Clifton College Website

Classics

Classics at Clifton is as strong today as it was 20 years ago. The numbers choosing to study to GCSE are increasing annually, and the volume of pupils taking the AS and A2 is larger than ever before. This reflects the desire for pupils to attain a qualification that is imbued with intellectual rigour and gravitas and separates them from the masses of like-minded examinees. The help that a Latin GCSE, for example, has given to pupils in their future studies is incalculable.

Head of Classics:
Teachers
Ms Tikva A Blaukopf BA
Mr Oliver Cullen BA

Resources

The Classics Department has a full and extensive library, encompassing every Latin and Greek author of note and many books on the civilisation and history of the ancient world. We also have videos, film-slides and photographs to aid understanding. The Department is very well represented on the college intranet with notes, translations, vocabulary lists and aids to learning.

Trips

The Department takes the pupils out of the classroom for visits to the great museums at Oxford and London, and on conferences relevant to their studies. We also attend performances of Greek Tragedies whenever they are performed. We regularly embark upon trips to Greece and Italy to visit the major classical sites.

Teaching

We follow the specifications from OCR in Greek, Latin and Classical Civilisation at AS and A2, with the pupils seeing as many of the teachers as possible and allowing for a particular teacher to teach the subjects which he/she finds enjoyable. The intention is to encourage pupils to learn with precision and great detail and to explore in depth any subject that may interest them. A sixth form pupil will be expected to organize him/herself with maturity and maintain a constant approach to study.

GCSE Latin and Greek (OCR) are examinations that most pupils find highly diverting, allowing for a brief study of some of the great authors of the ancient world and augmenting their vocabulary to such an extent that they reach a level of sophistication far above the average pupil.

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