Concluding our celebration of schools on the blog this month, Helen Frost, Head of Dance and Enrichment Lead at Linton Village College in Cambridge describes the cultural journey their Year 7 students experience for their Bronze Arts Award through an enrichment activity involving a cultural day in Cambridge and extensive cross-curricular collaboration.
Each June, Linton Village College (LVC) orchestrates a culturally inspiring Enrichment Week which integrates an arts-focused educational experience designed to support Bronze Arts Award. This distinctive model ensures all Year 7 students are afforded access to high-quality arts provision that is both inclusive and pedagogically sound.
LVC has a longstanding tradition of delivering Bronze and Silver Arts Award, with the recent introduction of Gold Arts Award in the academic year 2024–25 marking an expansion of the College’s commitment to arts education. These programmes form a cornerstone of the enrichment offer and foster a range of transferable competencies, including leadership, self-direction, and collaborative practice.
Bronze Part B local cultural day
The Year 7 Bronze Arts Award journey is embedded holistically within both the curriculum and the wider enrichment framework. For Part B of the Award (Explore the arts as an audience member), our young people review an arts event/experience. The College strategically incorporates arts-based activities within Enrichment Week, thereby enabling students to authentically engage with and reflect upon artistic experiences.
The 2025 programme featured a cultural day in Cambridge, designed to cultivate local cultural awareness and historical understanding. Students engaged in a rotational series of activities, including a curated visit to the Museum of Zoology at Cambridge University. There, pupils examined Charles Darwin’s contributions to evolutionary theory and undertook observational sketching exercises using specimens from his beetle collection. This was complemented by a tour of Christ’s College, affording students a unique opportunity to view Darwin’s historical residence.
Cross-curricular activities
The day concluded with a guided punt tour of Cambridge, where students were introduced to the city’s architectural heritage and collegiate history. This immersive experience provided rich content for reflection, which was later consolidated through English lessons focused on Bronze Part B. The English department encouraged students to reflect upon their experiences in Cambridge and honed their review writing skills by modelling the use of ambitious, nuanced vocabulary to convey an opinion.
Celia Harriss, Head of English, said ‘it was great to see students open their eyes to look carefully at a place they thought they knew. Being guided around colleges and seeing iconic Cambridge landmarks from the comfort of a punt gave them a real insight into the rich historical and cultural heritage that’s on our doorstep.’
This curriculum model exemplifies how local cultural engagement can be effectively mapped onto award frameworks, such as Arts Award, thereby rendering the experience both tangible and meaningful for students. Furthermore, the cross-curricular approach we adopt across all parts of the Arts Award qualifications promotes a collective institutional investment in the programme. Notably, the Drama Department facilitates Part C (Arts inspiration) during the autumn term, enabling students to cultivate independent research skills and exercise autonomy in their artistic inquiry. Students research a range of artists as part of their independent home learning tasks and this is shared with their peers.
Art and Dance both contribute to Part A (Explore the arts as a participant), and they develop exciting new skills within the Year 7 arts curriculum. The Art Department enable our students to have a hands-on approach to clay work with stunning outcomes. Within Dance, students take part in a scheme of learning about ‘Matilda’ the musical – our students take on the energetic roles of revolting children which develop their choreographic and performance skills. This work culminates in a whole class performance of the musical number ‘Revolting Children’.
Part D (Arts Skills Share) is facilitated within Year 7 tutor sessions by a wonderful team of tutors. Our tutor programme focuses on transferable skills and Part D enables our students to develop their leadership and communication skills. Students plan their skills share within tutor time and are then free to decide whether they deliver their skills share to a peer within tutor time or teach someone at home. This section is often the most challenging for our students as they are required to independently plan and deliver the arts skills share. This is often the first time that students may have practised these leadership skills, but whilst this is challenging, many students thrive with this skill. As this section is carried out within tutor time, the tutors are able to regularly track and monitor this section with excellent outcomes.
LVC remains unequivocally committed to providing a dynamic and inclusive arts education through our Arts Award programme. The College takes pride in its collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, ensuring that the delivery of Arts Award continues to evolve as a strength of the Year 7 curriculum.
Photo by Linton Village College