Young Reporter: Carpe Diem! Students attend Bromley High School’s first Classics Conference

The day was aimed as a guide for Year 10 and 11 pupils currently studying Latin or Classical Civilisation at GCSE level helping them to achieve the best possible results, as well as being enriched with classical culture throughout the day demonstrated through workshops and speakers.

The co-educational crowd consisted of three GDST (Girls’ Day School Trust) schools; Sydenham High and Blackheath High alongside the hosts, Bromley High, with the male portion of the audience provided by Eltham College.

The day began with a thought-provoking talk from the first of two keynote speakers, Dr Emily Kneebone, a lecturer and Director of Studies at Cambridge’s Newnham College, who focused on the wonders of studying classics and the hysteria and story surrounding the Greek epic poet, Homer, whose life seemed almost as fascinating as the stories he wrote, including his most famous works the Iliad and the Odyssey.

After a short break, the excitement was resumed with a second session dedicated to either a Latin speaking recital competition split between the girls and boys, or a mask workshop based on those used in Greek/Roman theatre, run by the Trestle Theatre Group. Both of the activities allowed students to put their studies of not only Latin language to practice, but also the theatre topic which is thoroughly studied as part of the Civilisation module.

The winner of the speaking competition, Sydenham High’s Kate Cobain, who is currently in Year 10, described taking part in the recital against the other schools as ‘nerve-wracking’ but ‘definitely worth it’, especially after accepting a small monetary prize for her recital of a piece from her textbook.

Meanwhile in the assembly hall, a group of students worked with highly-expressive masks, similar to those used thousands of years ago in Roman and Greek theatres. This allowed the group to learn about the types of masks used within different genres of plays, the masks were then used during the session to create a character.

Despite taking part in some highly amusing activities earlier in the day, we were soon reminded of our main focus of attending the conference – our forthcoming GCSE exams.  All students were introduced to a wide variety of revision techniques such as websites Quizlet and Memrise, in order to grasp as much knowledge as possible of such a complex subject for our future exams. Since our introduction to these revision tools at the conference, a number of students have noted what a significant difference they have already made to their studies of not only Latin, but for other subjects too.

For most students, a school trip could simply not be complete without some form of food. And luckily, instead of a packed lunch, our hosts laid out a wonderful Mediterranean-themed spread in the Sixth Form block, with particularly the tomato and mozzarella arancini going down a treat!

After a greatly-appreciated lunch, the excitement looked like it had only just begun, as it was time for ‘The Big Classics Movie Quiz’, with teams taking part consisting of students from different schools– which was an excellent opportunity to integrate and bond with other pupils of a similar age also studying Latin. The teams faced a variety of different questions, based around clips of the Classics’ teacher favourites, Ben Hur and Pompeii: The Last Day, as well as a picture round featuring stars such as Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, and of course, a nod to Russell Crowe’s Maximus Decimus Meridius – a name instantly recalled in full by one Eltham College student. Eventually, it was ‘Team Blank’ that came out as ‘victores’, and as a result of their quizzing success, they won a box of sweets which very quickly started a debate as to who was to claim the prize!

The last segment of the day truly summed up the day as a dynamic and stimulating experience, with a talk given by Kent University lecturer, Dr Rosie Wyles, entitled ‘The Battle of The Epics’, focusing on the valorous and virile comparisons between the Aeneid’s Aeneas and the Odyssey’s Odysseus, and who is triumphant in not only in the endings of the stories in which they appear, but also in the endings of relationships with women too – a rather comical way to end the conference, asserted by a parody rap battle video presented to the students between Odysseus and Aeneas, instantaneously causing an outburst of laughter.

Overall, the day was highly enjoyable for students who are not only focused on succeeding with their Latin or Classical Civilisation GCSE, but it also ignited a passion among a number of students to perhaps pursue the subjects at A Level or even at university. Furthermore, I truly believe the day was successful in forming a sense of camaraderie and social ties between fellow Classics students, and I hope to take part in a similar conference dedicated to Classics in the future.

Sophie Allen, Sydenham High School