Headlines By James Saunders 22nd March 2019
“Each child has a spark inside him or her. It is the responsibility of the people and institutions around each child
to find what would ignite that spark” Howard Gardner. I start with the words of Howard Gardner as they chime very well with the theme of our enrichment week. There have been numerous ignition activities taking place this past week. The aim of them all has been to create opportunities for our learners to develop their cultural and social capital. I recently read that cultural capital can be likened to a kind of currency or credit score. If you have a good credit score you can access more things. Our approach to the development of cultural capital is just like this. We believe that developing this in our learners will place them at an advantage in the future and will support them to access their learning on a deeper level. I have often thought that the only difference between state and private schools is the advantage they provide regarding the development of cultural and social capital - the connections, the opportunities and the networks. I firmly believe that everyone should be entitled to those same opportunities. This week was the first step on our journey to creating an enrichment programme of opportunities and entitlements that every Honywood learner will be able to experience and I am very proud of the range of experiences that have been on offer over the past week - the feedback from our learners has been overwhelmingly positive. I hope like me you have been following us on Facebook. My favourite photo was a picture of C8 sitting on the steps of the Natural History Museum. Honywood is not about simply passing exams. Our legacy, and the legacy of every learner, should live on through the opportunities that their education prepares them for. This is why we think that cultural capital is really important at Honywood. I will end with another quote, the words of Michael Gove. "The accumulation of cultural capital – the acquisition of knowledge – is the key to social mobility." Michael Gove.”