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Achievements of students in the Classics Dept at Malvern St James.

There is always a lot going on in the Classics Department! The downloadable leaflet 'Why Latin? / Why Latin at Malvern St James?' will tell you all you need to know about studying Latin with us. We also offer Classical Greek and Classical Civilisation.

Special events and achievements first, then the activities of each term starting with the most recent.

European CICERO Competition : after the success of last year's event we are working on the arrangements for 2008 - with Classics teachers from France, Spain, Italy and Andorra!

"Listen!"
Boris Johnson, the Shadow Minister for Higher Education, encourages 6th Formers from schools across the UK to take part in the competition, to be held at MSJ on Friday April 18th.

You can see more information on the multi-lingual CICERO competition website which Mrs Dicks has created.

Gloucestershire Classical Association Latin and Greek Reading Competition, Tuesday 4th March 2008.

CONGRATULATIONS to all our PRIZEWINNERS - we won 10 of the 18 available prizes! 10 schools participated : Cheltenham College, Cheltenham Ladies' College, Dean Close, St Edwards, The King's School Gloucester, Pate's, Hereford Cathedral School, Haberdashers' Monmouth School for Girls, RGS/AO and MSJ.

Junior Latin Duologue
1st, 2nd and 3rd Prizes!

Intermediate Latin
2nd Prize

Intermediate Greek
3rd Prize 

Senior Greek
1st and 2nd Prizes

Summer Term 2008

The most exciting news this term is of course the 2008 CICERO 6th Form European Classics competition between France (2 centres), Spain, Andorra and the UK. Malvern St James is the centre for the UK section of the competition and we are looking forward to welcoming competitors from several other schools on Friday 18th April. Details can be found on the website www.ciceroeuropa.eu

The competition had to be held earlier in France and Italy because this date was not convenient for them, so Mrs Dicks went over to the beautiful town of Lodi, near Milan for the Italian section. You can see a slideshow of the event here .

Later in the term our Years 7 and 8 students will go to the Roman fort at the Lunt, just outside Coventry, where they will be able to see the arena where archaeologists believe that horses confiscated after the rebellion of Boudica were re-trained for use in the Roman cavalry.

Older students are of course working hard in preparation for their public examinations later this term.

Spring Term 2008

Wonderful news - the front of room 29 has been transformed into the Parthenon! This means that both our main Classics teaching rooms now have their whiteboard in a truly Classical setting and we can be inspired by our Roman and Greek surroundings.

6th Form Classicists visited the British museum, accompanied by some Year 10 and 11 students.

Year 9 students of Latin and Classical Civilisation had a special programme organised for them at the Roman Baths, where they had the opportunity to handle some of the artefacts as well as explore the site itself.

Students at all levels worked very hard on their reading passages for the Gloucestershire CA Latin and Greek Reading Competition on Tuesday 4th March and you can see their successes above. The standard of all our entrants was extremely high and we were very proud of their performances.

The staff are very busy organising the 2008 CICERO 6th Form Latin competition which will be held in France (2 centres), Spain, Andorra and the UK. Malvern St James is the centre for the UK section of the competition and A Level students are invited to enter for the event - the prizes will again be worth having, and you will be able to see students in other parts of Europe competing at the same time! It will be held on Friday 18th April.

Autumn Term 2007

We were delighted to welcome Mrs Holly into the Classics Department to teach some Year 7, 8 and 9 classes.

Amazing news - as part of the redecoration of room 24 the whiteboard has become part of the facade of a Roman temple, and at the moment the front of room 29 is being transformed into the Parthenon!

At the beginning of term the Upper 6 Classical Civilisation students had an exciting start to their study of Roman Britain, visiting four Roman sites in the Cotswolds. We started at Corinium museum, moved to Chedworth villa and then the reconstructed mosaic from Woodchester which is currently on display at Prinknash Abbey. Great Witcombe villa, which is slightly 'off the beaten track' gave the students an opportunity to test what they have learnt as they tried to interpret the site for themselves. We ended the day with choc-ices in Mrs Dicks's Roman garden!

