Junior Reflections Week 27 April 2025

Dear parents,

It’s been a pleasure to see so many of you at the gate this week and, of course, to welcome your children back for the start of the summer term. A warm welcome to our new pupils and families as well and I hope that your first week with us has been an enjoyable one. It was also wonderful to see so many lower school parents for coffee this morning, and I look forward to meeting the upper school parents next week.

Our school grounds are looking fantastic; thanks to the hard work of our wonderful estates team, who were busy over the holidays making sure everything was looking its best. A huge thank you to them for ensuring such a great start to the term.

Fire drill

We also carried out our termly fire drill this week to ensure all pupils are confident with the procedures. As always, our pupils behaved impeccably, quietly and quickly exiting the building. Well done to everyone.

New staff

We’re delighted to welcome Mrs Louise Stevens to the team as our new learning support teacher. She’s already made a fantastic start getting to know the pupils and learning the ropes of the junior school—welcome, Mrs Stevens!

Charity collection

We also welcomed in Sian from The Hygiene Bank this week, one of our chosen charities, on Thursday to collect all of last term’s donations. Helpers from Lower Two helped squeeze everything into Sian’s car and we apparently collected a whopping 140kg of donations. Thank you all for your generosity; these small donations make such a massive difference to families in our local community.

Staff departures

Many of you may have read in Ms Simpson’s end of term newsletter that sadly Mrs Katie Jones has made the decision to step away from the classroom and will be leaving us at the end of this academic year. Mrs Jones has been a part of the junior school for nearly 20 years and has had a huge impact on so many pupils both in and out of the classroom, although I have a feeling she will be back. We are also saying goodbye to my wonderful and ever-patient PA, Mrs Corten, who will also be retiring at the end of the year to enjoy the next exciting chapter of her life. Both will be greatly missed and have been a huge part of our school community. We will of course make sure they have a proper send off at the end of term and I will update you in due course once their successors have been appointed.

With the sunshine set to continue over the weekend, I hope you’re able to enjoy it—and fingers crossed it sticks around next week too!

Mrs Saskia van Schalkwyk

Playground people of the week

Benjamin W U2E

Junior School News

Junior Sport News

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What a great day of cricket! Well done to the @exschsports U11s who finished as runners up at the Devon U11 hardball competition today. The eight a-side format gives each team the opportunity to play three matches during the day with the winners heading to the west finals! Well done on winning  @stpetersprepschool 

@exeterschooluk @devoncricket @esca_cricket #cricket #teamwork #exeterschoolsport #schoolofgreatcharacter

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Mrs Glanville, our pastoral assistant, is taking part in the Coast to Coast walking challenge across Devon - a non-stop, 24-hour trek from Westward Ho!, all the way to Paignton, over Dartmoor! As if this doesn't sound crazy enough, she will still be doing a full day's work beforehand on Friday 19 June 😮 So, her realistic goal is to manage at least 59 miles out of the 68 over 24 hours. 

The aim of the walk is to raise vital funds for @thedevonclinic, a charity providing affordable counselling and mental health support for people who need help but can't always afford it. 

Please donate, share, and be part of this journey for an important cause via the link in our Linktree in our bio

#mentalhealthawareness #fundraising #welcomeandserve #coasttocoast #dartmoorwalk #charity #affordablecounselling #schoolofgreatcharacter #wellbeing #staffchallenge

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CCF Adventure Training, Snowdonia - April 2025

4F-M5 ski trip, Austria

Sports Gala Awards - 2 April 2025

Junior school cross country - 31 March 2025

CCF RAF Nitex - March 2025

L5 House Hockey and Netball - March 2025

Abstract art workshop by Liese Webley - February 2025

Informal Woodwind Concert - 12 March 2025