At the end of June, we held our fourth annual teaching awards, this year fittingly renamed the 'Impact Awards' to celebrate and recognise the transformative work of teachers across all our Regions. The event was held in person for the first time, at Leicester Musuem and Art Gallery and brought together teachers, supporters, partners and Network Coordinators from across the UK.
Primary School of the Year: Greyfriars Academy, Norfolk
"Our children have historically lacked ambition in their own abilities and have not seen themselves as worthy of doing anything as challenging as learning Latin. The opposite is now true. Classics for All have invigorated our curriculum (beyond just language lessons) and the impact that this is beginning to have on children’s self-confidence and where they see themselves in the future is palpable. Numerous children have talked about their desire to study language beyond primary school and even later on in life.”
Secondary School of the Year: Jane Austen College, Norwich
Classics for All supported Jane Austen College to deliver Classical Civilisation at GCSE and A Level in addition to a KS3 Mythology Club. Alongside their outstanding teaching, the teachers have provided excellent opportunities for the pupils outside the classroom to expand their learning through trips to the British Museum and even to Rome and Pompeii, and have also organised talks from external speakers and academics to come and talk to the pupils about different topics
"Y11 Student, Jack, who is on our SEND Register and joined Jane Austen College (JAC) due to attendance issues at his previous school, chose to study Classical Civilisation because of his passion for history. Since then, Jack's attendance and confidence have significantly increased, which he and his mother have partially attributed to the accessibility and inclusivity of Classical Civilisation at JAC. The encouragement and support that Jack receives in his Classics lessons also extends to extracurricular opportunities. The SEND and Classics support enabled Jack to attend the Classical Civilisation trip to the British Museum last year, where he explored the 'Luxury and Power Persia to Greece' exhibition and the Greek and Roman galleries."
Sixth Form of the Year: Thomas Rotherham College, Rotherham
60% of learners at Thomas Rotherham are classified as disadvantaged and – as a consequence of the town’s decline – students in the borough do not attain highly at GCSE in comparison with their peers nationally. Despite this, Thomas Rotherham has introduced Ancient History A Level to their pupils and currently has 66 pupils at Key Stage 5. Classics for All supported the teachers with training to deliver the subject, as well as giving them opportunities to attend other professional development sessions. The achievements of their students are testament to their passion for Classics.
The Chris Pilcher Award 2024: The Hemel Hempstead School
In May 2022, we were sad to hear of the tragic passing of Chris Pilcher, a passionate and dedicated teacher in Harlow, Essex. Chris worked closely with Classics for All to bring Latin and Classics to his pupils. To honour his memory, we give an award each year to one school in the London and Southeast in special recognition of outstanding accomplishment in bringing Classics to young people in state schools.
Over three years, The Hemel Hempstead school has built and embedded, a sustainable Classics curriculum from the ground up. Starting with an initial offering of Ancient History A level, the school now gives students opportunities to learn about the ancient world in all three Key Stages. Classics for All has supported the school on this journey, but this school has also supported our mission, as Harley Aston delivers training and support to other teachers in our network.
The Regional Awards
Scotland - Thurso High School, Caithness
The landscape for introducing Classics in Scotland continues to be a challenge. Part of the difficulty we face is with the landscape in a very physical sense! Despite this, since launching A Level Classics in 2022, with the help of Classics for All, Thurso’s Classics course enrolment has nearly tripled as a result of their teacher’s infectious enthusiasm. Starting with just 10 students, Thurso now has 47 pupils studying Classics, with 70% achieving an A grade.
North East - St Charles Catholic Primary School, Gosforth
This small northern school was the first in the Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust to start teaching Latin with Classics for All. Its success and the love of Classics they share at local teach-meets has since inspired other schools within the trust to replace Modern Foreign Languages (MFLs) with Latin.
North West - St Luke's Church of England Primary School, Sefton
Classics for All has supported St Luke’s to introduce not only Latin to their curriculum but also Etymology and Ancient Greek. Their headteacher is sadly retiring this summer but it is worth highlighting a recent email discussing her departure; “I'm retiring this summer and when the School Council were asked what they wanted from their new Headteacher, they said it had to be someone that would keep Latin - how lovely is that?”
Yorkshire and Humberside - Cambrai Primary School, Catterick
This school serves the children of a nearby military garrison and decided that Latin would be ideal for them to give their students a great grounding for any other languages they might need when traveling internationally with their family. Since working with Classics for All, the pupils and teachers have enjoyed Latin so much that they have even organised a Primary Latin Showcase Day for other local schools.
East Midland - Noel-Baker Academy. Alvaston
In 2019, Noel Baker Academy became the first secondary school in Derbyshire to work with Classics for All. They have since established themselves as a beacon for Classics in the region. The school teaches Latin to all pupils in KS3, as well as a unit of classical mythology in English classes. They are now discussing introducing Classics subjects at KS4. When Noel Baker first started working with Classics for All, the school was rated "inadequate" by Ofsted. In 2022, this was upgraded to "Good", with the report noting that pupils "knowledge of Latin has helped them understand other subjects, such as science and English."
East of England - Peckover Primary School, Wisbech
Peckover introduced Latin in the curriculum with the help of Classics for All in 2021. The school has an extremely mixed cohort, for a rural school, with around 18 different home languages. In one class alone, the children have regular access to 15 different languages, and they love recognising that many of their words have a connection to Latin. This gave a great sense of ownership to the EAL children, who can sometimes be quite passive learners, of their heritage and empowered them within the class to talk openly about their language and culture.
West Midland - Lawrene Sheriff School, Rugby
This school began their journey into Classics in 2018 when they accepted an invitation to the inaugural Warwick network event at Warwick University. Inspired to introduce some Classics to the curriculum, with Classics for All’s support and funding, and the creation of bespoke resources and sessions, Classics was made available as an enrichment option to a small group of students in 2019. Following this success, they have now introduced Classical Civilisation GCSE and A Level.
Wales - Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr, Gowerton
Ysgol Gyfun Gŵyr started teaching Latin with Classics for All as a lunchtime club to Year 7 and now teaches from Year 7 to A Level. Students who have taken Latin have gone on to study at Oxford and Cambridge as well as other prestigious universities. The Latin curriculum at Gŵyr has received outstanding praise from parents and students and it is an excellent model for Latin in Welsh Schools across the country.
South West - Ide Primary School, Ide
Ide Primary is a small semi-rural primary school on the outskirts of Exeter. Their recent “Good” Ofsted report stated that ‘The school is aspirational for all pupils’ and ‘The strong focus on developing children’s communication and language provides a secure foundation for children to learn to read’. In our network coordinator’s meetings and training sessions with the school, it was made clear that Latin was a central part of the school’s strategy to embed literacy in the curriculum.
South East - Hayes Park Primary School, Hayes
With Classics for All’s support, this school introduced Latin to all KS2 students to develop their vocabulary acquisition as many speak English as an additional language. The students now love Latin and even enjoy performing Latin plays and learning about myths and Roman history as well as the Latin language.
