Iris has been continuing to offer a range of events, workshops and evening classes this year at our Classics Centre at Cheney School and our newish Rumble Museum too.
Evening and weekend classes
Beginners’ Latin, Greek and Palaeography run in the evenings, and our Sunday family Latin group has a number of mums, dads and children attending to learn Latin together.
Community Workshops
In October, we were delighted to welcome two Year 5 and 6 classes from East Oxford Primary School to the Rumble Museum and Classics Centre to explore the Minoan Civilisation and Linear B.
The students had been learning all about the ancient Greeks this term at school, so these workshops gave them a glimpse into the period of history before Greek civilisation began to emerge-around 3000 – 1200BC when the Minoan Civilisation flourished. The first thing both groups did on arrival was to have a go at chalking the outline of a labyrinth onto the concrete outside. All sorts of different shapes and sizes of labyrinth appeared. We then went across to the Classics Centre to talk about the civilisation and site in which the labyrinth story originated. The two groups then looked at replicas of artefacts which were discovered, such as vases with octopuses painted over them, a musical instrument, a snake goddess, and the fascinating Phaistos Disk. There was also a replica Linear B tablet at each table. After this, every pupil was given a ball of modelling clay, a cocktail stick and a key with Linear B, and asked to make their own tablet and have a go at writing their names using the script.
Iris Festival of Imagined Worlds
We are excited to be holding our Festival of Imagined Worlds on Friday 9th February 2018 – by the time this is printed, it will have happened! The event is celebrating novels set in imaginary worlds, exploring how ancient myths and histories have often inspired these worlds. There will be museum artefacts to explore and handle which are connected to imagined worlds and stories. The event will include author talks and book illustration workshops, as well as a wide range of stalls, activities and exhibitions. Visitors will be able to walk through different fictional worlds as they explore the site, each one containing striking decorations, workshops, stalls, performances and activities themed on novels and authors. These will include the worlds of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis Carroll, J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman and others. A number of museums will be bringing artefacts, and running stalls and activities.
Year 6 students make Minoan Linear B ‘tablets’
Cheney School decorated for the ‘Imagined Worlds’
Our Year 8 Classics classes, Apollo and Artemis, have been working very hard over the last few weeks creating storyboards ready for the Festival of Imagined Worlds. Taking their inspiration from the ideas and themes of classical mythology, they have been preparing – in groups or individually – a concept for an imaginary world, and a storyline set in this world. They have been carefully preparing and decorating their boards, both with front covers, and also inside layouts showing elements of the stories and worlds. One storyboard depicts a world of Greek nymphs, whereas another features the story of the planet Minerva. The boards will be on display, complete with a QR code where visitors can hear the Year 8s talking about their worlds!
Literacy through Latin
Our Literacy through Latin schemes continue to run in Oxford, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Swansea, delivered by eager teams of university students. These are very well received by primary school students whose teachers report to us that they enjoy the challenge of learning Latin and the context of the classical world.
Curriculum expansion at Cheney School
We continue to offer A Level Latin and Classical Civilisation both to students at Cheney School and to the local community, and local state schools students come to the Iris Classics Centre to learn these subjects in friendly after-school classes. Classical Civilisation GCSE continues to be popular at Cheney, and this year is the first year we have had two Year 8 Latin classes. We have recently taken our A level students to hear Mary Beard and Neil MacGregor on Imagining the Divine at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, and we took our Year 8s and GCSE Classical Civilisation students to the London Amphitheatre and Museum of London in November where they very much enjoyed the galleries and workshops.
WJEC/Eduqas is pleased by the response to its forthcoming GCSE specification. Teachers seem to have been reassured that its content is no more demanding than that of the current GCSE and the Level 2 Certificates. In particular they have commented favourably on the thematic approach to the compulsory Literature component and the integration of some visual material into it.
All the support materials for the GCSE and the Certificates are most easily accessed via: www.wjeclatinresources.com
Our thanks are given to the Cambridge School Classics Project and to Hands-Up Education for all their help.
Future plans
The Latin Language and Latin Language and Roman Civilisation Level 1 and Level 2 Certificates will continue with all their current features into future years. The Roman Civilisation topics for 2018–2020 are The Roman Army and Entertainment and Leisure.
In the GCSE the content of Component 3A (the optional narrative literature) is due to change after 2019. The new narratives for 2020–2021 will be the two Pliny letters on the eruption of Vesuvius (one in Latin and one in English) and two flood stories from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Disasters all round for this component!
New themes are being discussed for the compulsory literature component (Component 2) for first assessment in 2021. Among ideas being mooted are ‘Travel by Land and Sea’ and ‘Spookiness – witches, werewolves, ghosts etc’. If readers have any thoughts on suitable items for these themes or, indeed, for alternative themes, please let me know ([email protected]).
