St Peter’s Extended School offers a Twilight AS in Classics Advanced Subsidiary Ancient History and Archaeology for years 10, 11 and 12

Greece: the home of western civilisation.

The History Department is offering an AS course in Ancient History and Archaeology as our contribution to the 'Extended School' programme. Officially it is OCR Classics.

This will be open to more able students in years ten, eleven and twelve. The different age groups get on fine. Students can change into their own clothes if they wish and refreshments are available in the Hall and the Extended School pavilion, at the end of school. Lessons last from 4.00 to 5.30 on Thursday evenings. Our aim is to fast track our keenest students to AS and to allow those who may not take History as an option, the chance to do this exciting subject as an enrichment package. We have had many students at A-Level, who have chosen Ancient History or Archaeology as the subject of their special project and we have often been asked, 'Why can't we do real History?' Well, here's your chance!


There are two modules: 1 Archaeology and 2 The Spartans

The Archaeology of Greece at the time of the Trojan Wars is the subject of the first module. It looks at the techniques and skills of the archaeologist. The examples used are taken from around the classical Greek world, its temples, houses, art, ships and architecture. Once we have learned how archaeology works, we concentrate on the remains of Mycenaean Greece: the home of Agamemnon, Achilles and the heroes of Homer’s great tale of the war against Troy. We would aim to run a trip to Greece next year, if numbers warrant.

The second module looks at one of the most extreme societies in History: the Spartans. Ancient Sparta has fascinated people by its extraordinary approach to the education of its people. Sparta produced a warrior class that led all Greece in the war against the invading armies of Persia – and then tore Greece apart in a bloody civil war that ended the glory of Ancient Athens. This is meant to be fun and we do not want to add extra pressure at key exam times, so we will cover the AS course over two years. AS Classics can be taken with any other subject, it ranks alongside History and Literature. It ranks alongside History and Literature.