Toby Young writes of his
Free School and says:
'Some critics of the school said it was unrealistic to make Latin mandatory
because it’s simply too difficult for most children. Better to reserve Latin for
the top set and have the rest do media studies. Well, that hasn’t been our
experience. All the children have taken Latin this year and they’ve all got a
lot out of it. But that’s largely down to our head of classics. True, she
doesn’t have a teacher-training certificate, but since we’re a free school that
didn’t stop us from hiring her. There’s no doubt she’s qualified – she’s the
former head of classics at Bradfield.
We were also told that Latin would put off any parent who wasn’t white and
middle class. Indeed, some critics said that was our motive for making the
subject compulsory, effectively accusing us of being racists and snobs. The
truth is, we want the children to study Latin because it’s an essential
component of a classical liberal education – something we believe all children
should have access to, regardless of background or ability. We describe our
school as a “comprehensive grammar” and it’s proved a winning formula. More than
1,000 children applied for our next 120 places, making us the most
over-subscribed state secondary in Hammersmith and Fulham.'
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