It’s been a fantastic couple of months for us here at High Storrs #SaveClassics campaign, not least because our current total has reached £30,150! Read on to see what we’ve been doing and who has supported us…

On Thursday 24th May we welcomed Martin Simpson to High Storrs who volunteered to play a charity gig in support of our campaign. His daughter, Molly, goes to High Storrs (she also joined her dad on stage to sing which was great!) and he has said in response to our campaign: "My child, my wife and my in-laws are all huge fans of the subject and we all agree that it is one of those that can capture the imaginations of children of all ages and develop not only a love of the stories, but also of history and the arts”. We were thrilled that Martin also brought along some of his friends to play with him. He was joined on stage by cellist Liz Hanks, fiddle singer Nancy Kerr and fiddle player Jon Boden. The night was enjoyed by everyone and we want to take this opportunity of saying a huge thank-you to Martin and all the performers for coming along and playing. Who knows, there may even be a folk festival happening at High Storrs in the future – watch this space…

Miss Johnson and I attended the High Storrs Car Boot Sale and the High Storrs Alumni event in June to sell raffle tickets (more on that shortly) and raise awareness and funds for the Save Classics campaign. The alumni event was a huge success and everyone was very enthusiastic, enjoying coming back and seeing their old classrooms as well as catching up with teachers and friends. We had lots of support for our campaign too – alumni coming into our classroom and saying that Classics had inspired them and is still with them in some form or another today.

Finally, we also attended the Warwick Classics Network day at the University of Warwick at the start of July and met with other teachers along with representatives from the University, Classical for All and ACE Classics. It was our opportunity not only to raise the profile of our campaign but to discuss the wider implications of Classical Civilisation GCSE not being an English Baccalaureate subject and other barriers that pupils face when it comes to studying Classical subjects in schools. The meetings we had were very encouraging: The Warwick Classics Network are very keen to support schools and raise the profile of Classics whilst also supporting longer term goals of lobbying the government to include Classical Civilisation on the EBacc. We also got to chat to Professor Michael Scott (who has presented numerous Classics programs for the BBC) and Hilary Hodgson (Grants & Program Director for Classics for All) both of whom were very supportive of the #SaveClassics campaign and the teaching of Classics in the state sector.

BUY RAFFLE TICKETS! We have had some amazing donations for our raffle, all proceeds from which go towards our fund. Here is a taster: a £300 paintball voucher; tickets to a Sheffield united football game; £150 Peakography photo voucher; vouchers for restaurant dining and lots of bottles of Prosecco! Raffle tickets are £1 each and WILL BE ON SALE AT THE GUYS AND DOLLS SHOWS at school 9th – 12th July and DANCE XCHANGE on 19th July. If you have any prizes you would be able to donate, we are still collecting them in so please get in touch. The draw for the raffle will be at the end of the September.