students learning about robotics
Junior Reflections

Junior Reflections Week 11 2023

Dear parents,

I am officially ready to say that the festive period has started, and it is lovely to drive in in the mornings with many lights already up. On Thursday there was a buzz of excitement as a few flakes of snow started to fall.  We are steam rolling ahead to the end of term and, as always, the week has been a hive of business, learning and fun all thrown together.

Friendship

Friendship was the theme for the week and the pupils showed their knowledge of Disney friends in assembly and shared with each other what makes a good friend. We discussed that friends should make us happy and be loyal – great advice for us all. Good friends should make you smile, make you laugh and make every day worthwhile.

Open morning

Our Upper Two pupils were on form on Tuesday with an abundance of volunteers to show our prospective parents around the school for our open morning event.  As always, our visitors were blown away by our wonderful school site and facilities (thank you Estates team). But, more importantly, they were impressed with how articulate and proud the pupils were to show off the school and all that they do here. I know that I have said this before, but the pupils really do make me a very proud head and you, as parents, should also be very proud.

Robot making

Lower Two enjoyed a robot morning today, with some help from our wonderful sixth formers who were on hand to share their knowledge in coding. A lot of fun was had and I was extremely impressed with the collaboration that took place between the pupils in the groups and the thought process and questioning between each other was amazing to see… curious minds being challenged.

Autism information sessions

Following last year’s successful autumn sessions with Lisa McCullagh from Southwest Autism, we are pleased to offer more parent sessions this year. The sessions are designed to support parents of children with a diagnosis of autism / Autistic Spectrum Condition, or on the ASC pathway. Equally, parents who would like to find out more should find the sessions informative. The first session, focusing on the challenges of the festive season, will take place on Wednesday 13 December, at 5:30pm in the Andrews Hall. There will be two more sessions next term, on 3 and 24 February from 10am – 12pm. Some parents will have already received notification of these sessions and have signed up. If you would also like to attend some or all of the sessions, please email Ali Dunning here.

Diary dates

As we head into the last couple of weeks of the autumn term I thought it would be useful to remind you of the up and coming events;

  • Tuesday 5 December – All year groups out on their history trips – no activities/clubs
  • Tuesday 5 December – Water Aid concert at Exeter Cathedral 7:30pm
  • Friday 8 December – junior school disco night: lower school 5pm – 6pm and upper school 6:30pm – 7:30pm in the main hall – if possible, please can all lower school pupils attending the disco be picked up at 3:40pm
  • Tuesday 12 December – school carol concert 2:15pm in the main hall
  • Wednesday 13 December – Christmas jumper/hat day
  • Friday 15 December – last day of term pick up is at 12pm (all buses go at 12.15pm)

 

WaterAid Christmas Concert

Our annual Charity Christmas Concert, this year in aid of WaterAid, takes place on Tuesday 5 December 2023 at 7.30pm in Exeter Cathedral.

The musicians of Exeter School will provide a joyful start to the festive period with a concert of seasonal music and readings. The groups that perform are the Chamber Choir, Senior Choir, Show Choir, Belles Canto, Vocal Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and the Senior Brass.

Tickets can be purchased here for the nave or unreserved side aisles, with reductions for children. Ticket Prices Nave Adult £15 / Child £8. Unreserved side aisles Adult £13 / Child £7.

We will let the pupils know when tickets are ready to be collected from the Bursary office at Exeter School, otherwise they will be available at the Cathedral on the evening of the event. People with special access requirements are asked to contact the Box Office on (01392) 458934.

Playground people of the week

Florence U1R

Doon L2E

Sasha U2E

Artist of the moment

The art department regularly recognises the achievements of individual pupils in the junior school through the award of the title, ‘Artist of the Moment’. Entries cover a wide range of disciplines, including drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, installation and mixed media.

Archie in F1 illustrated a bright primary and secondary colour mix gradient fish with intricate zentangle patterns demonstrating super attention to detail.

F1/U1 sport at West Buckland School

This Thursday our F1 and U1 pupils braved the cold temperatures on their trip to West Buckland School. The girls played some superb hockey in what was an exciting and successful performance. The U8 boys played a series of tag rugby matches and showed exceptional resilience and determination in a very competitive match. The U9’s played a contact rugby fixture and fought hard in what was an exciting game.

