Every child and family who joins our setting will have their own knowledge and experiences that will link to their culture and wider family. This might include: languages, beliefs, traditions, cultural and family heritage and interests.

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 pupil will draw upon to be successful in society, their career and the world of work.

At Great Bookham School, our curriculum is designed to instil high aspirations in all of our children and to encourage them to become resilient, life-long learners who embrace challenges and continue to grow and develop their cultural capital. 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 these experiences from EYFS and beyond. These experiences are listed in full under the 'Personal Development' tab.

To ensure equity for all our pupils at Great Bookham School, we identified our vulnerable groups of children and conducted a survey to see if there were any gaps in their life experiences in comparison with their peers, and if so, what we can do at school to provide and enhance these opportunities. 

Please see the document below for a full breakdown of our survey, the results and the outcomes we have prioritised.