As the head of classics at High Storrs school, the last remaining state comprehensive in Sheffield to offer Latin (and classical civilisation) on its curriculum, it was with great sadness but little surprise that I read of Richmond school’s decision to cease teaching Latin from next September (Yorkshire school to stop teaching Latin after 600 years, 22 January). Funding for state schools is now at such a low level that we are seeing a wholesale narrowing of the curriculum, exacerbated by the prescriptive nature of the English baccalaureate “qualification” (discussed so eloquently by Rufus Norris in his 17 January article “Why are we squeezing creativity out of our schools?”), which excludes classical civilisation GCSE from its suite of subjects. While we do not have quite such an illustrious history as our fellow Yorkshire school, classical subjects have flourished here for many years, but we too are struggling and have recently had to launch a campaign to raise funds with which to subsidise smaller teaching groups until such time as our school can once again afford to teach them. We are now, it seems, a country in danger of losing touch with the hugely influential cultures and languages of the classical world in all but London and the south-east.
Gina Johnson
High Storrs school, Sheffield
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