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Dean Close School > Senior School & Sixth Form Age 13-18 > Academic > Curriculum > Classics

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.

Classical Association Lectures and Dates: 2019-2020

Venue: The Pavilion

Timings: 7.30pm to 8.30pm

17/10/19 – Cicero’s Second Philippic. Dr Ed Bispham, University of Oxford.

21/11/19 – Aeneid 11 (exact title TBC). Prof. Philip Hardie, University of Cambridge.

23/01/20 – Keeping it in the family: tragic killings in Euripides’ Medea and Bacchae and in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King.‘ Dr Patrick Finglass, University of Bristol

13/03/20 – Humour in Aristophanes (exact title TBC). Dr Paul Martin, University of Bristol.

Greece Trip Booklet for Parents
Classics Handbook 2019
Helicon Volume 2
Helicon Volume 3

Dr Paul Martin University of Bristol

Humour in Aristophanes. Dr Martin gave an enjoyable talk on Aristophanic humour by focusing on what he described as laughter in the Underworld, in particular the katabasis of Dionysus and his slave, Xanthias, in order to bring back to Athens the dead poet Euripides.

Dr Patrick Finglass Bristol University

Keeping it in the family: Tragic killings in Sophocles and Euripides. Dr Finglass entertained a large number of students and their teachers with a highly erudite talk on Euripides’ Medea and Bacchae as well as Sophocles’ Oedipus the King. Dr Finglass revealed himself to be a superb communicator whose ability to leap from one text...

Trip to the British Museum: Troy, Myth and Reality

A group of Sixth Form and Fifth Form Classicists visited the British Museum on Wednesday for its blockbuster Troy, Myth and Reality exhibition. A range of exhibits, both ancient and modern, illustrated one of the western world’s most enduring of all legends, the Trojan War. The students, most of whom are studying  Homer and Greek...

Classical Association: Professor Philip Hardie on the Aeneid

Professor Philip Hardie,the senior research fellow and honorary professor of Latin at Trinity College, Cambridge, braved an unseasonably cold November evening to address the Classical Association.  Professor Hardie has written extensively  on Virgil – in fact, both of my colleagues reminisced on their days as undergraduates  and their regular forays into his study of the Aeneid, Cosmos...

The Cambridge Greek Play

The Classics department enjoyed a day trip to Cambridge to watch a performance, entirely delivered in ancient greek, of sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonos. The play which focuses on the end of Oedipus’ tragic life was written shortly before Sophocles’s own death in 406 BC and produced by his grandson (also called Sophocles) at the Festival...

Classical Association: Dr Edward Bispham

Thursday evening saw students and staff from Dean Close, Monmouth, King’s Gloucester, Malvern and Cheltenham Ladies gather to listen to Oxford University’s erudite Roman History scholar, Dr Edward Bispham, from Brasenose College. The specific topic was Cicero’s Philippic 2, an A Level set text, but Dr Bispham gave a superb and comprehensive historical context to...

Cheltenham Literature Festival

Autumn is here and with it one of the best things about living in Cheltenham: the Literature Festival. The Classics Department has been royally entertained over the last few days: Tom Holland on his new book, Dominion, which places Christianity at the very centre of the philosophical and ethical make-up of Western civilisation and beyond and Oxford...

Roman Villa Trip

Fifth Form Latinists enjoyed a day trip to the best preserved Roman villa in the country at Chedworth and a visit to the most impressive Roman baths complex in Northern Europe at Bath. All of the students will be studying the Roman occupation of Britain as part of their Latin GCSE.

The Lion and The Shepherd: a Tale of Fate, Bravery and a Squeaky Splinter.

The DCPS Latin scholars performed their extremely funny and light-hearted interpretation of Androcles and the Lion in the Tuckwell Theatre as part of the prep school’s Commemoration celebrations. The script was written by Mr Dobbs and there were star performances from Martha Green as the reluctant lion and Silas Jack as an over-enthusiastic shepherd! The...

Virgil Seminar

19 Latinists in Form 5 enjoyed a Virgil seminar led by Mr Allen and Miss Stewart on Tuesday afternoon and evening. This was an excellent revision opportunity – the Latin GCSE students are studying excerpts from Books 4 and 6 of the Aeneid, tracing the doomed relationship between Aeneas and the Carthaginian queen, Dido. The students...
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Pre-Preparatory (2-7)

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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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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)

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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After the annual Summer Concert, the Headmaster was able to announce that the Trustees and Warden had supported the music...

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The time has come for us to say goodbye to our 2020/21 class of Year 8’s. We wish them all a fabulous...

DCPS End of Term Assembly
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SENIOR SCHOOL (13-18YRS)
Shelburne Road
Cheltenham
Glos
GL51 6HE
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1242 258000
Fax: +44 (0)1242 258004
Email: office@deanclose.org.uk

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Tel: +44 (0)1242 258044
Email: registrar@deanclose.org.uk

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