JCoSS is a Jewish non-denominational school in Barnet, North London, dedicated to the pursuit of academic excellence. It has 1,272 pupils on roll and 280 in the sixth form. Sixth form provision is rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and results at the school are impressive with 67% of A Level grades at A*-B.
In 2015, Classics for All supported the school to introduce Latin at Key Stage 3 and the language is now offered to GCSE level. Results from the first group of students to take their Latin GCSE exams in 2018 were fantastic with 100% achieving Grade 8 or 9.
Spurred on by the success of Latin in the lower school, JCoSS decided to expand the range of humanities subjects on offer in the sixth form. With further free training from Classics for All, classical civilisation A Level was introduced in 2017. There are 12 students in the current cohort, and four of the 2018 cohort went on to university to read classics.
“Classical civilisation has been a real asset to JCoSS and we are so impressed with the impact it has made in only 18 months.” (Amy Quinn, Teacher of Classics)
The introduction of Latin A Level in September 2019 underlines the school’s commitment to ensuring that classical subjects are available to students throughout their time at JCoSS. Although there are only two students in the first A Level class, six of the current GCSE cohort have opted to study Latin at A Level in 2020. Classics for All is helping to subsidise Latin teaching costs for the first two years while the subject establishes itself at Key Stage 5. The school is confident that numbers for A Level Latin will be high enough to make the subject self-sustaining.
“Classics has surprised me by being so distant and yet so relevant – I constantly find parallels with the modern world!” (Robyn Mydat, Year 12 student at JCoSS)