All Orwellians start Latin in Form IV (Year 6) and follow a three-year course through to Common Entrance or Public School Scholarship level.

We hope to give you a good idea of what we get up to in the classroom. If you have any questions about Classics at Orwell Park please do not hesitate to get in touch with me.

Objectives

The principal objective of the Department is to enable children to read with enjoyment and appreciation relatively simple continuous Latin prose. In the course of mastering the vocabulary, grammar and skills necessary to achieve this it is hoped that the pupil will:

• acquire a basic knowledge of the history, social institutions and achievements of the Romans;
• become familiar with grammatical terminology and conventions which will be of use to them in learning any foreign language in the future;
• adopt a logical and analytical approach to problem solving;
• develop an appreciation of the influence of Latin on English and other modern foreign languages;
• develop an appreciation of the characteristics of an inflected language;
• acquire discrimination and accuracy in the use of words.

Although a sound linguistic foundation will enable the more able child eventually to read the literature of Rome, it is important to ensure that pupils derive sound educational benefit from pursuing the course for whatever length of time. As the aims above indicate the study of Latin has a number of important ‘spin-offs’, and the ‘trade-in’ or ‘surrender’ value at any particular stage is high. Above all, the whole process of learning Latin must be fun - and this does not mean that academic rigour has to suffer as a result.

Latin

All Orwellians start Latin in Form IV (Year 6) and follow a three-year course to Common Entrance or Public School Scholarship level. The course book we use is Ab Initio ('From the Beginning'). It is home-grown and geared specifically to the demands of the exams which the children will be sitting in their final year at Orwell Park.

Greek 

Those entering our public school scholarship stream (VIs) and who are therefore already of proven linguistic ability have the option of studying classical Greek in their final year. The children's knowledge of Latin stands them in good stead and enables sound progress to be made; most are able to offer this subject at scholarship level. A home-grown course, Ancient Greek for Young Beginners, is used. This lays emphasis on the setting down of solid foundations in the basics - especially in writing Greek - so as to provide Orwellians with a firm springboard for continuing to GCSE at public school.

Bob Bass