LACTOR 1 The Athenian Empire provides prescribed material for the period study ‘Relations between Greek states and between Greek and non-Greek states, 492–404 BC’.
LACTOR 2 The Old Oligarch (revised edition, published in August 2017) is the prescribed translation for ‘The Politics and Culture of Athens, c. 460–399 BC’ depth study.
LACTOR 3 Cicero's Consulship Campaign includes, amongst other texts, the part of the Commentariolum Petitionis which is included in the set texts for the depth study ‘The Breakdown of the Late Republic, 88–31 BC’.
LACTOR 4 Inscriptions of Roman Britain (fifth edition, published in July 2017) provides texts for all but one of the archaeological sources prescribed for the depth study ‘Ruling Roman Britain’.
LACTOR 7 Late Republican Rome (published in September 2017) provides 21 texts and 6 coins for the depth study ‘The Breakdown of the Late Republic, 88–31 BC’.
LACTOR 11 Literary Sources for Roman Britain provides almost all the literary passages set for the depth study ‘Ruling Roman Britain’.
LACTOR 12 The Culture of Athens provides 17 texts for the depth study ‘The Politics and Culture of Athens, c. 460–399 BC’.
LACTOR 15 Dio: The Julio-Claudians provides 17 of the passages set for the period study ‘The Julio-Claudian emperors, 30 BC – AD 68’.
[LACTOR 16 The Persian Empire: 3 texts set for the period study ‘Relations between Greek states and between Greek and non-Greek states, 492–404 BC’ are available online pending republication of this LACTOR.]
LACTOR 17 The Age of Augustus provides a great many passages set for the period study ‘The Julio-Claudian emperors, 30 BC – AD 68’.
LACTOR 19 Tiberius to Nero provides 25 of the literary passages set for the period study ‘The Julio-Claudian emperors, 30 BC – AD 68’ and all 21 of the set archaeological sources.
LACTOR 20 The Flavians provides the great majority of the literary texts and all the archaeological ones required for the depth study ‘The Flavians, AD 68–96’.
LACTOR 21 Sparta (published July 2017) provides the great majority of the set texts for the ‘The Politics and Society of Sparta 478–404 BC’ depth study. A couple more set passages appear on the website, as do details of the passage numbers.
For full details of the LACTOR series, including price lists, please see the LACTOR website http://www.lactor.kcl.ac.uk/.
Here at the Cambridge School Classics Project (CSCP), developments are moving on apace, not only in supporting Latin teachers and learners, but also providing materials for Classics across the curriculum in primary and secondary schools. These are a few examples of our recent products and plans:
Free and Ready to Use
Our Romans in Focus site, aimed at bringing the latest research on the ordinary people of the Roman Empire into the Key Stage 4 (KS4) classroom (age 14 to 16), is live and we are already receiving very positive feedback from a variety of educational institutions. Do take a look at the videos and links there if your classes (at whatever level) would benefit from exploring evidence for aspects of Roman civilisation. We are also very keen to hear your ideas for expanding the information there. See the site and feedback link at https://www.romansinfocus.com/.
In the Pipeline
We are working with professional storytellers and illustrators to provide well-researched, accessible and engaging materials to support the introduction of Ancient Greek myth and culture to Key Stage 2 (KS2) pupils (aged 7 to 11), contributing to the history curriculum, and promoting literacy. We have begun piloting the materials and they should be widely available later this year.
We are also developing resources to keep interest in Classical Civilisation topics alive throughout KS3 (ages 11 to 14), where it is not currently a compulsory topic. We have some beautiful materials about the Spartans that relate, for example, to the KS3 history aims of developing knowledge and understanding of ancient civilisations and empires, as well as to second order historical concepts such as continuity and change. These resources are now being prepared for free online delivery.
To continue our support of Latin teaching across the curriculum, we are reviewing our UK teacher guides for the Cambridge Latin Course (CLC), and introducing suggestions for more varied approaches including some communicative activities. We are also moving from paper-based books to free-to-teachers online delivery of guidance, closely integrated with our web-books. This will make it easier for teachers, including non-specialists, to plan and deliver exciting and effective Latin lessons.
Continuous Professional Development for Teachers (CPD)
Finally, we have a lively programme of Continuous Professional Development events taking place this academic year. See what is on offer and sign up for our mailing list via this web page: https://www.clc.cambridgescp.com/continuing-professional-development-cscp
We are always delighted to hear feedback and ideas for future initiatives. Please, follow us on twitter @Caecilius_CLC or contact us via [email protected]
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