The Lower 6 Classics group investigated the sites of the Roman fort, amphitheatre and bath-house at Caerleon as part of their coursework preparation during November. Museum staff illustrated the life of a Roman soldier for us in the reconstructed barracks room and the girls enjoyed posing for a photo at the latrines block of the fortress no individual cubicles for the Romans!

The Lower 6 Latin group had one of their lessons in Mrs Dicks's Roman garden, learning more about what the Romans contributed to horticulture in Britain and reading some of the original texts describing their love of plants.

6th Form Classicists also joined the Study Day at Monmouth, where they heard inspiring lectures on the Odyssey, the Aeneid, Greek Tragedy and Greek Art. We were not able to organise an official trip to see Kaloi K'Agathoi's production of Aristophanes' 'Clouds' because it took place during an exeat weekend, but the staff enjoyed their visit and so did two former students who are now studying Classics at university. You can see photos of some staff at the Toga Party organised as the launch of the production on the Oxford University Classics website.

The Classics Department organised a Junior Latin Reading Competition and some 'Fun Greek' events as their contribution to the school's Languages Day at the beginning of November, and the jigsaw of a Roman mosaic which was begun on this occasion is still being worked on in room 24.

Summer Term 2007

Our exciting European CICERO Competition on 5th May attracted national publicity after Boris Johnson made a special video message for us - after spending all night at the local elections he made time in a busy day at the University of Bath Spa to make this recording, which was a true inspiration for the organisers and competitors.

Competitors in the three centres - Paris, Berlin and Malvern - were in contact by video-conferencing as they attempted the same questions at the same time!

We are proud to announce that our students gained prizes in both the Europa and Upper 6 Latin sections - see the competition website for details.

We took Years 7 and 8 to the museum at Cirencester and the villa at Chedworth where they were able to examine artefacts and deepen their understanding of Roman life in Britain.

Ludi Scaenici (Latin Play Competition)

The Year 9 Latin group was awarded Third Prize at this event, which was held at Katharine Lady Berkeley's School in Wotton-under-Edge on Thursday 29th June 2007, for their production of Nivea (Snow White) and the Sonic Screwdriver OR How 6 Dwarfs became 7.


The Doctor (later to become 'Doc') revives Nivea.


Members of the Yr 8 Latin group are to be congratulated on being awarded a certificate from the Cambridge Classics Project to mark their success at Level Two of the Cambridge Graded Tests.

Spring Term 2007

The most exciting news this term is that the Malvern St James Classics Department is about to become a Mousehole! This means that we will offer specialist Latin support to junior schools who are running a Latin Club using the Minimus course - stories about a mouse who lived with a Roman family on Hadrian's Wall!
Our own Junior School has just started one of these clubs, which is run by two of our Latin students with the help of Mrs Buchanan.

We are now getting used to the wonderful computerised facilities in both Classics rooms : it is great fun to be able to access pictures, recordings and whatever else we need on our large screen. Mrs Baird and Mrs Dicks have made many resources themselves, which we use in our lessons as well as the commercial programs we have purchased.

Yr 9 Latin students are looking forward to their visit to the Roman Baths at Bath. Members of the 6th Form Classical Civilisation group will join us to collect information for their Upper 6th course.

6th Form Latin students will be attending a Conference in Oxford, where they will hear dons from three Oxford Colleges speaking on the set texts which they are studying for AS and A2. We expect a most stimulating and inspiring day!

We are looking forward to welcoming students from Primary and Prep. Schools to our Languages Afternoon later in the term. We expect to listen to young competitors in the Latin Reading competitions and to see their enjoyment in speaking the language in front of an audience. There will also be activities involving many other languages, including Mandarin Chinese, and further details can be obtained from the Registrar at Malvern St James.

Autumn Term 2006

We had a full programme of events for our students this term.

We are thrilled to report that a second Classics classroom has been equipped with ICT facilities so that we can utilise modern technology in ALL our lessons about the ancient world!


