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Parents signing up for Latin lessons to give their children the edge at school
The classics department at a private school in London has found itself oversubscribed after it began offering Latin evening classes to parents. Take-up from parents at Colfe’s School, in south-east London, has been so high it now runs two Monday night Latin classes
Latin is currently taught in about 450 independent senior schools – a doubling since 2000, according to the University of Cambridge Schools Classics Project. Interest in the Roman Empire is also riding high due to a glut of popular novels, history books and television series.
‘Boarding schools have changed out of all recognition – there’s little doubt looked-after kids could benefit’
Richard Garner, former education editor of The Independent for 12 years is sad that once again a project to give vulnerable children a place at boarding school has been shelved.
He explains that “some can and will benefit from the scheme” He uses the example of Lord (Andrew) Adonis, “the first minister to embrace and push for this scheme, who puts a lot of his success later on in life down to the place he gained at a boarding school when his father was struggling to look after him as a lone parent at home.”