On Monday 29^th November last year, we hosted a very special afternoon of prize-giving events at The Roman Baths in celebration of our fifth year running the Ovid in the West Country competition.

With 1000+ pupils participating from across 16 local schools, this was our biggest competition yet for which we had a record-breaking number of brilliant, creative entries… making the competition judging process really tough!

We divided the schools into three separate categories and awarded a first prize for each. The overall winners were a Y7 student from Cardiff High School whose entry on the theme of global warming was inspired by the Daedalus and Icarus myth; a Y7 student from Chipping Campden School who produced a dramatic interpretation of the same story using a range of media; and a Y6 student from St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School whose entry of a 3D model and poem was also inspired by Daedalus and Icarus.

Each of the prize-giving ceremonies involved an object handling session in which students were invited to examine replica Roman artefacts, as well as a brilliant dramatic retelling by Daniel Morden of the Phaethon story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The awards were made by Bob Lister, our guest of honour and creator of the Classic Tales resources.

Congratulations to all those who took part, and a special thank you to the teachers for your hard work and enthusiasm in supporting this competition!

That evening, we were also delighted to host a drinks reception for recent graduates from the PGCE Secondary English course at UWE Bristol who had successfully completed our Classics in the Classroom award scheme. Congratulations to them all, and many thanks to Joan Foley for her inspiring commitment to introducing Classics into the English classroom.

Thank you to The Roman Baths for generously hosting this afternoon and evening of special events!