We are an initiative to promote the study of Classics and support students who are studying Latin. We aim to allow greater accessibility to a wider range of students.
What we are all about.
Our tutors are highly qualified subject specialists, former examiners of GCSE Latin and practising Classics teachers in secondary schools across London. As such, they understand how to make learning visible, they can target the key areas of linguistic difficulty with which even the more able will struggle, and can directly contribute towards success in public examinations as well as enrich the students more generally.
Sarah Merali-Smith.
Former Head of Classics at Guildford High School, Sarah currently teaches Latin, Ancient Greek & Classical Civilisation at Forest School in East London.
Support.
We are actively promoting our courses and reaching out to all organisations and individuals whom we feel might be able to support us in our endeavour to make Classics more accessible.
We thank Professor Mary Beard, Dr John Taylor, Cath Harvey, the Classical Association, the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford for their generous support with our initiative.
Press.
We have been published in the Journal of Classics Teaching by Cambridge University Press. Article Link
We are also featured in the Hackney Gazette: “East London teachers challenge the elitism of Latin” Article Link
Directors’ Report August 2022 Article Link
The Latin.
We offer 4 intensive formal language classes each day, by the end of which students will not only be able to comfortably understand the core linguistic grammatical detail of Latin syntactical constructions, but also be able to recognise and translate them when disguised in a GCSE Latin unseen passage. Students will leave with a considerably greater confidence in reading the language which (among other things) will directly benefit public examination performance as well as a greater alertness to a wider range of aspects of the Classical world.
At the end of each day we offer a ‘Golden Time’ session: paralinguistic sessions which are designed to immerse the class in an aspect of the ancient world, and which complement the linguistic material studied during the day. Examples of ‘Golden Time’ sessions are ‘Greek Drama’, ‘Myth in Renaissance Painting’ and ‘The Greek Nude’.
Past Guest Speakers.
Dr Andrew Fox, Institute of Classical Studies. Topic: Topographical perspective of ancient Rome
Dr Talitha Kearey, University of Cambridge. Topic: Virgil, Aeneid 6
Professor Daniel Orrells, KCL. Topic: Ovid's Narcissus and Echo
Professor Fiachra Mac Góráin, UCL. Topic: The god, Dionysus
Dr Will Wootton, KCL. Topic: Making ancient mosaics
Dr Ben Kolbeck, University of Cambridge. Topic: Apuleius' sagae Thessalae