Sixth Form students used the Language Lab to record a new version of Horace's 'Pyrrha' poem in Latin. Here you can see them preparing to discuss their work with HRH the Duke of Gloucester when he came to open Malvern St James on Wednesday 18th October. You can listen to their recording on this website.

We took the Upper 6 Classical Civilisation students to four Roman sites in the Cotswolds, to illustrate how Romanisation affected Britain after the invasion. The newly refurbished Corinium museum at Cirencester is a real joy, and Chedworth villa shows how well-to-do Romano-Britons would live in the countryside. We admired the reconstructed mosaic from Woodchester which is currently on display at Prinknash Abbey. By the afternoon the students were so steeped in Roman Britain that they were able to give me a guided tour rather than the other way round when we arrived at Great Witcombe villa. We rounded off a most enjoyable day with choc-ices in Mrs Dicks's Roman garden!

The Lower 6 Classics group investigated the sites of the Roman fort, amphitheatre and bath-house at Caerleon as part of their coursework preparation during November.

Girls enjoyed a Theatre trip this term - a modern interpretation of 'Oedipus the King' in Worcester. Students from the Drama and English Departments joined us on this trip.

We were pleased that we could attend the Classics Study Day at a school in Monmouth again this year and our 6th Formers gained great benefit from listening to university lecturers on topics relevant to their A Level course. It is always a great experience for them to be able to mix with Classics students from other schools and to share ideas.

Two after-school clubs have been running this term so that girls can learn some Classical Greek, and they have enjoyed giving their spare time to this worthwhile activity.

At our recent 'Magic' experience several young students discovered why JK Rowling thought Latin was so 'magic' that she used it in so many of Harry Potter's spells. We hope it will inspire them to continue with a study of this fascinating language.


Summer Term 2006

At Easter a group of Classicists enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise under the leadership of Mrs Baird!

Click here to see some pictures.

After this it was fun to share memories at a special Assembly, when we announced the results of the Photo Competition. Girls have compiled a joint Photo Album on a special area of the computer network.

We took the Yr 7 to the Lunt fort, near Coventry, and Yr 10 to Cirencester (Corinium museum and the amphitheatre).

Yr 9 girls worked enthusiastically on their production for the Ludi Scaenici (Latin Play Competition) at Katherine Lady Berkeley School. "Rufeo and Julietta (and the Goblet of Fire)" : see above for details of their success!



Latin students who have seen the new film The Da Vinci Code were thrilled to report that they could understand the Latin which the sinister Silas spoke into his mobile phone.



The Yr 10 Latin group was delighted to find a personalised page of the Cambridge Latin Course website which mentions them at the top of the page after they contacted the Project team with comments about the website.

Members of the Yr 8 Latin group are to be congratulated on being awarded a certificate from the Cambridge Classics Project to mark their success at Level Two of the Cambridge Graded Tests.

Mrs Baird and Mrs Dicks were invited to the UK launch of the CIRCE manual at the beginning of term at the IBM Building in London. It was a fascinating day, with speakers including Boris Johnson talking about this exciting European Classical initiative to put Classics teachers all over Europe in touch with each other and to spread good practice in the use of ICT in the teaching of Classics. Mrs Dicks will participate in the first CIRCE residential course in Oxford during the summer.


Spring Term 2006

Preparations for our Mediterranean Cruise at the beginning of the Easter holiday kept the staff busy for a lot of this term! Mrs Dicks attended a First Aid course to update her qualifications, and we were delighted that her expertise was not in fact needed!

We are now getting used to the wonderful computerised facilities in the Classics room : it is great fun to be able to access pictures, recordings and whatever else we need on our large screen.

Yr 9 Latin students thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the Roman Baths at Bath. We looked at the Classical influences on the architecture of the city before listening to a talk by one of the experts at the Roman Baths. Members of the 6th Form Classical Civilisation group joined us to collect information for their Upper 6th course.

We welcomed some Prep school Latin students for our Languages Afternoon on Wednesday 22 February. It was good to hear the competitors in the Latin Reading competitions and to see their enjoyment in speaking the language to an audience.

national publicity in 2005

My students have told me to congratulate myself, since this website has been recommended and linked by the Channel Four programme 'Time Team', following their programme about making replica Roman mosaics!

