Classics

The siege engine of the Classics department pushes on with great success into yet another year. In 2022, 137 pupils opted to study a classical subject for GCSE in Year 10, and 40 pupils joined the A level ranks in Year 12. Results have been exceptional with 100% A*/A for Latin at GCSE, and 100% A*/A for Classical Civilisation at A level in Summer 2022.

We offer many trips to supplement the students’ learning, including Bath, Leptis Magna,Verulamium Roman Museum and Roman Theatre, Fishbourne Roman Palace, the British Museum, a trip to the Cambridge University Greek Play, Richborough Roman Fort, Canterbury Roman Museum, Paris, the Bay of Naples, Greece, and Sicily.Venimus, vidimus, vicimus!

2019

2019-2020 had its blessings for the Classics department with the arrival of the phenomenon who is (in mortal form) Mr Morrison He has proved to be an excellent and popular teacher and has played a major part in the high numbers of pupils electing to pursue Latin and Classical Civilisation at both GCSE and A Level in his time at Emanuel. In July 2020, we sadly had to say ‘vale’ to Mr Ford, a legendary figure in the department. The pupils will never forget his tremendous subject knowledge, his highly amusing stories, and his linen suits. He is still spoken of fondly by his students and colleagues. In the Autumn Term of 2020, we welcomed four new teachers — all of whom are fabulous! Miss Williams joined as a full-time member of staff, Mrs Anson as cover for Ms Hoult for the term, and Mrs Peters and Miss Johnson, who took on the delights of Year 7 Latin teaching. In Spring 2021, we were delighted to welcome back Ms Hoult to ‘virtual’ school. She is a very popular teacher and the students were very happy to see her again. Finally, the 2021-2022 year saw the arrival of Miss Ferstman, an energetic and inspiring addition to the department. She has been in charge of the hugely successful Primary Ambitions project for this academic year.

Trips

There were two Classics trips to Italy planned for 2020 but sadly both had to be cancelled. However, prior to lockdown we did run some fabulous trips. In October 2019, Mr Adams took Sixth Form Latin and Classical Civilisation students to see the Cambridge University Greek play Oedipus at Colonus. This was a triumph and the students really enjoyed the immersive experience of the production in the original language. Indeed, one student described it as ‘the best day of (her) life’!

In late February 2020, Mr Adams led the Year 9 Latin and Classical Civilisation trip to Bath — a trip everyone always loves.We saw the Roman Baths; were welcome visitors to Bath Abbey; went on a walking tour of the magnificent city, and saw the Royal Crescent and Pulteney Bridge.

Lockdown Highlights

Lockdown 1 in the Summer Term of 2020 saw the Classics department play to its strengths with a range of creative, engaging, and amusing lessons. From Mr Adams’ classic voiceover PowerPoints to Mr Morrison’s ground-breaking YouTube channel (38 subscribers and counting), the department kept up its characteristic vivacity and good-natured ‘-bantur’.

We also saw a variety of creative projects inspired by the Cambridge Latin Course: Lego models of Salvius’ farm by Imogen (10REM), cakes depicting Barbillus jostling with a crocodile by Annie (10RET), tributes to Cogidubnus (RIP), stopmotion animations of the villa Caecilii and much more!

Year 7 channelled their inner Grumio by creating Roman food at home and skimming through the 2,000 year old cookbook of Apicius. There was also excellent research done on Roman emperors by Year 9, with individual students presenting their findings to a rapt audience via Zoom. Meanwhile, Sixth Formers went above and beyond with their study of Greek and Roman epic. They listened to MASSOLIT lectures online and referred to a range of university-level articles on JSTOR, preparing submissions for an Oxford University essay competition. Another highlight was Year 12 Classical Civilisation students reciting the poetry of Tyrtaeus, with a moving rendition of the ‘Fallen Warrior’ poem by Hughie (L6PSA) bringing a tear to even the most stoic classicist’s eye.

Lockdown did not dampen the enthusiasm for Latin with a fantastic 85% of the Year 7 electing to continue with its study in Year 8 (115 pupils). Numbers for GCSE and A Level were equally pleasing.

2020-21

During the term, we were fortunate to have many days on site and enjoyed events such as Miranda Barclay’s EPQ presentation to the entire Sixth Form on similarities between Virgil’s Dido and Cleopatra VII; the creative talents of Lower Sixth Classics students making a life-sized Oedipus figure, a Bacchant’s thyrsus, and one of the most colourful displays in the school in D2; the Year 11 and 13 bubble ‘clinics’ for Latin and Classical Civilisation; huge numbers for taster evening events for Latin and Classical Civilisation; and Year 7 donning traditional Roman dress as they took part in a toga dressup competition and created a variety of colourful Roman dinner party invites and adverts for Roman houses for sale.

Competitions

In Spring Term of 2021, we also launched a couple of competitions. The Y7-10 Latin/Classics competition involved creating a piece based around a myth or the Cambridge Latin Course. The Year 11-13 Latin and Classics competition invited students to record a short presentation explaining which single day in the history of the classical world they would choose to travel back in time to. Emma (L6RJB) wrote a superb piece on spending a day in Ancient Rome, and Rocco (U6MPD) — now a Classics student at Edinburgh University — narrated an excellent presentation on a day trip to the City Dionysia.

‘Greece’ is the Word

In late February 2021, Emanuel was selected as one of only 10 independent schools in the United Kingdom to take part in a new Classical Association Ancient Greek qualification (first sitting was Summer 2022). We currently have some excellent and highly talented Year 8, 9 and 10 pupils producing excellent work in anticipation of this. Kit (9DLB) commented: ‘I am loving Greek so far and am now remembering most of the alphabet without prompts’. He is now studying outside of lessons for the Greek GCSE in 2024.

