Latin
Language is our means of communication, and an understanding of how languages work is more than ever vital today as we face challenges of shrinking vocabulary and grammatical confusion. The School believes strongly in the value of Latin both for its own sake and for the concomitant benefits in other disciplines and areas of knowledge, such as English, Modern Languages and the Sciences.
The Academy provides a diverting but structured and logical approach to the acquisition of grammatical, syntactic and lexical knowledge in the language, along with background work on Roman history and civilisation. The first three years are based around the Oxford Latin Course.
Preparation for GCSE
We believe in both working and playing hard, and our pupils respond to the intellectual challenges as well as the more obviously entertaining aspects of the subject which appeal the most to young minds. By the end of the 3rds a large proportion of the basic grammar and core vocabulary for GCSE will have been covered, leaving the course in the 4ths and 5ths to apply the finishing touches to the language requirements of GCSE (such as the more advanced constructions) and to introduce pupils to a wider range of Roman authors, two or more of whom will be studied in greater depth for public examination.
GREEK
Pupils interested in learning Classical Greek will have the chance to do so via the School’s after-school activity programme.
A choice in the Third Year
Classical Studies
There is plenty to interest pupils of all abilities in this course, which aims to give a broad and inter-disciplinary education but is lent unity by its being based around a single, relatively small society. |
The Course
Topics covered include: the City-State, the Alphabet, Cosmology, Theology, Archaeology, Education, History, Ethics, Politics, Architecture and Drama. We do not normally offer Classical Studies beyond the 3rds. |
Plato's (Original) Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is named after the school of philosophy established in Athens by Plato, who was himself a student of Socrates. One of Plato's students was Aristotle, the tutor of Alexander the Great. Plato equated knowledge with goodness and declared that no-one could knowingly do wrong. |
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In the Geits and Seconds, almost all pupils study Latin. In the Thirds there is the chance to select Latin or Classical Studies; the latter is the study of Classical civilisation and history - which provided the foundations of Western civilisation - but without detailed language work. 
The current one-year course, entitled ‘Beginnings’, deals with Greece, particularly Athens. Pupils study the origins of modern ideas in ancient Greece, together with their contemporary development. 
This page is: Edinburgh Academy / curriculum / classics / years1to3.htm