U11 Busy Bee’s Tournaments

On Friday our U2 pupils played host to various schools in the Busy Bee’s tournaments. These tournaments saw over 90 pupils from different schools playing in fun and entertaining matches. The children showed exceptional levels of teamwork and displayed excellent sporting values throughout the matches and did Exeter School proud.

Coat Collection

The Community Service team is running a coat collection again this year. We would be very grateful if you could donate your family’s outgrown and pre-loved warm coats and shoes / boots to help keep people warm this winter. Items for both adults and children will go to a good home! All donations are very welcome as supplies are running low with all the charities who help the homeless, refugees and others in need. Please bring donations to room 34 in the Senior School.

Thanks in advance from the Community Service Team.

Advent Carol Service

A chance to sing some carols and reflect on the season of advent and Christmas. Join us on Sunday 3 December in the Chapel at 5pm for the service and afterwards for refreshments. All are welcome, no need to book.

Junior School News

Junior Sport News

Alumnus Steve Dukes (1992-1997), CEO of @confused_com, returned to school this week to give an assembly. He advised pupils about aspiring to reach their goals, using negatives to fuel your journey. He said, 'when you’re at school, being called names like ‘odd, weird and awkward’ can often mean something completely different in adult life - these words become ‘creative, unusual and innovative’.  His top advice was to become like a sponge, find what learning method works best for you, learn fast and act on it. Great advice Steve - thanks so much for visiting us!  @exeterschool_alumni #visitingspeakers

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While it was hard to get a good photo of our sixth form linguists attending an online conference on Wednesday, pupil Sophia's feedback was that "it was really good to see how linguistics goes into so many areas and how some things seemingly unrelated (so far away from linguistics) can have a big/strong connection with linguistics."   They were treated to four diverse talks, ranging from how AI can help us learn foreign languages, how forensic linguistics can help compare different texts and ascertain if the same person wrote both texts (helpful in identifying and profiling criminals), how idioms are processed in our brains and used in social discourse, and how dormant languages can be reclaimed. The talks were 25 minutes each with a Q&A afterwards. As well as being informative, these talks allowed pupils to see what a course of study or a career in linguistics might look like. Many thanks to @oxfordhighschoolgdst for running the event.   #onlineconference #linguisticsevent #forensiclinguistics  #exeterschools #independentschoolsuk #sixthformlife

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Huge congratulations to Jack (U6) who continues to excel with his sailing and has recently been selected for 29er British Sailing Youth Team. The British Sailing Youth Team is an annual programme designed to support and develop the best sailors in the UK. The focus of the programme is to ensure sailor learning and individuals develop to fulfil their potential within the sport. There are a small number of boats in the team, and selection has been very competitive this year.   Jack also competed in the European Championships in Garda in July. He had also sailed at the Worlds in Porto. We can’t wait to hear about Jack’s progress.   #exeterschoolsport #exeterschool #schoolofgreatcharacter

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Netball success - well done to the U14 girls who won the Exeter round of their national competition winning all of their matches and progressing up the next round. @exeterschooluk #netball #exeterschool #exeterschoolsport #schoolofgreatcharacter

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Exciting week of national cup sport with the 1st XV playing @sherborneboys tomorrow (Home - 15:00) and the 1st XI hockey up against @blundells_sport on Thursday (Home - 16:30). Come along and support the school 1st teams. @nextgenxv @exeterschooluk #exeterschoolsport #exeterschool #schoolofgreatcharacter

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Great to get the football season underway! Last week the 1st XI played their first match of the season in a well contested match against King’s College, Taunton. We look forward to following their progress this year. @exeterschooluk #exeterschoolsport #exeterschool #football #schoolofgreatcharacter

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First competitive fixture of the season for our swimmers. Our teams competed at the South West regional round of the ESSA relays held at Millfield last Wednesday. The school fielded teams in all age groups with 8 pupils competing for the school for the first time. The senior teams performed particularly well, putting themselves in the running to make the national finals later in the term! @exeterschooluk #exeterschoolsport #swimming #swimfast #essaswimming

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