Dr Challoner’s High School
Department of Classics
studemus nunc in posteritatem sonat
Staff
Miss Phillipa Madams
Miss Melanie Wright
Miss Zorica Bowie
Head of Classics
phillipa.madams@challonershigh.com
Head of Year 13
FT Classics
melanie.wright@challonershigh.com
Head of UCAS & Careers
FT English
zorica@challonershigh.com
Year 8 Latin
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Syllabus
Year 7
Girls investigate the ancient world during half a term of lessons with their English teacher.
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YEAR 8
As well as developing an appreciation for the language and its continuing relevance, we
also explore the Roman world and its culture, in particular Pompeii in the 1st Century AD.
Girls will predominantly use the Cambridge Latin Course I.
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YEAR 9
Those who choose to continue with Latin will build upon their linguistic skills developed
over the previous year, as well as exploring the contrasting cultures of Roman Britain and
Roman Alexandria. Plenty of time is allocated for group project work in Year 9, allowing
girls to build their independent research and presentation skills.
We use a variety of resources including Cambridge Latin Course II.
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Please note that full details of all GCSE and A Level courses can be found on the OCR
website or on our VLE.
YEARS 10 - 11
GCSE Latin
Building on the skills and knowledge acquired in Years 8 and 9, the course consists of a mix
of language and literature work, beginning with Cambridge Latin Course books III and IV
before moving on to ‘real Latin’.
Students delve into the literary world of the 1st Century BC, reading selections from the
prose works of Suetonius, Pliny and Livy and the poetry of Ovid, Horace, Lucan and
Virgil.
GCSE Classics
A varied and broad curriculum covering literature and civilisation topics. We study the
topics using a combination of the OCR text book, online resources, video footage and a
wide range of primary and secondary materials.
Students cover the following units during their 2 years of study:
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City Life in the Classical World: Athens
Epic and Myth: Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Community Life in the Classical World: Pompeii
Cultural Society in the Classical World: Sophocles’ Antigone
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YEAR 12
AS Latin
Latin AS is made up of 2 units: Latin Language and Latin Verse and Prose Literature
Latin Language
Students develop the linguistic skills acquired during GCSE through the translation of the
works of prose authors from the 1st Century BC and 1st Century AD.
Latin Verse and Prose Literature
The verse set text for 2013 and 2014 is Ovid, Amores III. 2, 4, 5, 14.
The prose set text for 2013 and 2014 is Cicero, In Verrem II. 1. 53–69
Click the following link to OCR Latin AS/A level
page. http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/gce/classics/latin/documents/index.html
Here you will find past papers and full details of the specification.
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AS Classical Civilisation
The Classics AS consists of 2 units: Homer’s Odyssey & Society and Greek Tragedy in its
context
Homer’s Odyssey & Society
This is primarily a literature unit through which we investigate Greek society and values,
but it also encompasses history and archaeology.
Greek Tragedy in its context
Again, this unit is mainly concerned with literature, society and values, but also covers
history, philosophy and religion.
From June 2012 to June 2014, inclusive, the set texts will be: Aeschylus’ Agamemnon,
Sophocles’ Ajax and Euripides’ Medea and Trojan Women.
Click the following link to visit the OCR Classical Civilisation AS/A level page:
http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/gce/classics/classical_civ/documents/index.aspx
Here you will find past papers and full details of the specification.
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Year 13
A2 Latin
The Year 13 course consists of 2 units: Latin Verse and Latin Prose
Latin Verse
Students translate and analyse the works of 1st Century AD and 1st Century BC poets,
practice scanning poetry and study a set text in detail.
From June 2013 to June 2015 the set text will be Virgil, Aeneid IV. 1–299.
The A2 unseen verse author will be Ovid (hexameters).
Latin Prose
From June 2013 to June 2015 the A2 prose set texts will be Sallust, Bellum Catilinae, 14–29.
The A2 unseen prose author will be Livy.
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A2 Classics: Classical Civilisation
Units studied in Year 13 are: Virgil and the world of the hero and Comic Drama in the
Ancient World
Virgil and the world of the hero
The principal focus of this unit is on literature, society and values, but is also concerned
with
history, politics and religion. We read Virgil’s Aeneid and selections from Homer’s Iliad.
Comic Drama in the Ancient World
The principal focus of this unit is on literature but is also concerned with history, politics
and society and values. The current set texts are Aristophanes’ Frogs and Lysistrata and
Plautus’ Pseudolus and The Swaggering Soldier.
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Sites we like
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www.cambridgescp.com is particularly useful for Year 8 – 11 Latin students, and
also has many links to sites which GCSE Classicists might find useful
The British Museum www.britishmuseum.org
The Classics Pages can be found at www.classicspage.com
Perseus is a digital library holding many classical texts both in their original Greek
or Latin and in English translation www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper
www.thelatinlibrary.com holds many Latin texts
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The news in Latin can be found at http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii/ or
http://www.scorpiomartianus.com/
www.jact.org
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Thoughts on Classics
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Boris Johnson discusses the value of a classical education at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7397812.stm
Rosslyn McNair (Former DCHS student, now a 2nd year undergraduate reading Classics at
Bristol)
‘Oh men, your destiny. When all is well a shadow can overturn it. And that I think breaks
the heart. Thus are the final words of Cassandra as she walks into the House of Atreus,
knowing that she will die. A final echo to the world of men that we are walking on a
precipice, that it is so easy to plunge off that thin, thin line. That line comes from
Aeschylus’ ‘Agamemnon’, a brilliant example of Greek tragedy, which in itself is the poster
boy for theatrical conventions. Greek tragedy takes your problems, throws them on the
ashen floor, stamps them into oblivion and uses them as rhetorical garnish. Within the
world of Greek tragedy, the family unit is stretched beyond breaking point through to the
dark, infinite domain of the grotesque. Within Greek tragedy live people that in our world
only exist theoretically in the grim realm of Freudian nightmare. There exist ‘cides that
previously you only believed as concepts: matricide, regicide, neofanticide all lying
incestuously along such things as (for one) incest, revenge and heartbreak.
If Rousseau is to be believed then Classical literature should contain the highest
moral ideals available as the Greeks and Romans were ‘uncorrupted’ by modern
civilisation. Anyone who has ever read any Catullus however, knows that Rousseau is
wrong. They faced every kind of moral dilemma, deviance, dalliance known to man and
consequently where some people turn to the Bible for life advice, Classicists turn to
Aristotle. Classics can be a cup of tea, a Dairy milk tray and a copy of OK magazine. But it
can also be brandy, neat, a Whitney Houston album, and a box of tissues. Everything you
ever wanted to know about people, relationships and the meaning of life is right here! The
belief that Classics is an out of date, old-fashioned subject with little relevance to the
modern world is just the mental flustering of accountancy and media studies students
desperately trying to justify their ‘vocational’ subject choices. If you watch Eastenders,
you’re watching Classics in action, if you vote, you’re actioning Classics, if you feel any
kind of emotion, you are Classics. IT is only relevant until Bill Gates dies. Medicine is only
relevant until you walk out of the hospital and go home. Classics is applicable at all times
whether you’ve murdered your best friend or want to repaint your living room wall.
So although Sophocles would ‘count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last’, with
Classics we can at least ease the pain with a copy of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and an armour
clad Russell Crowe.