Illustration shows Jaques-Louis David’s The Death of Socrates, 1787. Socrates is Europe’s first recorded educator, and we follow his example in challenging, questioning and stimulating our students.

Latin

          Latin is begun at Dauntsey’s in the First Form – all students must study it for six months, and they then choose whether or not to continue it into the Second Form. In the first three years of study, we follow the Cambridge Latin Course, a stimulating modern course which gives students the grammatical basics while at the same time engaging them in the study of the Roman world. The goal, of course, is to read Latin literature, something that we begin to do at GCSE level. Alongside this introduction to the literature, students in the Fourth and Fifth Form will continue to expand their linguistic knowledge, and will also undertake a coursework assignment on the Roman world. The GCSE specification for literature will comprise a varied selection of works by a wide range of poets drawn from the Cambridge Latin Anthology.

          At sixth-form, students are at the point when they can study Latin literature in much greater depth. Typically, both AS and A2 will require students to read substantial extracts from two different authors, reading and analysing the work in depth. In addition to the literary work, we continue to focus on and expand students’ linguistic competence in the Sixth Form. For a taster of some of the authors we read, go to Some Authors.

Classics

          Classics at Dauntsey’s starts in the Third Form, when the subject is offered to all students as a language option. Third Form Classics is an opportunity to study the Greek world in some depth, and is based on two strands – the history and society of ancient Greece, and the most important and interesting of the Greek myths. The subject is taught in a lively and varied style, with plenty of opportunities for the students to demonstrate creativity and engage with the subject matter.

          Classics at GCSE is again based on two distinct elements – Greek and Roman history, and Greek and Latin literature read in English translation. At present, students study historical topics such as Greek athletics and theatre, and read authors such as Homer and Ovid. In the Sixth Form, Classics becomes a solely literary subject. Students study three genres, epic poetry (Homer and Virgil), Greek Tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides), and Greek comedy (Aristophanes and Menander), and undertake an A2 coursework assignment on comedy. For more details on these authors, visit the Some Authors page.

Trips

          As a department, we are convinced that educational visits play an essential role in learning, and we are proud of our record of offering a wide variety of trips to our students. We frequently take our students to productions of Greek plays, museums, lectures given by classicists, and archaeological sites around the country (including a long weekend on Hadrian’s Wall). In addition to this, we regularly offer overseas trips to our upper school pupils, most usually to either Greece or Italy.

For a taster of our recent visits, go to our Trips page.

Illustration shows a detail from the Apollo Belvedere, a Roman copy of a Greek original. Apollo was the god of creativity and inspiration, traits our department welcomes and encourages.

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