What is 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'. (Ofsted School Inspection Handbook, Nov 2019)

Cultural Capital is 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 need to be successful at secondary school, in further education and eventually their career and the world of work.

What we do?

At St Clement's and St John's Infant School, we take every opportunity possible to enhance the cultural capital of our learners and equip them with the knowledge and experiences needed for society. One way in which we promote cultural capital via reading is by providing and exposing our children to a range of texts, from different genres, that have been written by authors from a wide range of backgrounds.

Each Year group as a recommended reading list which is shared with parents and displayed in classrooms. These books are used for class story time and availiable to the children in reading corners. 

Reading Areas

Every class in school has a dedicated reading area. In the reading area, there are a range of books for the children to enjoy. 

Books from the year groups recommended reading list, along with previous year group lists and other carefully chosen books are availiable for pupils to read. We also have availible non-fiction and english texts used to support learning in other curriculum areas. 

Each class reading area has a white shelf. This shelf is used to display the most recently read books within that class. 

We give the children regular opportunities to chose the storytime book, giving them time to talk about why they have chosen their book. This helps the children to develop their oracy and confidence in presenting to their peers. 

Reading Rewards and Celebrations

When children read at home they earn points towards a range of rewards such as certificates, bookmarks and story books. 

We celebrate reading success in Family Worship each Thursday in St Clement's Church. 

Reading Events

We plan for a range of reading events across the school year. These link with local, national and global events. 

Bedtime Stories Event - Wednesday 8th February 2023

Wow! What an amazing time we all had at the 'Bedtime Stories Evening' on Wednesday. Thank you to all those who braved the cold to come and to all the staff who shared such lovely stories. It was especially lovely to have Miss Bilecka reading stories in Polish.

Library Visits

We love to visit our local libraries.

EYFS children visit Springbourne library each half term. This is a great opportunity to get to know about our local library, meet the staff that work there, enjoy listening to stories and explore lots of different books. 

Year 1 children visit Boscombe library and Year 2 children visit Bournemouth library during the summer term. These provide a great opportunity for our pupils to visit other libraries in the area and enjoy reading in a different environment.