Trinity College London has been actively supporting learners for 150 years. We now support more than 850,000 candidates a year to take our assessments across more than 60 countries. And this goes beyond providing an exam or moderation, or even providing learning resources for candidates for exam preparation. We recognise that for a culture of arts learning to flourish, it is important for students to feel confident and empowered to make choices related to their learning. This is why November's This is Trinity theme focuses on 'Supporting learners'.

Our support for candidates takes on many forms and encompasses collaboration with partner organisations directly supporting young people in the arts, such as Voice, charitable and public benefit activities to promote music education and practice to students, along with direct grants to students facing barriers to accessing the arts, through our Access Fund programme. He are a few highlights of what you can find this month:

Access Fund

The Access Fund has been developed by Trinity College London to provide small grants for Trinity candidates based in the UK and Ireland. It is specifically designed to support those who experience barriers to accessing training and qualifications due to socio-economics, settlement status, race or faith inequalities, long term health or mental health issues, special needs, disability and more. The grant is to be used to help these candidates prepare for and achieve a Trinity qualification.

Rock & Pop Case Study: Woodlands School

With the reforms to GCSE Music, many of the students at Woodlands School in Basildon, Essex found their course had changed significantly, and they were struggling to engage at the level of music theory expected of them. The teaching staff were quick to recognise that their first cohort of students were falling out of love of playing music and needed to take action. The department turned to the Trinity Rock & Pop syllabus and incorporated it into their curriculum and have seen a really positive turnaround in the students approach to music. Check out the blog post for more on their story.

Arts Award Voice Revisited: a one-stop-shop for young people doing their award

Voice, the youth orientated online magazine for 11+ year old's covers arts, culture, politics and technology. It also features a dedicated area that offers inspiration, ideas and resources to help young people to achieve their Arts Award. With a recent refresh the team have also introduced resources that will help young people build up their portfolios for assessment in their Arts Award journey. Check out the new guest blog post from Voice Editor Tom Inniss for more on this great resource.