Classical Civilisation
Which schools in England make Classical Civilisation a big part of the curriculum, and where results are strongest. Entries and grades from the 2025 performance tables.
At A level, Classical Civilisation was offered in 423 schools and colleges, with 3,175 entries — roughly 1% of A level students.
A level: schools and colleges where the largest share of students take Classical Civilisation
Entries as a share of A level students (at least 30 A level students and 10 entries). England: 1% of A level students.
What pupils learn in Classical Civilisation, stage by stage
England has no national year-by-year syllabus: exam boards and schools set the order within each stage. These are the statutory blocks from the Department for Education, so a parent can see what a child meets in Years 7–9, what every GCSE candidate must cover, and what waits in the sixth form.
What A level Classical Civilisation teaches · Years 12–13
22 learning outcomes from the Department for Education’s statutory subject content, grouped by topic. Each outcome belongs to one of twelve fields of knowledge used across startfrom.today: Arts & Humanities (22). Exam boards add detail on top of these; the outcomes themselves are the same whichever board a school uses.
Knowledge, understanding and skills4
- analyse classical sources in their social, historical and cultural contextYear 13 — classical source, historical context
- evaluate evidence to form substantiated judgements about the classical worldYear 13 — evidence-based judgement
- present judgements about classical material in a clear and logical argumentYear 13 — argument construction
- apply knowledge of secondary scholarship to develop analysis of classical textsYear 13 — secondary scholarship
Literature6
- evaluate literary devices, language and themes used by classical writersYear 13 — literary device, theme
- analyse how classical texts are interpreted by different ancient and modern audiencesYear 13 — reader response, reception
- analyse how classical texts relate to their historical, social and political contextYear 13 — authorial intention, historical context
- analyse the characteristics of literary genres in classical textsYear 13 — literary genre
- evaluate a classical text's attitudes and values in relation to the author's contextYear 13 — critical response
- evaluate the reliability of a classical text as historical evidenceYear 13 — reliability, source evidence
Classical thought6
- explain key ideas and concepts within an area of classical thoughtYear 13 — classical thought, philosophical concept
- explain the development and impact of a key classical thinker's ideasYear 13 — classical thinker
- analyse how social and political context influenced classical ideasYear 13 — philosophical context
- evaluate the influence of classical ideas on their social and political contextYear 13 — influence of ideas
- evaluate classical ideas critically in relation to their historical contextYear 13 — critical response
- evaluate the reliability of philosophical evidence about everyday beliefYear 13 — reliability of evidence
Visual and material culture6
- describe the appearance, style and original location of visual and material cultureYear 13 — artefact, material culture
- evaluate the reliability and limitations of visual and material evidenceYear 13 — material evidence, reliability
- analyse how social and political context shaped the production of artefactsYear 13 — artefact production, political context
- explain the purpose, production and form of an artefact or buildingYear 13 — production method, purpose
- evaluate an artefact critically considering audience and purposeYear 13 — artefact interpretation, critical response
- evaluate the usefulness of visual and material culture for studying the classical worldYear 13 — material culture evaluation
Source: DfE GCE AS and A level classical civilisation subject content (2016), Open Government Licence v3.0. Outcomes are split into single actions and rewritten only where the original bundled several; wording otherwise follows the DfE text. Methodology.