The British Values & Cultural Capital

The DfE have reinforced the need ‘to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs’.

The Government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, and these values have been reiterated throughout the year. At Brockley Primary School, these values are taught through our broad, balanced and enriched curriculum. Frequent opportunities to apply the key learning behaviours that support the school’s vision to create valued members of our community.

At Brockley Primary School we actively challenge pupils, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including ‘extremist’ views. British Values is an ongoing theme within our whole school assemblies.

Democracy

Pupil voice is used as a tool for school improvement. Our Celebration Assembly held every Friday morning is an example of how we celebrate a pupil’s personal success and achievements in terms of learning behaviours and attitudes that also reflect ‘The Brockley Way – ‘Only my best is good enough’ .

Parents complete a range of questionnaires as part of our ongoing consultation process throughout the year. These comments are used to improve the school. We have also established a Parent Voice Forum led by and for the parents, meetings are held termly and the information is shared with staff and the school community. Fundamental changes to the working day have been made as a result of this successful working partnership.

Pupil questionnaires have been used by subject leaders to prioritise actions and to evaluate the success/impact of change. This is an area school is keen to develop further.

The School Council plays an active part of the decision making process at Brockley Primary School. Members are voted for by their peers and they regularly feature as a part of the whole school decision making process, taking and sharing information from their weekly meetings and then presenting back their findings in order that opinion can be sought. Further information can be found on the School Council Webpage.

The Rule of Law

A consistently applied Behaviour Policy is decided with the children. ‘The Brockley Way’ is reinforced regularly and opportunities are sought frequently to praise positive choices, through the use of raffle tickets. Pupils’ modelling behaviour consistent with the school’s high expectations are recognised and used as role models to others. Through assemblies and the school’s PSHE curriculum, children develop an understanding of law appropriate to their age. Access to high quality text gives pupils a safe way of exploring the ‘breaking’ of laws and an opportunity to discuss consequences when this occurs. Pupils are taught explicitly that laws keep us safe and our PSHE curriculum enables pupils the opportunity to recognise when they do and do not feel safe.

Visits from other external agencies such as the Fire service, Health professionals and ‘People who help us’ reinforces their understanding of the responsibilities held by various professions.

Individual Liberty

Protective Behaviours are taught across the school and every child is aware that they have the right to feel safe. They are also taught that there is nothing too awful that they cannot talk to an adult about.

Children are valued for their differences and there is a wide variety of extra-curricular clubs to enable children to try new things, develop new skills and practise existing ones. Care is taken to provide equal opportunities for all genders such as boys and girls sports teams.

Time and care is taken to know each child as an individual and regular circle time sessions give children a chance to share their feelings and options in a safe way.

Opportunities for children to take on more responsibility within the school are encouraged. Pupils support daily in the office, have responsibilities as Eco Councillors, Play Leaders, Librarians, corridor monitors and a range of other positions that occur over the course of a typical school year. For all of these positions, pupils have to complete an application form detailing their personal strengths and the skills that they could bring to the role. The children are interviewed for the roles by their peers to ensure a fair process.

Mutual Respect

If pupils show disrespect to one another, this is dealt with immediately through our Behaviour Policy and Parents/Carers are contacted.

An Anti-Bullying week is held annually and various well-being events are held across the year. During these sessions, children are taught to value differences in others and themselves and to respect others.

We actively promote being an individual and around school displays reinforce ‘There’s no hierarchy of equality’.

Many children at Brockley Primary School participate in local sporting events and competitions both within our cluster and at a county wide level. These ensure children experience competitive events and have an opportunity to apply their sportsmanship skills with other schools.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs

The school follows the agreed Derbyshire Religious Education (RE) syllabus which ensures that the children learn about all the religions of the world. Assemblies contribute to the knowledge of special occasions and children and their families come to share with the school information about how they celebrate these events at home. The local Reverend visits the school for community performances and talks to the children in assemblies; these talks coincide with main events occurring in the Christian calendar such as advent. Resources in classrooms are regularly audited to ensure that they reflect our multicultural society and stereotypes are challenged.

We also have regular visits from other faiths and religions to promote tolerance and understanding.

So where did the term cultural capital come from?

The original phrase came from the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in the 1970s, believing the more ‘capital’ you had, the more powerful your position was within society. This closely linked with Karl Marx’s theory on fiscal capital (and capitalism) – the more capital  you had, the better off you were. 

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 gives a child power. It helps them 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.

Policy Rationale

At Brockley, 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:

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

Summary of the key areas of coverage for each area of Cultural Capital Development:

Personal development

1. Citizenship, Personal, Social and Health Education provision;
2. The school’s wider pastoral framework;
3. Growth mindset support – resilience development strategies;
4. Transition support;
5. Work to develop confidence e.g. role play, supporting peers;
6. Activities focused on building self-esteem;
7. Mental Health & well-being provision.

Social Development

1. Personal, Social and Health Education provision;
2. Volunteering and charitable work – eg. raising funds for NSPCC; Red Nose Day and other charities
3. Pupil Voice –School Council, Digital Ambassadors, Kindness Crew Mentors, Sports Leaders
4. Child and Family Support Worker support from P4YP;
5. Provisions linked to the school’s accreditation of the Mental Health Award
6. Pastoral support from all staff

Physical Development

1. The Physical Education curriculum;
2. Healthy Eating policies and catering provision;
3. Anti-bullying and safeguarding policies and strategies, including the child-friendly policy
4. The Health Education dimension of the PSHE programme, including strands on drugs, smoking and alcohol;
5. The extra-curricular clubs related to sports and well-being;
6. The celebration of sporting achievement including personal fitness and competitive sport;
7. Activity-based residential visits. Castleton Y3, Willersley in Y4 and Shropshire in Y5/Y6.
8. Design and Technology units related to food preparation and nutrition;

Spiritual Development

1. The Religious Education Curriculum;
2. Our collective acts of reflection;
3. Support for the expression of individual faiths;
4. Inter-faith and faith-specific activities and speakers;
5. Visits to religious buildings and centres;

Moral Development

1. The Religious Education Curriculum;
2. The school’s Behaviour policy;
3. Contributions to local, national and international charitable projects.

Cultural Development

1. Citizenship education through PSHE;
2. Arts education including Music and Drama;
3. Access to the languages and cultures of other countries through Geography and MFL curriculum;
4. Promotion of racial equality and community cohesion through the school’s ethos, informing all policy and practice.

Each curriculum area makes its own contribution to children’s cultural capital development and supports SMSC across the school.