Oakham welcomed 66 pupils from Witham, Spratton, St Hugh’s and its Lower School for the inaugural Oakham Olympics day. Pupils represented different Greek city-states and enjoyed a round-robin of activities and sessions from a range of departments, all under the overarching theme of the Ancient Greek Olympics.
Classics and Religion and Philosophy looked into the gods themselves and how the Ancient Greeks worshiped them. The pupils learned about how Zeus and his pantheon could be bribed using votive offerings. Clay legs, feet, arms and hands were moulded in order to ensure peak performance and full backing from the gods in the athletic events to come.
In Science, the great Archimedes was the focus, with the children investigating the densities of materials and how to identify a material based on the displacement of water that it produces. Fake gold medals were rumoured to be circulating, it was up to the children to identify the impostor gold.
Mathematics took a more detective based approach to their session. Secret messages had been intercepted from the organisers of the Olympic Games and there was a threat of race-fixing in the events. Numerical and code breaking skills were required in order to decipher these messages and prevent them from altering the outcome of the Games.
The pupils, representing their Greek city-states, all created fanfares in the Music session. The most modern, computer programs were used to design a fanfare that would spur on their fellow competitors and congratulate the winners in the final prize giving.
Finally, in Sport, the children got a flavour of the events that the Ancient Greeks competed in. With their armour on and their trusty steed ready to go, the children raced in a variety of events and even spent some time creating the most authentic-looking chariot that they could.
While Zeus himself decided that some rain was needed on the day and the final races were washed-out, spirits were high and each school was celebrated by Headmaster Henry Price in the final prize giving ceremony. Dr Leveritt, Head of Classics and organiser of the day, said:
“The representatives of the different Greek city-states did them proud with some first- class clay votives, cracking code breaking skills and athletic prowess.”
