On entry to Year 7, students may choose either two from the following, French, German and Latin or may be selected for Mandarin.

Rooks Heath consistently strives to improve the opportunities for all students, bringing them on par with students that come from selective schools. This is demonstrated through our longstanding commitment to offering the ancient languages to all students. Since 1974, Rooks Heath has offered Latin to students as we understand its value and purpose. The Latin curriculum aims to provide a solid foundation in the acquisition of Latin vocabulary and in the understanding of basic Latin. With the introduction of the new textbook (called Suburani), the curriculum is inclusive and diverse (includes characters of different ethnicities which provides students with a sense of belonging), broad (allows students to study the civilisations from across the Roman Empire and characters with various status’) and ambitious (the textbook allows us to explore some complex grammar rules earlier, with more challenging sentence structure). By exploring the ancient world through both its language and civilisation, we provide students with the cultural capital needed to succeed. 

This curriculum enables students to: 

• develop and deploy their knowledge of vocabulary and morphology in order to read and understand Latin passages of increasing difficulty 
• develop their knowledge and understanding of Roman culture and civilisation and its associated values and society through the careful planning of civilisation lessons in the curriculum and embedding of civilisation elements into all lessons 
• develop and apply their critical and reflective skills to evaluate a range of sources from the Roman world 

It also encourages students to: 

• deploy their knowledge and understanding of the ancient language to deepen their understanding of English and other languages  
• relate their knowledge and understanding of the ancient world to other disciplines  
• develop research and analytical skills which will empower them to become resilient independent students, equipping them for further study in arts, humanities and sciences. These skills will also benefit students for further employment
• explore how the Roman civilisation and culture has influenced the world and to recognise how our current world has been shaped by the Romans.

Resources:  
Years 7-9 – Suburani textbook and Suburani online vocabulary trainer