We are representatives of university departments offering classical studies and of learned societies concerned with classics nationally and internationally, and we speak for many more colleagues across the UK who have encouraged us to write. We appeal to the education secretary to reconsider her decision to terminate funding for the Latin excellence programme (Letters, 31 December).
We share the government’s desire to see equality of opportunity at the heart of educational provision, but believe that the Latin excellence programme has been successfully meeting exactly that challenge. Children at 40 non-selective state schools, the majority located in areas of economic deprivation, are now covered by the scheme, and more than a third of its by now over 5,000 pupils are eligible for free school meals – a remarkable uptake that indicates how exceptionally well the programme has been run.
