high and that we expose them to a variety of experiences in order to help them achieve their goals and become successful both in school and once they leave our care.

Embedding a rich programme of cultural capital opportunities helps to promote social mobility and success in society, whilst also giving our pupils the power to achieve their ambitions, become successful and climb the social ladder without the necessity of needing wealth or financial capital. The hope is that by giving pupils this exposure, they are able to achieve social mobility no matter where their starting point lies.

The Marvell College understands that for pupils 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 own cultural capital. In order to do this we embed it into our curriculum, offer an expansive range of extra-curricular activities, trips, educational visits and careers programmes. In addition, The Marvell College also empowers pupils to take ownership through ‘The Marvell 50’ programme which challenges pupils to complete 10 cultural capital activities in their own time throughout each year of their lives at The Marvell College. For further information about this, please see below.

At The Marvell College, cultural capital is developed across the whole curriculum through personal, social, physical, spiritual, moral, and cultural development. An outline of these can be seen below: 

Personal Development 

1. An ambitious, knowledge-based curriculum which is focused on helping pupils to remember things in the long term
2. Careers Education Information and Guidance, including work experience and careers events
3. Employability skills developed across the curriculum including skills for life
4. Citizenship and PSHE provision through the Personal Development curriculum
5. The school’s wider pastoral support framework including assemblies, rewards and sanctions, attendance support and the school’s behavioural expectations
6. Transition support as children move between years and beyond
7. Speaking, listening, writing and the development of oracy through lessons, tutor time, and other events such as Talk the Talk, careers fairs, trips and visits and other extra-curricular opportunities
8. Mental health and wellbeing provision through the pastoral team
9. Sex and Relationships Education (SRE) through PSHE and the school nurse 
10. Safeguarding procedures for all pupils in our care
11. Promotion of healthy eating

Social Development 

1. The PSHE curriculum 
2. Tutor time and the assembly programme 
3. Peer mentoring programmes and peer reading schemes
4. Charitable work and fundraising
5. Pupil voice, developed through the pupil parliament
6. Anti-Bullying provisions  
7. Mental Health Charter
8. LGBTQ+ Champions

Physical Development 

1. The PE curriculum 
2. Healthy eating through food technology, the school canteen and catering providers 
3. Health Education through the personal development curriculum 
4. Extra-curricular activities including sport, field trips and other provision after school
5. Sports Day and the celebration of sporting achievements through school colours, the school magazine and social media
6. The Bike-ability Scheme
7. The promotion of walking and cycling to school

Spiritual Development

1. The RE curriculum 
2. The assembly programme
3. Support for the expression of individual faiths 
4. Involvement with the local Churches Team
5. Visiting speakers

Moral Development

1. The RE curriculum
2. The schools behaviour system 
3. Contribution to local and national charitable projects 
4. The establishment of a single-use plastics policy in school
5. The PSHE and personal development programme

Cultural Development

1. Citizenship Education 
2. The art curriculum, including visits to national galleries and local museums 
3. The music curriculum including peripatetic teaching, orchestra and choir
4. Access to modern foreign languages, including trips abroad and pupil exchanges
5. Links to other schools
6. The English curriculum and associated theatre visits to support learning 
7. Author visits to work with groups of pupils
8. Cultural trips

The Marvell 50

This is an independent programme that is tracked in school and rewarded when pupils achieve and complete a range of cultural capital challenges throughout the school year. These challenges have been carefully selected for each year group, are evidenced by the pupils, and tracked by the school.

Once pupils complete their year group challenges, they will become a ‘Cultural Capital Champion’ which is rewarded, certificated and they also receive an enamel pin badge to wear proudly on the lapel of their school blazer.

Pupils will carry the booklet below from Y7 through to Y11 and will track their own completion by filling out the booklet in tutor time and have their challenges signed off by their tutor.

Pupils can evidence a challenge completion through either emailing evidence to Marvell50@themarvellcollege.com or by evidencing it with their tutor or year team who then certify that a challenge has been completed.

Please take a look at the booklet below to see the types of challenges set for our pupils and for further information.