Classical Civilisation students at the college had a visit from lecturers from Birmingham University Classics department and were joined by students and staff from 3 other Sixth form colleges, Coleg Cambria, Worcester, and Stoke.
Our first year students are starting to think about the next stage in their journey and many want to go on to study the Ancient World at University. The talks that the visiting staff gave were relevant to the syllabus that students at these colleges study. Dr Elena Theodorakopoulos has edited books about women in the poetry of Homer and spoke about the different ways that the female characters in Homer have been spoken about – the Victorians tended to treat Penelope in Homer's Odyssey as a subservient wife but more recent interpretations by Natalie Haynes or Margaret Atwood have emphasized her equality with Odysseus. Dr Hannah Cornwall spoke about the way that the Emperor Augustus portrayed himself in coins, buildings, and literature. Afterwards, they stated:
"We had a fantastic day at Shrewsbury Colleges group yesterday talking about Augustus and Women in the Odyssey. Really enjoyed meeting some amazing students in this excellent college and their guests from colleges in Wrexham and Stoke"
Many Shrewsbury College students have gone on to study at the University of Birmingham. One Shrewsbury College student, who graduated from Birmingham in Ancient History last summer said:
“Shrewsbury Colleges Groups and the University of Birmingham are highly ranked for classical civilisation and well taught. I found both institutions warm, friendly, and safe, where I felt that the teachers and staff cared about me and were invested in my learning and personal development. Studying with them both was the best decision I could have made to get me where I am today.”
The Classical Civilisation course often has guest speakers and this year has had talks from Dr Clare Rowan of Warwick University, an expert in coins of the Emperor Augustus, Dr Matt Hosty of Oxford University, and enjoyed a talk on the Imperial family by Dr Danny Pucknell of Cardiff University. In 2023 the department won both the Classical Association Award for the outstanding state sector initiative and the Classics For All award for outstanding initiative. The department has a Twitter account to showcase the work that they do at “Classical Civilisation Shrewsbury” and students run their own podcast called “Titan Talks” on Spotify which aims to engage students with stories of myths and legends. Dr Elena Theodorakopoulos and Dr Hannah Cornwall spoke to our students about the reasons they came to study the Ancient World and why it’s important to study it today, this talk will soon be available on the Titan Talks podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/2RPNIjYENimR7FuwARnKg7
Here is the link to the podcast episode: https://bit.ly/3XbPmui
The podcasting equipment was bought from a small grant from the Classics 4 All organisation, set up to promote the Ancient World in Schools and Colleges in the UK. The Classics for All West Midlands site can be found at
Our Classical Civilisation teacher, Sian Squire, will be speaking at the Teacher Training Day at Birmingham University run by Classics for All on 15 June.