Written by GCSE RESULTS, NEW GREEK ENTRANCE FEES, NEW Itineraries/destinations, NEW Website layout, Greece and Italy Trip Blogs, ARLT, NEW archaeological finds and the usual selection of eclectic articles.
Χαίρετε! Salve! Greetings! Happy New Academic Year!
www.flickr.com/photos/carolemage/29656302165/
First and foremost – GCSE RESULTS!
Please do check in with Stephen at the Classics Library.
“Thanks to everyone who participated in providing data in 2022 and/or 2023. Yet again we have the problem of substantially lower Class. Civ. GCSE results than those candidates were getting in their other subjects, and indeed the grade boundaries seem to have risen substantially in some combinations / grade thresholds from 2023. Any data – including if you were happy with what your candidates got – which you could contribute would be greatly appreciated, as would your forwarding this on to others . I will share the findings (just the schools, not your own names or email addresses) with CA and HMC who brought a formal complaint to the upper echelons of OCR and Ofqual last year; this complaint is ongoing and I will be present at the next meeting with HMC, CA and OCR leadership mid-September. The more data I have acquired before then, the more usefully I can discuss the problem as I see it. And generally, the greater a percentage of the overall Class. Civ. cohort we can represent, the more likely we are to achieve some proper redress for the next specification if not before. In the meantime, please do keep writing in to OCR directly, and I know Grainne at the CA () is also very keen to hear from people about their concerns.”
Thank you SO much, Stephen!
BIG NEWS FROM GREECE
New Entry Fees for state owned Sites and Museums from April 2025 – Staff 50% (Drum Roll please) ………..PUPILS (under 18yrs) FREE!
Although pre-booking is not currently mandatory, it’s advisable to do so as the Cultural Department are introducing a cap on numbers for certain time slots.
Thus, to avoid being turned away, for major sites we have included timed and pre-paid tickets in quotations.
Caveats – there are always caveats!
- A small handling fee per person payable to the agent to cover extra p/w
- Entrance restricted to 15mins before and after allocated time slot
- Tickets will be named, so please have passport copies available for checking
- Pupils over 18yrs (or incorrect names) will be charged FULL ADULT PRICE not 50%
- For the smaller, less popular Sites and Museums you can still pay in situ
- The 50% Teacher fee may well rise, seasonally
- Private Museums eg New Akropolis Museum have own rules, charges currently unchanged
- EVENTUALLY all Sites and Museums will operate thus
Advantages
- It’s cheaper!
- Shorter queuing times as all tickets are timed
- Less cash/credit cards for Staff to carry around and easier budgeting
- Happier Bursars!
Options
- If you prefer to book your own Tickets directly or turn up at the popular sites and pay in situ, fine, just let us know. However, you could be queuing for a very long time only to be eventually turned away.
NEW from Hellene School Travel
- New Itineraries and Destinations – Augustus and Mussolini, Alban Hills, Roman Spain, Verona and North Italy
- New Optional Extras for Greek Drama – Chaeronaea and Trachones.
Do read The Theatre of Chaeronea and Rectilinear Koila – it’s not just Thorikos!
- We’ve extracted Travel Blogs from Newsletters as the former were getting lost
- You’ll also note some improvements (we hope!) on Booking Forms and Quotation Forms
OUT and ABOUT – Blogs and Suggestions
i – Athens Phallephoria March 2024, Jo Lashly – Attachment A
ii – Reliving the City of Rome Postgraduate Course, James Heath – Attachment B
ii – Lovely new little Exhibition in Southend Museum – The Romans: Settling in Southend. 23 March 2024 to 23 March 2025. An exhibition featuring a stunning collection of Roman artefacts from across South Essex, many of which are being displayed publicly for the first time!
Provincial museums are always a joy and deserve our support – check out our Twitter Thread.
Southend Central Museum is also home to the Prittlewell Anglo-Saxon ‘Princely’ Burial which went on permanent display back in 11 May 2019, when we last visited. The new permanent gallery features some of the chamber’s most impressive items. Do pop in if you are in the area as the artefacts are quite stunning! Check out our Twitter Thread.
iii – Wednesday 27th November, 7pm – 9pm. Gallia Narbonensis: Philip Bujak on the Roman occupation of France (and his new book!) at The Bookshop, East Grinstead
v – James has now uploaded additional Athens pics to his ever expanding Flickr set of Albums; now 28,561 photographs all freely available. Thank you for your generosity!
v – James Kierstead on Twitter has given permission to draw your attention to “The first ten Ancient Greek numerals on a building in the modern village of Delphi. Note the digamma (6)”.
WHAT ELSE HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE CLASSICAL WORLD?
CROATIA, BALKANS, POLAND, BLACK SEA, CASPIAN SEA – Attachment F
GERMANY/AUSTRIA, FRANCE, SPAIN – Attachment G
TURKEY, EGYPT, ISRAEL, SAUDI – Attachment H
GNU Free Documentation License
ARLT Summer School 2024 – Stamford School, Stamford
Thanks to all who made Vishal incredibly welcome at the recent ARLT! He was amazed by everyone’s energy and commitment………. but far more than that, now understands the meaning of the Classics Family. New Teachers – be not hesitant in signing up!
SAVE THE DATE FOR THE next Summer School at Haberdasher’s Monmouth School 28th of July to the 1st of August 2025, under the direction of Laura Beech. More details to follow on their WebSite but expect the usual line-up of excellent lectures, a trip to a Roman site (sponsored by Hellene) and a variety of option groups covering set texts, language practice and Classical Civilisation.
Good Luck to everyone preparing to take school trips in October in addition to the general Autumn Term hot housing craziness! We’ll be in touch with final information packs and updates shortly.
We trust general behaviour will be considerably better than that of the over excitable young lady in Florence becoming amorous with a Bacchus statue and the 4yr old boy who accidently smashed a pristine 3,500-year-old jar during a trip to the Hecht Museum, Haifa!
Finally, we can all rejoice at the tale of an Italian Burglar caught red-handed as he sat down to read a copy of The Gods at Six O’clock by Giovanni Nucci, a retelling of the Iliad and lost track of time! Hurray for Homer!
Very Best Wishes,
The Hellene Team
Sarah, John, Claudia, James, Kerry, Nidhi and Vishal
