In a College founded by Willliam Gladstone it is only appropriate that the study of Classics should flourish. Latin, Classical Greek and Ancient History are studied throughout the school.

In the 5th Form, pupils are presented for GCSE examinations in Latin and Classical Greek. (The OCR syllabus is followed). Pupils are examined in linguistic skills and read Greek and Roman authors in the original.

In the 6^th form significant numbers of pupils opt to study Greek Latin and Ancient History. The OCR examinations allow for the study of Homer and Vigil Plato, Juvenal, Ovid and Cicero. In Ancient History pupils study Augustan Rome and classical Athens and Sparta.

Pupils take four papers in Latin from the OCR suite with two Language papers testing translation of unprepared Latin and comprehension of such passages with questions in English. There are also two Literature papers testing pupils' knowledge of Latin verse; this year Virgil, for example, and Prose with Caesar and Tacitus as this year's featured authors.

In their first year in the Sixth form pupils study Latin Language and Latin verse and prose literature. Authors this year are Virgil and Juvenal; next year Ovid and Cicero. Comprehension skills are tested at A2 and there is a further opportunity for "in depth " study of Virgil.

The two full time Classics teachers at Glenalmond share a wealth of experience. Both Oxford graduates, John D Wright has been at Glenalmond 30 years after teaching in Massachusetts and Rome, while George Pounder, a Glenalmond alumnus himself has taught at Ardvreck and Rugby school.

Pupils are encouraged to engage with all aspects of the classics and there are regular out of school visits to Universities and places of interest. Hadrian's Wall and the newly arranged Hunterian collection of Roman artefacts in Glasgow have recently been visited. Every two years a party of about 30 pupils and teachers leave Glenalmond for Rome and the Bay of Naples.

Our pupils are regularly prepared to read Classics at our oldest universities. It occasioned little surprise in the Classics Department that our proposed title for the soon to be published History of the College was accepted "Alumni Montium" (Nurselings of the Hills, Children of the Mountains". Latin at Glenalmond has its place to play encapsulating, as it does, our nature and our nurture: as the school song the "Carmen" goes on to say "Floreat Glenalmond, Glenalmond floreat".