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2020vision Merchants Connected ArchivesExtra-curricular Classics
The Classics department offer several exciting trips to various year groups which serve to enrich the classroom experience. As well as trips to various sites of interest in Britain, we also run a biennial trip to either Italy or Greece.
Year 7: In June the year 7s are taken to the Roman town of Deva (modern town of Chester) and visit the remains of a Roman amphitheatre and see a hypocaust. After a stroll round the city walls, they are also given a hands-on tour of the museum.
A weekly Classics club is also on offer for year 7 boys where they are able to do arts and crafts on Classical themes, formulate their own battle plans, design weaponry, play board games and act in Latin plays.
Year 9: During the Easter holidays the Latinists embark on an expedition up to Hadrian's Wall in order to get a taste of Roman Britain and stay overnight in a hostel. The Hellenists are taken to Liverpool Museum where they explore the Roman, Greek and Egyptian rooms. They also explore the influence of Classical architecture on several important civic buildings in the city centre.
Year 10: The Hellenists visit the Lady Lever Museum in the summer term, paying particular interest to the Wedgwood collections.
The 6th form spend a long weekend in London, visiting the British Museum and watching productions of Classical plays.
There is also an annual Classics Christmas dinner "deipnosophistae!" and in the summer some sixth formers go to Greek or Latin residential summer schools, often in preparation for university.
Pupils also attend GCSE/AS/A2 conferences of relevance to set texts where possible. In addition we have hosted a number of seminars given by leading scholars and academics in the field. We utilise Oxford University's Outreach program and GCSE students have benefited from hearing lectures in the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies.
A number of prizes are hotly contested every year. These include the Longford Greek Prize, Montefiore Prize for Latin, Tyler prize for Ancient History, Mark Luft Memorial Prize for Classics and the Longford Classical Civilisation Prize. Pupils can also participate in termly quizzes and there are a number of essay competitions for all age groups run by the Classical Association. The department has also trained pupils up in the art of rhetoric and declamation for the North West Classical Reading Competition when sufficient interest is shown by a good number of pupils. We also run a classical film club where we show a host of films during lunchtimes from new Hollywood blockbusters like Clash of the Titans to timeless classics like Monty Python and Jason and the Argonauts.
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