Latin

Chariots of fire? No, but our passion for Latin burns brightly!

Latin and Greek have a wonderful chance to grab children’s interest.

What on earth, or rather, what on Mount Olympus, were all those gods and goddesses up to? Did Achilles really exist and have a weak heel? What about the Romans and the chariots and the gladiators

and the dinner parties and the mind-befuddling empire they built? And then there were the plays and the Colosseum and the Parthenon and that strange oracle at Delphi which always confused people, and then Vesuvius erupted and, in amongst all that, if I remember rightly, there was Caecilius...yes, that was it...Caecilius est in horto. What was that all about?

Here at Sherborne Prep, I hope against hope that we celebrate and revere the wonders of the Classics, letting the children from year six upwards rejoice in mini-plays, Ancient History, Roman dinner parties, Greeks v Romans

debates and much, much more. But I also hope just as fervently that we honour the Latin language as the source for so many of our modern languages, and, inter alia (as they say!), as a wonderful help in providing structure and clarity to English grammar.

We begin learning from the rightly famous Cambridge Latin Course from year 6, but quickly advance to set the children on track towards scholarship in the language which sees many of them by the middle of year eight master almost all the linguistic programme needed for GCSE. At this point they will know ninety per cent of the GCSE vocabulary and several different uses of the subjunctive, as well as knowing verbs in the active and passive in five tenses and will be able to translate into Latin well. They love the challenge, and it is wonderful how many of our students here carry on with Latin at senior school. Indeed, at Sherborne School next year, four old Preppers will be embarking on Latin A level, all from the same year. All are accomplished linguists.

In amongst the myths and legends, and the stories of the ancient world in year six, the seeds for those A levels were sown and planted here.

Long may it continue.