Year 9: In Year 9 students study Classical Civilisation on rotation with each student receiving an 8 week course in the subject. The students study a range of topics including myth, religion and warfare, ranging from an introduction to the Greek and Roman gods to dramatic performances of the story of Prometheus. This should serve as a ‘taster’ course for the GCSE specification and give students an idea if they would like to continue their studies in Classical Civilisation.
Year 10: In Year 10, students will begin their GCSE course if they have selected Classical Civilisation as an option subject. The course will begin by studying the Myth and Religion unit of the course which looks at a range of themes such as festivals, temples, death and burial and many others. Once they have completed the Myth and Religion unit, the group will move on to study War and Warfare as their second unit looking at topics such as Sparta at war in the fifth century, the Imperial Rome Army to satisfy the culture part of the unit. Students will also begin studying the Iliad as part of the literature aspect to the unit. Homework will largely be revision tasks and assessments will follow the exam style questions so students can build confidence and understanding of how to approach the exam.
Year 11: Student will continue looking at War and Warfare literature analysing texts such as Horace’s Ode 3.2 and Tyrtaeus’ Fallen Warrior poem. Once students have completed the literature part of the course, they have then completed the content for the course and will move on to revision. This will usually happen at the end of the second half term, shortly before Christmas break, meaning students have a significant amount of time dedicated to revising content, exam technique and prescribed sources.
Exam Board Info: OCR Classical Civilisation GCSE: 2 x 90 minutes exams. 1 x Myth and Religion, 1 x War and Warfare. No coursework.
Enrichment: Classical Civilisation forms part of the enrichment offering – students can currently select to look at Classical Civilisation/History podcasts and documentaries where we will look at a range of topics and events including those from antiquity. From next year, Classics in the Cinema will be offered as an enrichment subject where students look at several modern films that relay stories or themes from classical civilisations and look at how those stories are portrayed differently in Hollywood.
