When I think back to when I first met Freya, I feel proud to reflect on her journey and how much she has gone on to achieve academically. Freya and I first crossed paths at Durweston Primary School where I was running an outreach project. At the time, she was in Year 5 and taking part in an after-school Classical Civilisation Club led by Bryanston Sixth form pupils. I remember how passionate she was about Classics then; she used to borrow a new book from my Classical library at the end of every session and by the time I saw her the week after she had always read it from cover to cover.

After studying at Parkstone Grammar, Freya joined the Bryanston family and demonstrated a natural affinity for Latin and Classical Civilisation from the very beginning. By the time she reached the Sixth Form at Bryanston she began teaching her own after-school Latin Club to Blandford School pupils with much success.

We are delighted to hear she has received A*A*A*A in her A level results and will now be heading to Newnham College, Cambridge to study Classics.

In celebration of this incredible news, I caught up with Freya to ask her some questions about her time at Bryanston and to explore how her love of Classics began…

Where did your interest in Classics stem from?

From a young age I was interested in Greek mythology, and I attended a club which was run by Bryanston pupils at my primary school. It was from here that my interest in Classics grew and when I started at Bryanston in D, that was the first time I started doing any Latin.

When I reached the Sixth Form, I had the opportunity to choose Classical Civilisation and Latin. Studying at A level provided me with a bigger range of study – and I really enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed studying something I had never seen before – for example an artefact – looking at it, exploring what it is and having the courage to think on my feet about the object. What I like about the subject is that there are so many different aspects of the ancient world; its art, history and literature.

What will you remember about the Classics Department at Bryanston?

I loved looking at Greek Art with Doc Fearnley for my Classical Civilisation A level, exploring the evolution of statues and pottery styles throughout the classical periods.

As preparation for my Cambridge interview, Dr Pullan was brilliant at helping me to find links between Lucretius and Propertius, looking at Latin elegiac poetry from a philosophical perspective.

My general Latin skills distinctly improved with help from Mr Fowler-Watt, enabling me to feel more confident in my translation skills and preparing me for my Cambridge interview and final assessment. We studied Virgil’s Aeneid as a core text, and I really enjoyed building on my understanding of this integral poem.

The Classics trip to Greece in April was a real highlight. We were able to visit important areas of the ancient world, including Mycenae, Delphi, Olympia, and Eleusis.

What are you most excited about studying at Cambridge?

The opportunity to learn more Greek, and my goal is to be able to read the texts in their original language. I started to learn Greek during my time at Bryanston and supplemented this with the JACT Greek Summer School course run at Bryanston over the holidays.