The history of BVC

Bassingbourn Village College was delighted to be included in The Cambridgeshire Village Colleges Heritage Project delivered by Viva Arts and Community Group.

This project garnered personal stories from village colleges across the country, exploring the impact our village colleges had on communities they became a part of.  But did you know that village colleges were a thoroughly Cambridgeshire invention inspired by the poverty within the country almost a century ago?

The Village College concept was developed by Henry Morris, who became Secretary of Education for Cambridgeshire in 1922.  At this time there were no separate secondary schools in rural areas and as result children of all ages were taught together in their village schoolhouse, often in one classroom by one teacher.  Morris was determined to change the education across Cambridgeshire.  In 1924 he published his Village College Memorandum that set out how things could be improved by the Village College concept.

Morris’ vision was that the village colleges would be schools and community facilities at the same time. They would become focal points in their villages where people of all ages came to learn, to mix, to be entertained and even get babies weighed. Henry Morris didn’t just create village colleges that were big schools – he created community education.

Bassingbourn Village College is extremely proud of its history and this project was wonderful to be a part of – did you know we had a school song?  The film created is definitely worth a watch: https://cambsvc.org.uk/film/