Classics - Activities
Trips are a regular feature of life in the Birkdale Classics curriculum, beginning in S1/Y7 with a chance to be a Roman soldier for a day.
Recent trips for S2/Y8 and S3/Y9 have included looking at archaeological evidence and techniques in St Alban's, Chester and Cresswell Crags. Older pupils visit the British Museum, and the Sheffield Magistrates' Courts. This provides an opportunity to investigate the differences between modern legal trials and those depicted in the GCSE Latin course.
We arrange workshops on Roman Religion for our middle school pupils. As Greek drama forms part of the Classical Civilisation syllabus at both GCSE and A level, we often take students to see plays. A contingent from Birkdale also travelled to see the Cambridge Greek Play, performed in the original language!
In 2006, S2/y8 went to see Eyecatcher, a production based on the myth of Perseus. Members of the Upper 6th spent an afternoon in Sheffield University Library researching their individual study for Classical Civilisation and getting a taste of life as a student.
The department's trips to Greece and Italy have been a highlight for many pupils from S4/Y10 upwards, allowing them to gain first hand experience of the civilisations they have been studying.
S1 go to Cloudcuckooland
On Thursday 13th March all S1 went to the Library Theatre in Sheffield to watch a performance of Cloudcuckooland which is a modern version of a play written 2000 years ago by the Greek comic writer Aristophanes.
Here are some of their reviews:
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It was hilarious and very well acted - Robert
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One of the actors gave me a balloon to blow up - Jay
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It was VERY FUNNY and had good acting - Adam
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They took the Mickey out of lots of celebrities like Gordon Brown, Paris Hilton and George Bush! - Sam B
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It was funny because it was idiotic. It was good because they made a two thousand year old play work in the present time - Jake
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I liked Cloudcuckooland because the whole humour of it was good. Plus it was really good to go out and see a play. It reminded me of when I was young. - Samir
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The music was amazing and the actors were brilliant. The play has been put into our time and there is TV and Gordon Brown in the play - Joe H
