Haberdashers' Advantage at Hatcham Free School

Our pupils have a world of opportunities at their fingertips through our unique character curriculum: The Haberdashers' Advantage. ​ 

Thanks to our staff, the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, our community, and our many partners, the Haberdashers experience for every pupil is like no other.  By giving them this advantage, we support our pupils to be happy, confident and successful individuals who will contribute to making their communities – and the world – a better place. 

The Hatcham Primary Haberdashers’ Advantage develops the individual character of our students through our school values, which fall under four pillars: moral, civic, performance and intellectual. To ensure equitable opportunities for our students the curriculum is focussed on three key areas: 

• Taught – opportunities to teach our Trust values and character pillars
• Caught - policies and procedures that embody our Trust values and character pillars 
• Sought – opportunities to get involved in experiences and opportunities that differentiate students

Hatcham Free School Values

Haberdashers’ Advantage Curriculum at Hatcham Free School

Background to ‘cultural capital’ and the Haberdashers’ Advantage 

In his enormously influential book Distinction (1984 [1979]), Pierre Bourdieu engages with the role of culture in class relationships. Among many key concepts are cultural capital and sense of one’s place (Bourdieu, 1990: 113), the latter borrowed from Erving Goffman (1951: 239). In Distinction, ‘cultural capital’ refers to education, cultural refinement, and command of high culture – the legitimate culture of the dominant groups. The relationship to legitimate culture is central to the working-class sense of place. Knowing that they cannot reach or comprehend legitimate culture, members of the popular classes deny themselves what they are already deprived of, saying ‘(t)hat’s not for the likes of us’ (1984: 380). 

The new EIF introduces the concept of cultural capital as a significant measure of how well a school is achieving, particularly for disadvantaged group. 

The framework states: 

“Cultural capital is the essential knowledge that children need to prepare them for their future success. It is about giving children the best possible start to their early education. As part of making a judgment about the quality of education, inspectors will consider how well leaders use the curriculum to enhance the experience and opportunities available to children, particularly the most disadvantaged […]” 

What do we believe as a school? 

Building on the work of ED Hirsch who argues that: “…only a well-rounded, knowledge-specific curriculum can impart needed knowledge to all children and overcome inequality of opportunity” at HTGFS we believe in delivering a knowledge-rich curriculum that it is pedagogically coherent and reflects the specific ideas and language in each subject being taught. It emphasises knowledge to be remembered and constantly built upon, not merely encountered and fleetingly experienced.  

We believe in providing real experiences and that children learn by doing. Therefore, we provide many opportunities for educational visits, inviting speakers into school, competitions, fundraising events and using our environment to spark learning, as well as other activities that extend children's experiences. 

We believe in high expectations, particularly high expectations in speech, language and communication, which strengthen children’s ability to learn at a deeper level, allowing them to articulate their learning; demonstrating quality thinking and application of skills and knowledge. Physical and mental wellbeing are prioritised within our curriculum allowing children opportunities to exhibit spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. 

We believe, as a diverse and multicultural school community, that our children possess unique talents, skills and qualities. As such, they have the right to succeed, the right to recognise their own greatness and the right to develop who they are in a respectful and nurturing environment. Every child has an equal right to a challenging and enlightening curriculum. By teaching this curriculum well, and developing effective habits in our pupils, we hope to bring out the best in everyone. 

How this works 

Our starting point is always considering what happens in curriculum time.   

After-school enrichment opportunities exist and are made available to all regardless of cost, but we want to focus on the things which reach every child first and foremost. 

We begin by looking at what we teach and why we teach it, deploying a three lense approach to our curriculum decisions: 

Lense 1  

Is the subject knowledge / content culturally enriching because of its historical or global significance? i.e. Shakespeare in Year 3 or Darwin (evolution) Year 6 

Lense 2  

Is the subject knowledge / content culturally enriching because it connects and informs learners to significant and relevant contemporary issues?  

i.e. Mock UN on climate change Year 5 or daily Current Affairs session through Newsround. 

Lense 3  

Is the subject knowledge / content culturally enriching because it celebrates and informs our global understanding through exploring other cultures and under-represented groups?  

i.e. Ancestors Unknown history project in Year 4 or comparing Kingston, Jamaica and London in Year 1. 

Further experiences: Trips 

All year groups from Year 1 – 6 also have to go on a culturally enriching trip or bring in a speaker every half term. 

By the end of their time at the Free School, every child will have visited a world-leading museum, a significant art gallery, a Christian and non-Christian place of worship, seen live music or theatre, participated in a STEM-based workshop and done something scary or physically challenging. All trips and visits are free. 

Highlights include: 

• A robotics work-shop at Legoland.
• Visiting Harry Potter World as a stimulus for English.
• A visit to Go-Ape for a high adventure.
• Taking over the Museum of London for a day.
• Performing at Festival Hall as Lewisham’s representative for the unveiling of the Windrush Memorial
• Visits to the Science Museum, V & A, British Museum, Natural History Museum, a Jewish Synagogue, A Mosque,  The Tower of London, The Home office

Visitors 

We try to bring in diverse and exciting visitors who will engage and excite all our students about subjects, careers and learning. 

This has included visits from: 

• Diva Joan Amon who is a marine biologist from Trinidad. She is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum and appeared alongside Will Smith in ‘Welcome to Earth’.
• Merritt Moore is an American ballerina and quantum physicist. She studied at both the University of Oxford and Harvard University. Moore works to combine her interests in physics and ballet through her research and dedication in both the arts and sciences and featured in the book ‘Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls’. 
• Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin, DBE, DL is a Trinidadian-British actress, singer, presenter, author, businesswoman, and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away and Fast Forward. 

We have also had architecture workshops, rapping workshops, drumming, steel-pans, money sense workshops, talks from community leaders including those from different religions. 

Targeted Support 

While we aim to do as much as possible for all children, we recognise that some students require additional targeted support.  Previous examples of this include: 

• Year 3 - I Can Be Project - aimed at fostering wider career paths for vulnerable students
• Years 5 and 6 - Brilliant Club - scholars programme which offers students the opportunity to study with a university lecturer and visit a Russell Group University 
• Free 1:1 Music Lessons 0 aimed at children who show an aptitude in lesson time and for whom access would not be financially possible