Senior Reflections Week 5 October 2025
Dear parents,
It has been another positive and productive week here at school. I hear last week’s Exonian Quiz was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all who took part. My thanks to everyone involved in organising and supporting such a lively and inclusive event.
I began the week in London with a meeting of our development board, focusing on the continued growth of our bursary programme. I personally support the bursary fund, and it is a great privilege to do so when I consider the life-changing opportunities that such support enables — opportunities that can alter the course of a young person’s life forever. My sincere thanks to all of you who donate to this important cause. If you would like to learn more about how you can contribute, please visit the bursary page on our website. It was wonderful to speak with many new parents on Tuesday at our two separate welcome gatherings and our first parental forum. Thank you for sharing your experiences of this first term — your insights, encouragement and support mean a great deal. On a related note, may I please remind all parents to complete our short parental questionnaire on pastoral care, sent earlier this week by Miss Dunning. Your feedback is invaluable.
Wednesday saw our first informal concert of the year, with some outstanding performances from our music scholars. It was a joy to witness their talent and confidence. We also held our first school council meeting of the year, bringing together pupils from across all year groups. I continue to meet individually with new pupils too, listening to their views and experiences. It is wonderful to hear what they most appreciate — the food, the friendliness of staff and pupils, and even the lessons themselves — as well as ideas for how we might improve still further.
This week I have also spent some time in pre-prep leading an assembly as part of National Space Week. We pretended to be astronauts on a journey into space from lift off to safe return. We even sampled ‘astronaut food’ in the form of space ice cream and dehydrated strawberries. I am not sure who enjoyed it more, me or the pupils!
In our change of roles for this academic year, our Deputy Head (Academic) Mr Fennemore has picked up the leadership of our shape of the week and curriculum review project, and there was another purposeful meeting of our staff curriculum group this week. This carefully considered multi-year project is drawing to a close and we will be soon updating parents on our plans for September 2026, including the widely supported move to hour long lessons in order to enable more focused time in class learning and less time lost in movement between lessons.
There have been some exceptional performances on the sports field this week. The 1st XV rugby team were narrowly beaten by a strong Sherborne side but showed fantastic character in their second-half comeback. Meanwhile, our 1st XI girls’ hockey team continue to impress with their skill and determination, putting up a spirited defence in their own cup match on Thursday.
A quick reminder that scholarship applications are now open for pupils currently in Upper Two (Year 6), Fourth Form (Year 8) and Upper Fifth (Year 11), with deadlines approaching soon. Please see the school website where you can watch our video presentation or contact admissions@exeterschool.org.uk for further details.
As I write this, I am very much looking forward to Field Day today, with two residential trips already having set off yesterday. I won’t revisit the full list of activities here (see last week’s newsletter for details), but I continue to be amazed by the enthusiasm and positivity of our pupils, and by the dedication of our staff who make such experiences possible.
And yet there is still more. Saturday will see some of our pupils lead spectacular scientific demonstrations at the Sidmouth Science Festival. The same day, our Upper Sixth (Year 13) pupils will take part in the Futures Programme interview scheme. This invaluable opportunity allows pupils to experience a professional interview in a supportive, developmental context (think the BBC show The Apprentice penultimate round, but far more friendly and constructive!).
On Sunday we are delighted to host our Model United Nations Conference here on site. I look forward to listening in as our senior school pupils from across the school represent countries and debate some of the most important issues facing the world today.
It is hard to believe that next week is already the final week of this half term. There is still much to look forward to including our first Open Mic Night on Tuesday, a taster day in the junior school for our pre-prep pupils on Thursday, and Friday sees our Upper Two (Year 6) experience afternoon for pupils and parents as well as our senior hockey tour departing for the Netherlands.
After all of that, I think we will all enjoy the half term break!
