Senior School Curriculum Latin
Latin
Roughly half new year 9 students have studied Latin prior to joining Clayesmore. We like anyone who has previously studied the subject to continue with it through year 9. From year 10 onwards it becomes part of the GCSE and A-level option system. It is certainly not a subject that lacks popularity at Clayesmore – in the recent past we have had to appoint extra teaching staff in order to be able to teach all those wanting to take it!
The ultimate aim for a student of Latin is to be able to read and comprehend the writings of the Romans in the language they used. To be afforded the opportunity to read great cornerstones of western literature in their original form – the foundations upon which Milton, Shakespeare, Keats and countless others were able to build – is a rare and exalted privilege; no translation can do justice to an author’s original words, and primary contact with the Latin is revealing, absorbing, and sometimes revelatory.
With that aim in mind, from year nine onwards we tackle Latin of gradually increasing complexity. Set texts are introduced in year ten, with assistance, and pupils are guided as to the methods of the authors. By the end of the sixth form, pupils will be able to translate virtually unadapted passages of Latin, both poetry and prose, and produce insightful, personal responses to their set texts. Those wishing to continue can find rewarding courses at universities all over the country, in which their understanding will be deepened yet further.
Along the way, we study grammar, the structure of language and the origins of words; our understanding of our own language, and others, is enhanced, and our vocabulary sharpened; we learn the techniques of poets, rhetoricians, historians and satirists, and this knowledge we can apply to our study of modern works.
People often ask, ‘Why study Latin?’
We can’t think of a single reason why not!