Well, what a brilliant week with our fantastic Summer School pupils! For the first year since 2019, we headed back into the classroom for face-to-face lessons, while keeping up with our Zoom classes in the afternoons. We loved meeting a number of new faces this year, and were delighted to welcome back a huge number of familiar faces too!
Using ‘Craft and Creativity in Ancient Rome’ as a central framework, all session had a strong focus on creative, confidence-building activities calling upon our network of facilitators to deliver sessions spanning poetry, storytelling, opera, dance, drama, Latin language and so much more.
Over five days, we explored Crafts and Creativity in Ancient Rome, travelling through Caroline Lawrence's 7 story-writing beats, the myth of Metis and the creation of the world, expression through Roman dance, all the way to writing and acting out our own philosophical questions. We were so impressed with our pupils' commitment to each class, and their confidence in moving through each different theme, participating through movement, illustration, language-learning and so much more.
Thanks to the generosity of The Classical Association, the Summer School was free for all!
Salvete omnes,
We had the most wonderful time celebrating the third edition of The Latin Programme Poetry Prize at The Broadway Bookshop last week. A huge thank you to all who joined us to hear the shortlisted poems and to share the delicious nibbles provided by Good Food and Ruttle and Rowe!
On the winning poem, Sally Ashenhurst's 'Daoist Painting', competition judge Brighde Mullins remarked, "This poem takes us into the artistic process through the senses and gives us the experience that the painter has--the prayerful act of paying attention to one flower. Paying attention means slowing down time which allows the making of something out of paint (or words) that may or may not last. That's the pleasurable risk of painting, or of writing poetry. The American poet Wallace Stevens has said that "accuracy of observation is the equivalent of thinking," and I find that yearning toward accuracy in this poem, and therefore that ability to think with the poet."
For those who were unable to make it on the night, or who would just like an opportunity to read the long list in full, we've created a digital booklet which can be downloaded as a PDF here.
And as we head into the Easter holidays, we're looking forward to another full term of creative Latin in-school Latin lessons, as well as wide range of extra-curricular projects. Read on to find out a little more about what we'll be offering over the coming months...
The Pauline Caulfield Competition
This year, we launched a very exciting competition in collaboration with renowned textile artist, Pauline Caulfield. In response to sessions on Pauline's work, our pupils have been working hard on writing haikus based on Latin names for plants, decorating their entries with their own creative designs. The winners will receive a visit to Pauline’s studio, as well as the chance to turn their design into screen-prints.
Pauline has an upcoming exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum (Pauline Caulfield Textile Works: 1968-2023), which will run from the 31st of March – 10th September, opening on the same day as the museum’s Andy Warhol exhibition.
The Latin Programme Roadshows
In collaboration with the Classical Association, we are delighted to be running a further series of our successful Roadshow events this spring.
This term, we'll be joined in schools by Alexandra Sheppard, author of ‘Oh My Gods’, who will be facilitating creative sessions with Key Stage Two pupils. The Roadshows are a fantastic opportunity for schools to receive a free morning of inspiring teaching sessions, and to experience a taste of what The Latin Programme has to offer.
Outreach - University Visits
We are very excited that in September this year one of our partner schools will be taking a trip to Jesus College, Oxford. The pupils will tour the college, hear from current undergraduate students about their university experience, and take part in subject-specific sessions. We are also currently planning an outreach collaboration for next term with the Department of History, Classics and Archaeology at Birkbeck.
Links:
This year, we were delighted to be back in classrooms full time. There was, of course, much work to be done, with many pupils having experienced major disruption to their teaching time over 2020-21. With that being said, we were incredibly proud of all of our pupils—and their schools—for maintaining as much consistency as they could under very difficult circumstances. Many of our pupils had been using our free worksheets and home-packs to supplement their learning over the course of the pandemic, and it was brilliant to have the opportunity to pick up where we left off and get the ball rolling once again.
CASE STUDIES 2021-22
St Barnabas' Primary, Westminster
The Latin Programme has been embedded in the St Barnabas' curriculum since 2014. In the academic year 2021-2022, we taught across four Key Stage 2 classes from Years 3-6. At St Barnabas', where the majority of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals and speak English as an additional language, 54% of pupils achieved 65% or above in the end of year Latin tests even after two turbulent pandemic years.
St Mary's Primary, Brent
We have taught The Latin Programme at St Mary's Primary since 2014. In the academic year 2021-2022, we taught across five classes from Year 3 to Year 6. At St Mary's, where the majority of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals and speak English as an additional language, 63% of pupils achieved 60% or above in the end of year tests.
A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH
The academic year 2021-22 has seen The Latin Programme implement a revised curriculum that organises our teaching of Latin language and English literacy around a series of engaging, world-expanding topics. We have worked hard to make sure that we not only retain all of the vocabulary, syntax and grammar work that make our Latin lessons a smart choice for Foreign Language Provision, but also to bake into our curriculum an even more compelling answer to the question 'why do we learn Latin?' We have found, over the course of the year, that our pupils have responded energetically to our sessions on rhetoric, horticulture, medicine and the body, Romans in Britain, Roman food, and lots more besides.