This website was recommended in the first 'Website Watch' feature in 'Omnibus', the Classical magazine and also in the June 4th edition of the Times Education Supplement!

The Association for Latin Teachers' website has included a link to 'Pyrrha's' GCSE revision page (link below) and there are several links to different pages from the Cambridge Latin Course website.

A letter from Mrs Dicks disagreeing with the Education Minister's denigration of Classics was printed in the Daily Telegraph at the end of March and the teaching style of the Classics Dept here at MGC was the subject of an 'Education Mail' article in the Daily Mail on April 1st - showing what a forward-thinking and innovative Classics Department the school possesses!

Mrs Dicks was also interviewed as 'an expert on Roman inscriptions' by BBC Radio Gloucestershire during the Summer holidays. She was able to explain the inscription on an old map which had been puzzling its owner.

Mrs Dicks' contribution to the debate over the decipherment of an inscription at Shugborough was shown on the BBC Radio Four 'Today' Programme's website in May 2004. This inscription made the national news because of rumours that it might lead to the Holy Grail! Codecrackers from the wartime Bletchley Park were drafted in to try to work it out.


Archive News

Ludi Scaenici (Latin Play Competition)

The Year 9 Latin group was awarded First Prize at this event, which was held at Katharine Lady Berkeley's School in Wotton-under-Edge on Thursday 29th June 2006, for their production of Rufeo and Julietta (and the Goblet of Fire).

The judges (a Classicist from Bristol University, the director of a touring drama company and a BBC radio presenter) commented on the excellent Latin pronunciation, teamwork, characterisation and clarity of speech and action. The girls are to be congratulated on their initiative and motivation since they organised their own rehearsals, devised the movements and characterisation, produced their own costumes and props and practised the Latin using a recording on this website.

Our current Year 9 group is practising for this year's event!


Hot off the Press!
A 'Latin Sticker Book' has just been published by Usborne Books.

Mrs Dicks (Head of Classics) was its 'Latin Consultant'!


Easter 2006

At Easter a group of Classicists enjoyed a Mediterranean cruise under the leadership of Mrs Baird!

Click here to see some pictures.

Amelia Richards Classics Bowl


The recipient of the Classics Bowl for this year has shown great flair and enthusiasm for Latin, and despite the demands of a very full timetable, has begun a study of GCSE Greek as well. She participated with distinction in the Latin Reading Competition last year.
Well done!


Gloucestershire Classical Association Latin and Greek Reading Competition.

This competition was held at Cheltenham College on Tuesday 22nd November 2005.

Well done to all who took part in our heats - the standard was very high and it was difficult to choose our team.
Congratulations to all the team, who demonstrated both accuracy and a sense of drama in their performances. (We did not enter the competition in 2006 because our students were devoting their spare time to preparing for our three-yearly Charity Weekend instead).

Junior Latin duologue : First Prize and (Joint) Second Prize.

Intermediate Latin : (Joint) First Prize

Senior Latin : Second Prize.

The standard of all entrants was particularly high. Well done!

Click here to listen to our prize-winning performances!

Ancient Radio Drama


Click on the University of Oxford's website, where you will be able to hear this group of girls performing their own dramatised version of Horace's encounter with a bore (Satire 1. ix - The Bore).
We travelled to Oxford for a full day's workshop during the first week of July 2005.




Here you can see the recording in progress.



Congratulations
to one of our former students on being awarded a First in Classics at the university of Cambridge! (Summer 2006)


Look at page 10
of the new University of Cambridge prospectus to see another of our former students describing how the teachers in this Department helped her to prepare for her university interview.

LINKS

for MSJ Latin and Greek students.

Return to 'Meet Pyrrha'.

Classics Dept U.K. field trips.

Easter cruise 2006

trip to Greece 2002.

Latin passages read by Classics students.




Look at previous years' achievements and events.

Now look at the school website!

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