Latin

Departmental Aims

Our aim is to foster an awareness of the Roman world, and to stimulate an interest in as many aspects of it as possible, focusing primarily on its language but also exploring its political and social history, literature and art. We believe that, in Latin, students develop their problem-solving skills and analytical powers, and that they come to see their own world more clearly and to understand it better.

Facilities

We have three full-time and one part-time specialist teachers, who are graduates of the universities of St Andrews, Exeter, Nottingham and Cambridge. A set of departmental Chromebooks enables students to access a vast range of relevant online resources.

A Level Curriculum

We follow the OCR specification, which involves both language and literature work:

• Students are expected to extend their knowledge of vocabulary and grammar with the aim of being able to translate passages by major authors such as Caesar and Ovid by the end of the course
• In literature, recent set texts have included Tacitus’ account of Tiberius’ accession to the imperial throne and Cicero’s lawcourt speech defending Cluentius against his stepmother’s accusation of poisoning.

Co-curricular, Enrichment, Extension and Support

• Ancient Greek is taught in lunchtimes and after school with the possibility of taking a GCSE in the subject
• Linguistics Club meets weekly with the aim of entering interested students for the UK Linguistics Olympiad
• Students have the opportunity to volunteer for our Primary Latin Projects, offering an introduction to the subject to students in our own Junior School.

In recent years, our students have gone on to study Latin or Classics at the universities of Exeter, Nottingham and St Andrews, as well as a range of other degree subjects at other universities. Former students are now working in areas such as law, medicine, veterinary medicine, politics and marketing.