SUMMER SCHOOL
For the third year in a row, we headed online to host our Latin Programme Summer School. And what a week it was! From 2nd-5th August, we delivered a daily YouTube Live session available to all, followed by two 50-minute Zoom sessions for 120 subscribed participants.
With the help of expert facilitators including children’s author Caroline Lawrence, dancer Tommaso Petrolo, storytellers Alys Torrance and Lucy Lill, and Vicky Price of UCL Special Collections to name but a few, we explored Roman hair and wig-making, the ancient seas and oceans, weaving and its importance in ancient myth, Roman catacombs, the architecture of Piranesi and so much more. For the first time, we also provided our pupils with a Summer School online portal accessible anytime after their daily sessions, and through which they could find extension task videos and worksheets made by our facilitators and Latin Programme staff.
The Latest Latin Programme Lecture
On June 1st at 7pm we held our sixth Latin Programme Lecture, delivered by Maria Wyke on the subject ‘Representations of Ancient Roman Women in Silent Cinema’.
From its earliest days, silent film gave narrative and visual agency to Roman women in its historical reconstructions. Storylines were drawn from modern representations of the Roman past that had already given women larger roles to play than those on offer from the primary sources. Gesture, words and accompanying music often worked to colour a Roman woman’s story in empathetic terms. Maria’s talk explored some of cinema’s strategies for feminising Roman history and consider some of the reasons why they were developed, including a desire to draw women into cinemas as spectators.
The Latin Programme Poetry Prize
Earlier this year, we were thrilled to announce the winner of The Latin Programme Poetry Prize 2021. Our judges were poets Arji Manuelpillai, Brighde Mullins, and Rebecca Watts who were all blown away by the standard of entries for a second year running. It was extremely difficult to whittle the entries down to a longlist and shortlist, but the process was a real delight. Read the winning poem and the rest of the longlist here: https://www.thelatinprogramme.co.uk/poetryprize2021
Summer School 2022
The Latin Programme Summer School is back for another year! Over four days we’ll be exploring our theme Little-Known Greece and Rome through language classes, storytelling, theatre, music, creative writing, art history and more!
The Dates: August 2nd-5th
The Schedule:
10-10.45: YouTube Live session
11-11.50: Zoom Class #1
12-12.50: Zoom Class #2
The week before the Summer School begins, we will send you the Zoom links you’ll need to access the classes. A register is taken at the beginning of every class.
The Cost: Thanks to the generosity of The Classical Association, the Summer School is FREE TO ALL. If you’d like to make a donation to the programme when booking your place, you can follow the instructions on the registration page or head to https://www.thelatinprogramme.co.uk/summerschool.
Links:
TLP IN SCHOOLS
The academic year 2020-21 was the second to be affected by the pandemic. Although we were disappointed not to be able to teach our programme face-to-face from September onwards, the previous year had stood us in good stead for delivering lessons flexibly.
A significant portion of the year's teaching, across all schools, had to be undertaken online, either via live video links, or pre-recorded lessons.
To make things as easy as possible for our schools, and to maintain consistency for our pupils, we built an online portal through which school staff and pupils alike could access video and worksheet content from school or from home. This allowed us to continue delivering lessons even when circumstances called for self- isolation.
We were delighted that, despite the ongoing
disruption to our regular face-to-face lessons, our programme remained effective. Our biannual tests saw an 8% overall increase in results from the first
test in winter term to the second in the summer term. In the summer tests, 64% of all Year 6 pupils achieved 60% or above, while 76% of all Year 5 pupils achieved over 60% or above.
“We are very lucky to have Latin at our school. Our teacher is funny and helps us understand the vocabulary. “
“It's very fun and it really helps with grammar!”
“I tell my friends to do it because it helps with English and science.”
“You get to play games like 'unlucky -nt' and 'gladiator'!”
CASE STUDY – ARGYLE PRIMARY
The Latin Programme has been embedded in the Argyle Primary curriculum since 2013. In the academic year 2020-2021, we taught across seven Key Stage 2 classes: one Year 3, and double-entry in Years 4, 5, and 6.
At Argyle, where the majority of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals and speak English as an additional language, pupils across the board achieved between 60% and 70% in the end of year Latin tests even after a turbulent pandemic year that meant our in- person teaching time was hugely reduced, and lessons were often taught via video.
In 2019, 92% of pupils spoke English as an additional language. 85% of the cohort achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths overall, 20% higher than the England average of 65%. The same group achieved a score of 106 in reading, compared to an England average of 104.
CASE STUDY – ST MARY’S BRENT
We have taught The Latin Programme at St Mary's Primary since 2014. In the academic year 2020-2021, we taught across eight classes from Year 3 to Year 6. At St Mary's, where the majority of pupils are eligible for Free School Meals and speak English as an additional language, the class average in the end of year tests was 70%.
In 2019, 76% of pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths overall, 11% higher than the England average. The same group achieved a score of 104 in reading, matching the England average
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
Make a monthly donation & get 
