Classics

Dean Close has a vibrant and academically high-achieving Classics Department. It is our proud vaunt that the national decline in these subjects has been reversed at Dean Close through sound teaching and a commitment to making the ancient world accessible via theatre performances, museum visits, a programme of lectures given by eminent Classicists and the biennial Classics trip.

Classics Handbook 2019

Helicon Volume 2

Helicon Volume 3

Dr Adrian Kelly: Odysseus and the Epic Hero

On a very cold winter’s night, the Gloucestershire Classical Association was able to offer a warm welcome to Dean Close to our guest speaker, Dr Adrian Kelly, Associate Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Balliol College. Dr Kelly possesses a deep love of Homer and is...

Classical Association

We were delighted to welcome Susan Deacy, Professor of Classics at the University of Roehampton to Cheltenham on Thursday evening. Susan’s scholarly interests include gender, sexuality, ancient Greek mythology and religion. She is also an expert on the teaching of subjects which are potentially sensitive, including sexual and domestic violence, disability and infanticide; Susan is the series editor...

Gratinists Trip to Roman Baths

On Wednesday 17th October, the Classics department took 18 enthusiastic Fifth Form Gratinists to visit the Roman baths. We set off bright and early and gave the pupils plenty of time to explore the complex. Each pupil received a headset which provided them with all the information they needed as they inspected the ancient artefacts and...

Cheltenham Literature Festival

The trek into town on a Sunday morning was more than worth it: a group of 12 Latinists with their teachers were treated to a wonderful talk delivered by Professor Mary Beard (Britain’s most recognisable Classicist) and Dr Llewelyn Morgan of Brasenose College, Oxford. Continuing with their series, How To Read A Latin Poem, (now in...

Classical Association

We have welcomed lots of excellent speakers to Dean Close over the years but the performance of Professor Stephen Oakley of Emmanuel College, Cambridge must rank amongst the very best. Professor Oakley delivered a stunning talk on the style of the Roman historian Tacitus which was wide-ranging, informative and a timely reminder to all of...

Summer 2018 Blog

Thursday April 26th 2018 Classical Association We were delighted to welcome Professor Alison Sharrock of Manchester University to DCS to talk about the Roman love elegist, Ovid. Ovid’s Amores is an A level set text and the scholars gained a great deal of insight into Ovid’s humorous subversion of the genre of love poetry as...

Wilson Challenge

The 2018 Wilson Challenge, the school’s premier Classics competition, was held at the end of the Lent Term. The pupils wereasked to select a classical myth and to deliver a PowerPoint presentation in which they investigated the ways in whichthe mythhad been interpreted by artists of the modern era. The standard of the competition was...

Why Bother with Latin and Greek?

Latin is a dead language – requiescat in pace. Why bother with Greek? What relevance do the languages of Cicero and Socrates have for the modern world? By Juppiter*, has no one heard of the video, the telephone, the computer or the television, the apparatus of modern life? And yet we are constantly told, ad...

History of Art Trip to National Gallery

A very early start in the morning meant that the History of Art scholars arrived at the National Gallery with plenty of time ahead of them in which to enjoythe nation’spremier art collection. From devotional paintings of the 12th century, the brilliance of the Old Masters through to Monet, Van Goughand Rousseau, this was nothing...

The myth of Cupid and Psyche

Dean Close Classics Department welcomed Dr Clemence Schultze, formerly of Durham University as she addressed an audience of classicists and pupils of History of Art. Dr Schultze investigated the myth of Cupid and Psyche, made famous by Apuleius in his Metamorphoses, the sole surviving novel from antiquity. She looked at the ways in which the...

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Pre-Preparatory _(2-7)

Dean Close Pre-Preparatory School, fondly known as the ‘Squirrels’, is set in the beautiful grounds of Dean Close School, in a modern, purpose-built building. We have excellent facilities and resources and also benefit from being able to share in the outstanding Preparatory and Senior School facilities on site. We understand that a child’s first experience of school is a vital step in their learning journey, developing the knowledge, skills and self-confidence which lay the foundations for their lives.

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Preparatory School _(7-13)

Dean Close Preparatory School is a co-educational day and boarding school for children age 7 – 13. The school is set in 50 acres of private land near the centre of Cheltenham. With 310 pupils, the Preparatory School is small enough to allow everyone to know one another and get fully involved in the life of the School.

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Senior _(13-18)

Set in 50 beautiful acres, Dean Close is a long-standing co-educational day and boarding school for 13-18 year olds, where visitors regularly comment on the atmosphere, saying how warm and friendly they find it.

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