Classicists converge on St Swithun’s School

02 Dec 2015

St Swithun’s School, Winchester hosted its second Classics Inspiration Day on 12 November. The event, which aims to give students in years 10 and 11 an idea of the many directions in which a study of Classical subjects might lead, saw 150 students from visiting schools join 60 St Swithun’s pupils for a day of lectures and workshops. Participating schools included Churcher’s College, Petersfield; Downe House, Thatcham; King Edward VI, Southampton; Kings’ School, Winchester and Portsmouth Grammar School.

The school’s performing arts hall was the venue for talks given by Professor Edith Hall (King’s College London) on Why the Ancient Greeks matter, Professor Stephen Harrison (Corpus Christi College, Oxford) on Rome and Hollywood, Dr Richard Foster (Winchester College) on What we can learn from Greek vases and Dr Llewelyn Morgan (Brasenose College, Oxford) whose talk was intriguingly entitled Aeneas’ off-the-shoulder number: clothes and philosophy in ancient Rome.

Meanwhile, some students enjoyed taking part in Greek tragedy workshops with David Bullen from King’s College London, and Marchella Ward, a PhD student from St Hilda’s College, Oxford, whilst others were able to handle genuine Greek vases from the Winchester College collection with Dr Foster and his colleague Mrs Rachel Wragg, the College’s Museum Development Manager.

All the activities were very well received and, in the words of one visitor, the whole day was ‘inspirational, informative and a lot of fun!’  St Swithun’s Classics Department looks forward to hosting the next Classics Inspiration Day in two years’ time.

 

Photo1: Professor Edith Hall talking to students in St Swithun’s performing arts hall