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 student can draw upon and which establishes their cultural awareness, knowledge and competence; it is one of the important components a student 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 students’ cultural capital through strategically mapping this both within the curriculum and through wider school life with the aim of ensuring our students’ 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 students 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 students this exposure, they are able to achieve social mobility no matter where their starting point lies.

The Marvell College understands 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 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’(launching soon) 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 students 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 students 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. Student voice, developed through the student 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 student 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 students
8. Cultural trips

THE MARVELL 50

This is an independent programme that is tracked in school and rewarded when Students 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 students 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.

Students will carry the booklet below from Year 7 through to Year 11 and will track their own completion by completing the booklet in tutor time and have their challenges signed off by their tutor.

Currently, we have rolled this out for Year 7 only and the Year 7 challenges are as follows:

1. Read a book in your own time

2. Complete the Alderman Kneeshaw Junior 2km Park Run: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/register/

3. Join a local club outside of school

4. Visit the Hull Transport Museum

5. Take part in a community project: litter picking etc.

6. Play 3 board games with members of your family and friends

7. Visit a church

8. Read a broadsheet newspaper

9. Learn how to write your name and say ‘Hello’ and ‘Goodbye’ in 3 different languages

10. Watch an entire news programme

How can you help?

Please encourage your child to undertake the challenges and when they have completed a challenge they can evidence it in a range of ways:

1.       Send evidence of photographs, documentation or a message from your parents/carers to the            email address: Marvell50@themarvellcollege.com

2.       They can share their experience of completing a challenge in their tutor group.

3.       A note can be communicated in your child’s planner with details about the completed                       challenge.

Rewards:

After completing 5 challenges for Year 7, your child will receive a GOLDEN TICKET which will give them access to a trip later in the year.

After completing all 10 challenges for Year 7, your child will receive a certificate congratulating them on becoming a ‘Cultural Capital Champion’; a letter home congratulating them on their achievement; an enamel badge to wear proudly on their blazer which recognises them as a ‘Cultural Capital Champion’ and also one of our highest rewards of an R3.

We look forward to many of our Year 7 pupils becoming ‘Cultural Capital Champions’!