The Classics Department 

The Classics Department at KGS consists of four members of staff, a passionate team consisting of me, Emma Pytel, Anna Sayles, Lottie Mortimer. As a department we teach a wide range of classical skills to our students as they progress through their education at KGS.  In the Lower School we focus predominantly on Latin. We also give the students the opportunity to learn Greek and in the Sixth Form the students have the option to study Classical Civilisation.

These subjects allow our students to explore through the lens of the ancient world the importance and influence of people. The students are investigating themes such as gender, religion and conflict resolution. For example, when we are reading The Iliad, students can draw parallels with the modern day even though it is fundamentally an abstract ancient text. I think that it is hugely important that students can confidently discuss such major issues which are exceptionally relevant to their lives today. We explore a wide range of texts from the early Greek poems of Hesiod to the New Testament in the Bible and the legacy of the Vulgate Bible which we have recently discussed in the Sixth Form. 

My Background  

I was very lucky to be able to study Latin and Classical Civilisation at Nottingham High School. Although I initially intended to pursue History at university, the interdisciplinary appeal of Classics - encompassing the study of culture, art and literature - ultimately guided my decision. I studied Classics at the University of Newcastle and completed my PGCE at King’s College, London, and I have been teaching Classics ever since. In terms of my specialty, my favourite thing to teach is prose composition in Latin and Greek. I work closely with ex-Head of Classics Brenda McDonald, picking her brains about Greek composition. Prose composition is like the final number of a musical. You spend years learning case endings, verbs and vocab, and then suddenly you're in an exam and it's just you and this pasture of English. The aim is to successfully deploy everything you've learned over seven years. Additionally, you get bonus marks for being stylish which is a very unusual thing to be able to in an A Level exam. It's not about jumping through hoops: it's about showing how you go beyond. The ethos we embody is that we can see the basic thinking and then push our students to think beyond that. 

Did you know?

You will all be familiar with the following words: 'alumnus', 'alumna', 'alumni' and 'alumnae'. They all derive from the word alumnus, which is from the Latin verb “Alere”, which means "to nurture, nourish, support and maintain”. An alumnus is a person who is being supported and maintained.  In terms of the different endings, alumnus is an individual male, an alumna is the equivalent feminine term, alumnae, is for a group of former female students and alumni is for a group of male students or a mixed group. What is interesting about 'alumnus' is that it is the idea of continuing nurture. It is not a closed book, but is a continuous state of being supported. For example, in the Aeneid texts Aeneas is nurtured by his foster father. It interestingly comes from the same origin is 'alma', as in 'alma mater'. 'Alma' just means nurturing and It's the other side of the coin of alumnus. It's an epithet. We see it in Latin poetry with Venus, with her nurturing, but also with Ceres, who's the goddess of grain and organised fertility. This highlights the direct link between alma mater and alumnus.