All pupils study Greek in the Fifth Form (Year 9). We set pupils according to their previous experience, with the aim that, at the end of the year, every pupil should be in a strong position to carry on towards GCSE if they so wish. Alongside our in-house language materials, all sets read and discuss a Greek tragedy in translation and study various other topics of ancient Greek history and literature.
The School offers the Classical Greek GCSE, which consists of language and literature components (50% each). For their verse set text, pupils have the opportunity to read an extract from one of Homer’s limitlessly influential epics, the Iliad or the Odyssey, in Greek; they also read a fascinating prose author such as Herodotus, the ‘father of history’, or Lucian, who is often referred to as the first sci-fi novelist.
Each year in the Lower and Upper Shell (Years 10 and 11) some pupils study ‘Combined Classics’. It is an intense course, essentially involving study for both the Latin and the Greek GCSEs in a reduced amount of lesson time. Other pupils study for the Latin and Greek GCSEs separately, using the normal amount of lesson time for each.
