Russian – Head of Russian: Mr T F Thynne

The Russian department currently has twenty-seven students taking GCSE in year 11, five in year 12 taking AS level and four in year 13 taking A2. Recent results have been excellent – in 2006 all candidates at AS and A2 achieved grade A. At GCSE 22 out of 23 candidates passed; two achieved A* and five A.

Students of Russian at TBGS are fortunate in having access to a native speaker in our Language Assistant “assistentka”, Mrs Lyudmila Danilyuk. Sixth form students attend sixth-form Russian conferences at Birmingham University and links are also maintained with Exeter University whose Russian staff has visited TBGS to give talks.

Students of Russian at TBGS find that the subject combines particularly well with other languages and with History. The recent economic emergence of Russia under Putin means that Russian is once again being seen as a valuable skill for the 21 st century world.

Russian Trip

The Russian department has organized since 1989 a bi-annual trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg, the most recent being in February 2006. The visit lasts eight days in February and includes four days in each city with an overnight train journey between the two. Students never fail to return saying that the trip is the experience of a lifetime with a kaleidoscope of memories packed into the week. The trip includes sightseeing tours of the two cities, visits to museums, art galleries, cathedrals, fortresses, folklore shows and the ballet or opera and is a vivid reminder to participants of the dramatic changes seen in Russia since the fall of Communism in 1991 and of the turbulent, often tragic, history of the country in the twentieth century as a whole. All this against a backdrop of the Russian winter, with temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees! All-in-all, we consider the Russia trip to be one of the best available in the school.