Ancient language of Latin makes a comeback at Milton Keynes College

The ancient language of Latin is making an unexpected comeback at Milton Keynes College.

Students are being offered A Levels in the subject to help them gain places at top universities or entry into good careers.

Marc Hulbert is the man tasked with launching the programme. Parts of MK are among the most deprived areas in the country, but he says students from those districts can compete with the best, and Latin will help them.

“People say, Latin’s a dead language, but in truth it’s just having a long nap,” he said. "Students of ours studying biology, law and English, for example, will all benefit from having a basic grasp, and it looks good on their UCAS forms.

"We’re not having them conjugate, ‘amo, amas, amat’ by rote. We’ll be doing word puzzles with them or reading Harry Potter in Latin or translating the latest pop lyrics – making it useful but fun.”

Since the new A Level programme was announced, applications to the College have been arriving in high numbers. Marc believes this is partly because of the way they’ve been organised into pathways, targeting particular degrees or jobs.

“There’s a Green Pathway including environmental science and biology; a Social Science Pathway with psychology and sociology; the Creative Pathway features English Language and Literature and media studies while the Digital Business Pathway has computer science and business.”

Latin isn’t the only element of added value being offered to students taking their A levels at the College. They’ll be working in partnership with the Action4Youth charity enrolling learners in the Grow your Ambition programme.

“It's all about developing young people as individuals rather than just learning machines,” Marc explained. “There are three elements to it. One around life skills involves a two day residential stay aimed at developing resilience, teamwork, leadership etc.

"There’s a section around employability... It focuses on things like CV writing, interviews, presentations and the like.

"The third element is community-based. We want them to get involved in a project which actually benefits people in the city, but isn’t just about volunteering for volunteering’s sake.”

A Level applicants at the College will have to achieve good grades at GCSE to be successful, so there’s an ambitious element from the start.

Marc said: “We want to have students who are genuinely looking at Oxford and Cambridge or Warwick, Durham and St Andrews. We want them looking at some of the high-paying, aspirational businesses in the city, where they can forge impressive careers.

"These extras we’re offering are aimed at developing them as individuals, but also to help them stand out from the crowd.

"We actively want universities or employers to look at their applications and say, ‘Latin? EPQ? Action for Youth? From an FE college?’ We want to help them make a big impression; because they deserve to.”

College CEO and Group Principal, Sally Alexander, said, “Our driving goal is to provide Fairer Futures for all. That means showing the world that our students are as bright and capable as anyone else, and that they can aim as high as their ambitions take them.”

To register your interest in studying A Levels at Milton Keynes College, visit here