There were even more trips on offer — Year 9 Latin (108 students) and Year 10 Latin (64 students) both had a successful trip to Bath, the former having to be divided across two separate dates to accommodate the large numbers. The main purpose of the trip was to visit the historic Roman Baths themselves.We met a real life Ancient Roman attendant at the Baths who regaled us with tales of her daily life.We emerged from the ancient mystery of the Baths at the reasonably priced gift shop, where students purchased a range of memorable souvenirs. We had the chance to visit the funfair outside, and meet Father Christmas himself, followed by a tour spearheaded by Mr Adams. It was a fabulous day enjoyed by all. One student described the trip as ‘amazing’, that he was ‘impressed by the level of organisation’ and that he ‘didn’t want to go home.’

In addition, 25 A Level Classical Civilisation students enjoyed a day at the British Museum, visiting the Nero Exhibition. Free doughnuts were dispensed by Mr Adams, Mr Morrison’s talk on Nero’s characterisation was met with rapturous applause, and the tour ended with a visit to the Parthenon Marbles, the Bassae Frieze and the Rosetta Stone.

On the last day of the February half term, 37 Latin and Classical Civilisation Sixth Form students attended UCL’s production of

Euripides’ Electra. For some, this was their first theatre trip postpandemic and so was hotly anticipated by our dedicated cohort. The recognition scene between Orestes and Electra was a clear highlight, played out with understated subtlety by the Old Tutor. The tragicomic aspects of the play were particularly prominent and came to a head with the ‘deus ex machina’ appearance of Castor, whose performance seemed to channel the spirit of Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii! Students were beaming with appreciation, crying cathartic tears of laughter and lamentation as they emerged from the auditorium.

One Lower Sixth student praised the play for ‘bringing together elements of traditional Greek tragedy with clever, modernised touches’. Another said that this was ‘the best evening of the year — if not, [her] life’.

I would like to thank Ms Hoult, Mrs Anson, Dr Wakefield, Mrs Peters, Miss Johnson, Miss Williams, Mr Morrison, Miss Ferstman and Miss Aitken-Burt for all their hard work with the department.

Languages

The last two years have seen a significant development in the teaching of Modern Languages at Emanuel. We are ambitious for our pupils, and we have been impressed at how well they have adapted to an approach which focuses on giving them the skills and tools to manipulate and create language for themselves. With an eye to the future, we have also introduced more technology into the classroom and are making use of a wider range of interactive websites which are greatly assisting pupils with their learning. We have also expanded the range of enrichment and co-curricular activities available so that pupils not only hone their linguistic skills, but learn more about the countries in which our languages are spoken.

Spanish

Celebración del Día De Los Muertos

During the first week of November we enjoyed a week of celebrations commemorating The Day of the Dead through many subjects, not just in Spanish. Year 6 practised their symmetry skills creating brightly coloured ‘Papel Picado’, a type of Spanish bunting used for decorations. This is a traditional paper cutting technique used particularly for this festival. The theme of celebrating our dead was also studied in Religious Education and English lessons, where some great poems were written. While in Biology they learned about the millions of monarchs butterfly that arrive at the same time as the day of dead in Michoacán México.

Our hard-working catering team joined in, preparing a menu consisted of an amazing array of Mexican cuisine, from spicy Yucatan chicken tacos to sweet and savoury Guadalajara pork and pineapple, to Oaxaca omelette. For dessert, there were sweet and sticky Buñuelos, a traditional doughnut style dessert which is often served at festivals. They also decorated the dining areas with painted skulls representing La Calavera Catrina and added some great Mexican music to keep everyone’s feet tapping.

The Spanish conquistadors introduced All Saints Day (Día de Todos los Santos) to Mexico. The conquered Native Americans took the opportunity to incorporate their own traditions for honouring the dead into these two days. The resulting holiday is a unique mixture of the two cultures. On the Day of the Dead, the focus is on celebrating with one’s family — alive and dead — and remembering those who are no longer alive. It’s on seeing death as another stage following life, not something to be faced with fear. It’s a day of happiness because they are remembering loved ones.

German Onatti German Play

In February 2022, Year 9 and 10 German pupils were treated to, Horoskop — a comedy play by Onatti theatre group. The pupils’ language skills were put to the test by the play — which was entirely in German — and by Mr Kidd acting as quizmaster at the end. The pupils then wrote a review of what they’d seen in German.

Breakfast Club

German club runs every Friday morning from 8:00 until 8:20 in M5. It is a great environment to practise German and gives me a chance to make friends with other bilingual students. We play fun games and have friendly competitions all while practising German vocabulary and grammar. We also do fun themed sessions, such as at Christmas, where we ate Lebkuchen and learnt about how they celebrate Christmas in Germany.

Year 11 Trip to DSL Article

In January 2022, 17 Year 11 German students were given the opportunity to pay the German School in Richmond a visit. For the entire stay they were paired up with a ‘buddy’ from the German School who showed them around the school grounds. They were highly interested in seeing a piece of the fallen Berlin wall. Furthermore, the Emanuel students participated in lessons: some of them even had to sit a Geography test or write a poem in German. In their final lesson they completed a questionnaire — with the help of their buddies — about the German school system. Our students were astonished to learn that you actually have to repeat a whole school year if you do not have good enough grades, that students do not have to wear a school uniform and that students from more than 50 nations are at the school.

French Breakfast Club

When I joined Advanced French Breakfast Club, it was to look for a club to help with my accent and vocabulary, and I am glad to say it has helped me so much with my accent and my confidence in vocabulary. We have rotating language teachers who run the club, so it is nice for them to come back and see our progress. During my time in the club, we have looked at French ‘Bande Dessinée’, describing words and have done presentations on our favourite hobbies. It is fun, and I look forward to going every single week.