It is not easy to give a satisfactory answer to boys and girls who rightly want to know why they should embark on the study of Latin if they are to drop it after two years. The solution seemed to be to make the question unnecessary, and so a break was made at Mirfield Grammar School with the traditional approach to Latin for those pupils who were unable to pursue the normal ‘O’ level course. Previous policy had been to follow a parallel course in the two streams for the first two years. A very real fault in the system was that certain pupils parted with Latin at the end of their second year with no sense of achievement and with considerable relief. The challenge to provide a course to meet their special needs was obvious and needed to be met.