Cultural Capital Curriculum
Rationale
The Quest Academy’s Cultural Capital Curriculum (CCC) is an essential component of our broader curriculum intent, providing students with opportunities to develop their cultural capital and explore a wide range of interests beyond the core curriculum. Our vision for the extra-curricular programme is to foster creativity, independence, and a lifelong love of learning, preparing our students for the challenges and opportunities of the modern world.
Through our CCC, we aim to raise students aspirations for future careers and academic study. By providing students a broad range of experiences and opportunities, we aim to help them develop a clear sense of their strengths and interests, and to prepare them confidently for the next stage of their lives. Through our enrichment offer, students can explore subjects and topics that they may not have encountered before, giving them the change to discover new passions and talents.
Furthermore, we believe that exposure to a diverse range of experiences and activities is essential for developing well-rounded, socially-aware individuals. By offering six different strands, we aim to expose students to areas beyond their comfort zone, developing those essential soft skills, from critical-thinking and problem-solving to oracy and teamwork, we intend to lay a solid foundation for success for our students. By including the creativity strand, we enhance the opportunities offered by our broad curriculum to support our students’ confidence, self-expression and creativity. Across the strands, there is an underlying theme of inclusivity and diversity, encouraging our students to develop an appreciation for different cultures.
The three components of Quest’s CCC are: Enrichment, Academy Days and Activities Week.
Sequenced Enrichment Programme
Students cycle through the strands once each year, across KS3. They are provided with information about the activities on offer for their House, and complete a Google Form, ranking their top five choices. The enrichment periods are deliberately timetabled for a double period on Wednesday afternoon so that there is sufficient time to do something productive, such as research and then debate or to have a solid impact on the allotment. The afternoon session was selected so, as the programme develops, students will have opportunities to leave site and visit other areas, such as care homes, the local library or the swimming pool.
| Enrichment | ||
| How? Delivered in Houses across KS3. Students complete one strands each term. E.g.: Hillary will focus on Creativity in Autumn 1 and Skills in Autumn 2. | When? Students will receive 18 enrichment topics across KS3 (6 half-terms x 3 years) | |
| Timetable: based on 30 groups of approx. 18 students in each group.
Sessions will be a double period. |
Rotation: Students will complete six enrichments each year: one from each strand, rotating as a House through each strand. | |
| Staffing: Enrichments will be taken by staff with an interest in that area and not be restricted to subject expertise (where possible). | Outcome: Students will complete six sessions with an end product/ goal. Success criteria for each enrichment. Activity that can lead to House points (therefore can rank the houses for each strand at the end of the year). | |
| Academy Days: Connected to strands but not linked directly to each enrichment. | 2023-24: Planned resources to be saved in shared drive. | |
Academy Days
These are the second component and take place twice a year when the regular timetable is suspended for the day and the students attend a range of educational visits or receive targeted workshops. Academy Days are designed to help students experience new things and further develop their cultural capital. These visits are carefully selected to provide students with a range of cultural experiences that they may not otherwise have access to, broadening their horizons and exposing them to new ideas.
These are under further development in 2023-24 to align with the six CCC strands. Student and parental voice will be pivotal in planning an improved offer, which is why the days have been scheduled for the mid-point and end of year (March and July).
Activities Week
This final element of the CCC is Activities Week. All lessons are suspended for the week so that students have opportunities to further develop their love of learning, cultural capital, independence and resilience. We offer a range of activities in school, educational visits and residentials. It also includes talks from other providers to ensure students receive a rich experience.
This is under further development in in 2023-24 to align with the six CCC strands. Student and parental voice will be pivotal in planning an improved offer.