Barnaby

I am a recent Classics graduate of Balliol College, University of Oxford, where I achieved a Congratulatory Double First. I was awarded several academic prizes throughout my four years at Oxford. For example, I achieved the best marks in the year across all Greek Literature papers in my Finals, for which I was awarded the Harold Lister Sunderland Prize. I was also awarded three separate academic prizes by Balliol College across my four years, and one academic scholarship.

I have extensive knowledge of Latin and Ancient Greek, considerable experience in Roman and Greek history (146BC-54AD and 479-300BC respectively), and thorough knowledge of all genres of Greek literature. I am very familiar with favourite A-level texts, namely the Iliad and Aeneid, as well as the works of Plato and Tacitus, having studied these for my second-year Honour Moderations. Given this breadth of knowledge, I will be able to assist prospective Classics, Ancient History, and CAAH students across a range of topics. My Latin and Greek language skills are also very strong - I will be able to assist with language work at all ages.

I will also be able to tutor English Language and Literature at GCSE and A-Level. Over four years at Oxford, I developed excellent analytical skills and writing technique, with which I will be able to assist students. Moreover, I understand how to write for these exams, having achieved full UMS in both my GCSE and A-Level English Literature exams.

Outside of academia, I was fully involved in sporting life at Balliol College. I regularly played rugby, cricket, football and lacrosse for my college teams, and was Captain of both the cricket and mixed lacrosse teams in my third year. Consequently, I will be able to give a vivid picture of life at an Oxford college.

Willing to travel: 12 miles

Experience: I previously tutored two Elizabeth College students for Classics interviews at Oxford, running mock tutorial sessions where we talked through their submitted essays.

The first student wrote his essay on Sophokles’ Oidipous Turannos, and so we spent much of our sessions interrogating the key conceptual and linguistic themes of the play. We also discussed Greek tragedy more generally, its multiplicity of forms and genres, as well as its performance context.

The second student wrote his essay on Book I of Tacitus’ Annals. Within our sessions, I helped the student to place his essay in the wider context of the period, namely the accession of Tiberius and the associated political issues. I also broadened his understanding of Tacitus’ historiography by introducing him to key passages from Tacitus’ other works, namely his Agricola and his Histories.

As part of these I also included some unprompted problem questions, trying to walk the students through certain logical and philosophical scenarios which were included in my interviews at Balliol, since they had had no previous exposure to Classical philosophy or formal logic.

These sessions were fairly informal — they were the result of recommendations from parents, rather than any formal tuition service. Nevertheless, they have taught me how to communicate in an effective and accessible manner with sixth-form students.