THE motto of the school is the Latin phrase Natus ad Patrare - or born to achieve.

Now pupils at Sacred Heart Primary School in Bridgeton are using Latin to develop their literacy and language skills as part of the Glasgow University project.

Headteacher Liz Gonzalez said the impact on the pupils taking part in Latin lessons once a week this year had already been significant and wide-ranging.

She said: "It is early days and we are hoping to see further progress, but previous research has shown that pupils achieve better grades than predicted, especially in literacy, and we are starting to see the benefits.

"We offer French, Italian and Spanish to our pupils and children who took part in the Latin lessons have definitely been more confident in their modern foreign languages learning.

"They can see the links between core Latin words and the other languages they are learning. We have also seen improvements in their English including spelling, punctuation and grammar as well as developing logical thinking."

Mrs Gonzalez said the project also had the benefit of introducing pupils to university students.

She added: ""The partnership with the university has been a real strength and the interaction between pupils and university staff has inspired them not just in their lessons, but also their aspirations to go to university."