Village college

52°14′50″N 0°06′58″E / 52.247093°N 0.116214°E / 52.247093; 0.116214The village college is an institution specific to Cambridgeshire, England, including the Peterborough unitary authority area.

Village colleges were the brainchild of Henry Morris, the then Chief Education Officer for Cambridgeshire,[1] who had a vision of a school that would serve the whole community, stem migration from the countryside to the towns, and provide a decent education to pupils who had previously only been served by the upper years of elementary schools.

[3] Under Morris' influence, many of the colleges have had distinguished architects, notably the one at Impington designed by Walter Gropius and Maxwell Fry.

[3] Between the implementation of the Education Act 1944 and Cambridgeshire's adoption of the Comprehensive school system in 1974, village colleges were effectively reduced to secondary modern schools, apart from Sawston which operated both a grammar and a secondary modern scheme.

[3] There are village colleges throughout Cambridgeshire, including Bassingbourn, Bottisham, Comberton, Cottenham, Impington, Linton, Melbourn, Sawston, Soham, Swavesey and Witchford.