Classic Performances at the Classics Reading Competition

On Wednesday 14 March, 20 girls departed nervously for the University of Leeds to participate in the annual Classics Reading Competition, to compete with students from across the region. Our competitors ranged in age from Year 8 to Year 13, and many of them had spent lots of their own time practising in advance of the day. This year there were a lot of pupils in the main categories so some of the competition was very tough. However, we came back victorious!

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Lucy Houghton spoke clearly and showed good understanding of the text with an extract from Caesar’s Gallic Wars in Junior Latin, and she came runner up.  Nawar Hussain performed an extract from Homer's Odyssey, the blinding of the Cyclops, in the Junior ‘in translation’ round. She gave an incredible, winning performance full of drama and action from memory which was so impressive that she was congratulated by a teacher from another school, which was praise indeed!

Zara Manzoor gained an honourable mention in Intermediate Latin reading Catullus 5; It also helped that she greeted the judges in Latin - twice! Sophie Judge and Courtney Plester gained second place in the Senior ‘in translation’ with a duologue from Antigone which the judges said was very dramatic and intense.

There were excellent performances from other girls who didn't quite make it into the top two in their groups: Carys Johnson and Nawar Hussain in Intermediate Latin, and Charlotte Parker in the Senior ‘in translation’ round, reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

Mrs Fryer was delighted with the results.  ‘All the girls deserve congratulations for being brave enough to stand up and deliver on the day. It is not easy reciting Latin or a translated piece in front of a group of strangers and they all showed great poise and determination,’ she said.  ‘The Year 10 girls in particular left full of determination to do even better next year!’