The intermediate courses are intended primarily to increase fluency by reading more literature in the original than is possible within school termtime. We usually have at least two groups who have typically studied Latin in school for 3-4 years (so students who have just completed Y9 or Y10) and at least two who have just taken their proper GCSEs. We also sometimes populate these groups with people working towards an international equivalent or older students who have started Latin later with broadly comparable experience at the time of joining us. Our policy is to set them based on how many years they have studied Latin as well as what referees tell us. This helps ensure the right pace and suitable texts to give all the students a meaningful experience.
We hope that the students will leave with a considerably greater confidence in reading the language which (among other things) will directly benefit public examination performance, not only in the language papers but also in the literature papers with a greater alertness to a wider range of authors and the linguistic / stylistic devices which they use.
A range of prose and verse authors are covered. Tutors choose texts intended to best suit the students based on the information they and their referees provide. This may consist of whole texts (e. g. an easier book of Ovid) but a lot of groups will use readers an anthologies such as:
- Wheelock – Selections from Latin Literature
- Murgatroyd – Apuleius, Metamorphoses and From Augustus to Nero
- Balme and Morwood – Cupid and Psyche and The Millionaire’s Dinner Party
- The Oxford and Cambridge Latin Anthologies
Care is always taken to ensure that we do not cover anything which any students have already read, or will read as part of future exam specifications.
We always get a lovely cohort at Camp at this age and it could be a great first academic enrichment experience for students who are serious about their Classics. (Y10 students also studying Greek might note that the Bryanston Greek Summer School does not admit anyone under 16, so they might come to us at 15 then Greek Camp the year after.)