I've been meaning to pass along that the report in the Sunday Times a while back suggesting that Greek and Latin A-Levels were on the way out was apparently erroneous (although the Times has not printed a retraction). By way of compensation, here's a little piece from the Fakenham and Wells Times:

CLASSIC scholar Andrew Wells is “V” pleased with his five A-levels - including a DIY one in Greek.

The subject was not on the curriculum at Gresham's School in Holt. But that did not stop the 18-year-old, who set about learning it himself.

“It was just a case of reading things,” he said modestly as he collected his handful of top successes.

He did some Greek at GCSE level at Loughborough Grammar School, before the family moved to Wells.

But he needed an A-level at B grade or above to reach his goal of going to Downing College in Cambridge to study for a classics degree - in the hope of teaching the subject one day.

And at school he got some practice - by being his own teacher, with some overseeing guidance from classics tutor Gareth Burrell, whose Greek was limited to GCSE level, having only taken the exam recently himself.

Andrew used study time at school and home to delve into the A level world of classical Greek - including tackling the philosophy of Plato and the work of the first ever historian Herodotus. The three exams involved Greek translation, analysis of language and a philosophical essay - and he passed with flying colours, along with Latin, history, English and physics.

Andrew's dad Chris said: “We think it's fantastic, but he takes it all in his stride. We are also pleased that Gresham's gave him the freedom to do it.”

Head Antony Clark also praised Andrew, and pointed out that, ironically, Gresham's had earlier made its reputation for being a public school which shied away from the traditional classics under its modernising head George Howson, who steered it towards maths and science and away from Latin and Greek.