respice, adspice, prospice
Latin is very much alive and kicking at St. Francis’ College. The subject is taught to all students from Year 4 to Year 9, becoming optional at GCSE. Both Latin and Classics A Levels are run in the Sixth Form. Results have been consistently high and there is a well-established cohort of budding Classicists throughout the school.
The onus is on the language’s place in our body of literature, in history and art, and in western thought. From Year 4 there is a strong emphasis on Classical culture and lifestyle as well as the language itself, including study of Roman housing, baths and dress, Greek gods, monsters and mythology.
Trips form an important part of our curriculum. Students studying in the Sixth Form partake in trips to museums appropriate to the modules they are studying, as well as attending lecture days led by university professors to help prepare them for their A Level examinations. For lower years, we run trips to Roman towns including St. Albans and Colchester, as well as visits to more local sites such as the Letchworth museum, which contains Roman artefacts from the area, or the Roman baths at Welwyn. We have also run a highly successful trip abroad to Rome/Greece biennially since 2012 for students in Year 10 and above.
Every effort is made to teach Classics and Latin as active subjects and to provide new and interesting ways for our students to learn. For example, over recent years we have collaborated with the Drama department numerous times to allow our Year 7 to 9 students to perform an Ancient Greek play; a valuable and highly successful experience.
Curriculum Overview
In Year 7-9, students follow the ‘De Romanis’ Latin course which incorporates a great deal of classical civilisation alongside developing language acquisition and translation skills.
At GCSE, students follow the OCR GCSE Latin specification, undertaking modules in Latin Language, Roman Literature and Roman Civilisation.
A Level students can choose to undertake the OCR Latin GCE course and/or the OCR Classical Civilisation course, which allows them to explore elements of both Ancient Greek and Roman culture, literature and history in more depth.