Why We Teach Latin

Why We Teach Latin

One of the things that sets Newman College apart from mainstream schools is the fact we will teach Latin, starting in Prep.


A prerequisite for university entrance in Australia until the 1950s, Latin once held an integral place in Australian education. By the 1970s, due to significant curriculum changes, Latin had fallen out of vogue and had all but disappeared from the majority of schools in our country. So, why are we teaching it at Newman College?


  • Vocabulary

    As Romance languages, over 90% of the vocabulary found in Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese comes from Latin. English can also thank Latin for the roots of 50% of its words. In this way, knowledge of Latin opens the door to some of the most spoken languages in the world today!

  • Grammar

    Latin is an inflected language, meaning the endings of its words modify to reflect different grammatical relationships, such as tense, gender, case and number. English seldom uses inflection, so the logic and structure of the Latin language can be a key to unlocking an invaluable knowledge of language and grammar for a student.

  • Great Works

    Learning Latin opens the door to some of the great works of the Western canon. From Virgil's Aeneid and Cicero's speeches to Augustine's Confessions and St Thomas More's Utopia, learning Latin gives student's access to these works and countless other in their original language. If you want to know more about the Great Books and why we should study them, you can check out our post about the Great Books.

  • Cultivating Skills & Virtue

    At the same time that Latin was quickly losing popularity in schools in the 1960s, so too the structured teaching of the English language was removed from the National Curriculum. In recent years, the National Curriculum has sought to re-introduce dedicated English-language learning into the classroom, recognising the importance of the explicit teaching of grammar and syntax for the development of essential analytical and critical thinking skills.


    Learning a second language requires patience, attention to detail, and often times humility. These are some of the skills and virtues essential in the formation of the life-long learner.

  • The Church & Beyond

    Latin is the official and traditional language of the Catholic Church, and remains present in the Mass and Catholic worship to this day. In fact, the Church still produces its liturgical texts in Latin, providing a single point of reference for all the translations that follow. 


    Beyond the Church, Latin terms are still commonly used in the fields of Law and Medicine.

We are excited to give our students the opportunity to learn Latin from the earliest years of their schooling at Newman College.


Find Out More

If you would like to know more, you can check out the Educating Humans podcast, a show about classical education in Australia, co-hosted by our Principal Kenneth Crowther. In this episode, Kenneth discusses with Dr Laura Eidt (University of Dallas) her new Latin programme, designed to teach young children this all important language through stories.

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