Classics in Focus: New Approaches for 2025-2026

SPEAKERS

Dr Daisy Knox has been teaching Latin, Greek and Classical Civilisation to Years 7-13 at King’s Ely for 3 years. She has been responsible for transforming the KS3 curriculum at the school and will take over as Head of Classics in September 2025. She previously taught at the Stephen Perse Foundation in Cambridge and before that, had a former career as an archaeologist and lecturer.

Dr Sonya Kirk has taught Latin in the US and the UK at both state-maintained and independent schools. She is currently Head of Classics and Ancient History at a non-selective state secondary school and sixth form. She is one of the authors of the Bloomsbury de Romanis course.

Katharine Radice is the Classics Lead for United Learning MAT and Teaching Associate for Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. She is the lead author of de Romanis and a passionate advocate for Latin as a subject which can be adapted to suit the needs of a wide range of students.

Caroline Mackenzie taught as Head of Classics at a school in Sevenoaks where she gave Greek lessons as an afterschool treat. She is a private tutor in Latin and Greek, and runs a longstanding Classics Club for all ages. Caroline gives talks for schools, English Heritage, and art & history societies, and is a Trustee of the Hellenic Society. Caroline is the author of Pocket GCSE Latin Etymological Lexicon, Culture and Society at Lullingstone Roman Villa, and A Latin Lexicon: an Illustrated Compendium of Latin words and English Derivatives.

Chris Burnand began his school-teaching career at Tonbridge and has taught Classics at Abingdon School for over 20 years, where he was head of department for 18. He has taught at the JACT Greek Summer School at Bryanston ever since his time as a graduate at Oxford: in recent years with several colleagues from the summer school he has helped to set up the Intermediate Certificate of Classical Greek as a stepping-stone to the GCSE. With Andy Mylne he has written the latest OCR Anthology for the Classical Greek GCSE 2027-28.

Dr Stuart Thomson is currently a faculty Lector in Greek and Latin at the University of Oxford, and is passionate about the relevance and importance of Classics in the modern world. Prior to taking up his current post in Oxford, he taught Classics in UK schools for ten years, as a Head of Department and Housemaster. He is the author of a number of OCR-accredited A Level set text commentaries in both Greek and Latin (including the latest OCR Anthology for Latin AS and A Level: Shorter Prose Authors).

James Renshaw teaches Classics at Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, which offers all four classical A-Levels in the Sixth form as well as IB Latin and Greek. He also runs the school’s Ancient World Breakfast Club, a community project which provides weekly talk during term-time and is open to any member of the public. His books include In Search of the Greeks and In Search of the Romans and he is General Editor of the suite of books for OCR Classical Civilisation and Ancient History.

Angela Cheetham teaches Latin in a co-educational independent school and is an experienced A-Level examiner. She’s particularly interested in the teaching and learning of Latin; specifically, the explicit teaching of linguistic concepts to support all students. She is one of the authors of the Bloomsbury de Romanis course.