All pupils study Latin in the Fifth Form (Year 9). We set pupils according to their previous experience, with the aim that, at the end of the year, every pupil should be in a strong position to carry on towards GCSE if they so wish. Alongside our in-house language materials, all sets study various topics of ancient Roman history and literature. The School offers the Latin GCSE, which consists of language and literature components (50% each). For their verse set text, pupils have the opportunity to read an extract from Virgil’s hugely influential epic the Aeneid in Latin; they also read a fascinating prose author such as Tacitus, the great narrative historian of the famous early emperors, or Apuleius, the picaresque novelist of the bawdy and bizarre. Each year in the Lower and Upper Shell (Years 10 and 11) some pupils study ‘Combined Classics’. It is an intense course, essentially involving study for both the Latin and the Greek GCSEs in a reduced amount of lesson time. Other pupils study for the Latin and Greek GCSEs separately, using the normal amount of lesson time for each. The curriculum comprises a language course and a literature course. In the Sixth Form (Year 12), the language course is an intensive survey of advanced syntax, underpinned by vocabulary and accidence learning and with a focus on translation from English into Latin. The literature course aims to broaden and deepen pupils’ appreciation of a range of authors and genres, such as Catullus (personal poetry), Propertius, Tibullus, Sulpicia and Ovid (love elegy), Cicero (rhetoric), and Livy (history); to build confidence in reading Latin; and to develop writing skills through essays. We also have a series of seminars on wider literary and cultural issues arising from our texts. In the Remove (Year 13), we prepare more directly for the Latin A Level. Pupils read and discuss set texts in verse (usually epic) and prose (history or rhetoric), and practise unseen translation into English and prose composition into Latin.
Offers of places will be sent out in December. Some candidates will be placed on a waiting list, and these candidates will be contacted if they are going to be offered a place. The offer of a place is conditional on a candidate achieving a minimum of eight (I)GCSE passes at A / 7 grade, of which at least four are at A* / 8-9 in the subjects to be studied at A Level. Candidates should be on track to achieve a grade 8 or 9 for Latin at (I)GCSE level.
The entrance examination in Latin tests candidates’ linguistic and literary skills. It has three sections: a passage for translation into English; pairs of Latin and English sentences for grammatical scrutiny; and a short text, translated from Latin into English, for written literary discussion. We do not expect candidates to know aspects of the Latin language that are not normally covered at GCSE level: we are looking for them to deploy their knowledge and skills with precision and insight.
About Education Provider
| Region | London |
| Local Authority | Westminster |
| Ofsted Rating | |
| Gender Type | Co-Educational |
| ISI Report | View Report |
| Boarding Fee | £49,518 |
| Sixth Form Fee | £34,299 - £37,485; |
| Address | Little Dean's Yard, London, SW1P 3PF |
All pupils study Latin in the Fifth Form (Year 9). We set pupils according to their previous experience, with the aim that, at the end of the year, every pupil should be in a strong position to carry on towards GCSE if they so wish. Alongside our in-house language materials, all sets study various topics of ancient Roman history and literature. The School offers the Latin GCSE, which consists of language and literature components (50% each). For their verse set text, pupils have the opportunity to read an extract from Virgil’s hugely influential epic the Aeneid in Latin; they also read a fascinating prose author such as Tacitus, the great narrative historian of the famous early emperors, or Apuleius, the picaresque novelist of the bawdy and bizarre. Each year in the Lower and Upper Shell (Years 10 and 11) some pupils study ‘Combined Classics’. It is an intense course, essentially involving study for both the Latin and the Greek GCSEs in a reduced amount of lesson time. Other pupils study for the Latin and Greek GCSEs separately, using the normal amount of lesson time for each. The curriculum comprises a language course and a literature course. In the Sixth Form (Year 12), the language course is an intensive survey of advanced syntax, underpinned by vocabulary and accidence learning and with a focus on translation from English into Latin. The literature course aims to broaden and deepen pupils’ appreciation of a range of authors and genres, such as Catullus (personal poetry), Propertius, Tibullus, Sulpicia and Ovid (love elegy), Cicero (rhetoric), and Livy (history); to build confidence in reading Latin; and to develop writing skills through essays. We also have a series of seminars on wider literary and cultural issues arising from our texts. In the Remove (Year 13), we prepare more directly for the Latin A Level. Pupils read and discuss set texts in verse (usually epic) and prose (history or rhetoric), and practise unseen translation into English and prose composition into Latin.
Offers of places will be sent out in December. Some candidates will be placed on a waiting list, and these candidates will be contacted if they are going to be offered a place. The offer of a place is conditional on a candidate achieving a minimum of eight (I)GCSE passes at A / 7 grade, of which at least four are at A* / 8-9 in the subjects to be studied at A Level. Candidates should be on track to achieve a grade 8 or 9 for Latin at (I)GCSE level.
The entrance examination in Latin tests candidates’ linguistic and literary skills. It has three sections: a passage for translation into English; pairs of Latin and English sentences for grammatical scrutiny; and a short text, translated from Latin into English, for written literary discussion. We do not expect candidates to know aspects of the Latin language that are not normally covered at GCSE level: we are looking for them to deploy their knowledge and skills with precision and insight.