Junior Reflections

Junior Reflections Week 1 September 2024

Dear parents,

Welcome back

It has been truly wonderful to welcome all our junior school pupils back to school, looking super smart in their uniform and new shoes; let’s hope this continues, even if the weather isn’t on our side. As Ms Simpson mentioned in her start of term letter, schools are not meant to be empty and, even though peace and quiet is nice during the holidays, I missed the noise and the chatter that your children create, although with my parent head on it is quite nice to get the children back to school. We will be hosting a couple of coffee mornings in the next few weeks (do keep an eye out for the dates in yesterday’s important forms and notices newsletter) as it would be lovely to welcome our new families to the school and, of course, catch up with our current parents as well. We are aware that there are some delays with certain items in the school uniform shop, so please do not worry if your child does not have the correct kit – we do understand, and I don’t want anyone worrying.

Dream big

The pupils have been given a lot of information over the past couple of days; it will all make sense, and it is really quite amazing how quickly everyone finds their feet in their new form rooms. I shared with the pupils a wonderful video clip from the Olympics (I am sure I wasn’t the only one who was glued to the TV and felt rather lost when they finished) about ‘dreaming big’. Who knows where their journey will take them, for many of the Olympians hadn’t even found their sport until at secondary school, or, for some, at university.

Useful reminders

Below are a couple of, I hope, useful reminders as I know that there is always a lot of information shared at the beginning of term:

  • All pupils may come in their PE kit on the day when they have PE. This is their white PE top and blue shorts.
  • On Friday 4 October, there is no late room or clubs as we have our open day the following morning. We hope that many of the junior school pupils will be available to help with tours on that Saturday.
  • We are a nut free school so please can I ask that all snacks are healthy and nut free.
  • Please remember to label all items as this will then ensure that any that find their way to the office can be returned to their owners.
  • If you wish your child to walk home at the end of the day, please inform the office at jsreception@exeterschool.org.uk in order that we have permissions on record.
  • Clubs start on Monday.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and I look forward to starting a full week on Monday.

Playground person of the week

Each week, Mrs Buckingham elects a few pupils who have been behaving well in the playground. These pupils could have helped out a fellow pupil, collaborated well in a game or just generally added a smile where it wasn’t before. Please share this opportunity to be mentioned to your child so we can help them make our community that little bit brighter each week.

Exonian Quiz

Our annual Exonian quiz was won by a staff team last year and Mr Al Reynolds has informed us that they will be ready to defend their title! A massive thank you to Giles Trelawny and Helen Sail who are going to be our Quizmasters for the evening. The quiz is open to staff, students, parents and alumni – everyone is welcome so please spread the word. Further information and the booking form can be found here.

Junior School News

Junior Sport News

Do you have a story or pupil achievement to share with our community?

If you have a couple of lines of information and a photograph that you and your child are happy to be shared we will try to post these at relevant times through the year.
Email our communications team
Spare a thought for Mr Harknett standing on the start line of this morning's @thegreatwestrun, raising funds on behalf of @charityforcecancer. With the heatwave making this quite a feat, please donate if you can via his Just Giving page (link in bio Linktree). 

Mr Harknett, if you see this, we're proud of you and let us know how it goes! 🏃‍♂️‍➡️

#AspireAndFlourish #InspireAndChallenge #MarathonMan #HalfMarathon #Community #SchoolOfGreatCharacter #GoodLuck #RunDaddyRun

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A little shout out to thank Mr Swan and the school's @sodexouk_ire team for joining in the fun with the National Literacy Festival. We loved our Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes at lunch 😍

We really did Go All In 2026 😆

#AliceInWonderland #cupcakes #yummy #ExeterJuniorSchool #baking #CSLewis #literature #lovereading

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Yesterday, we proudly celebrated the National Year of Reading (@go_all_in_2026) with our very own Exeter Junior School Literary Festival. The entire school day was dedicated to a rich rotation of inspiring activities, including poetry workshops, picture book creation and art sessions that brought stories to life. We were delighted to welcome The Bookery, who introduced pupils to the current top 20 children’s books many of which were eagerly purchased and are now all available to borrow in our junior school library. 

A highlight of the day was our open mic event, where we enjoyed wonderful performances from our talented Poet Laureates, alongside Miss Cox sharing her journey as a published author. The school was truly alive with conversation, creativity, and a shared love of reading; what a joyful and fitting way to celebrate the magic of literature!

This is Sophia in Year 3 singing her piece 🥰

#TheBookery #LoveReading #ExeterJuniorSchool #PoetLaureates #TopTitles #SchoolOfGreatCharacter #MalkinMoonlight #GoodBooks

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Exeter Junior School pupils are off timetable today for a wonderful roundabout of activities in aid of the @national_literary_festival. We're going all in for the @go_all_in_2026 and some pupils, like Bel here, performed their pieces in assembly in chapel this morning. Well done Bel! 👏

#GoAllIn #reading #poetry #CreativeWriting #PoetLaureate #NationalYearOfReading2026 #ExeterJuniorSchool #NationalLiteracyTrust #DevonSchools #IndependentSchoolsUK 

🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co

Hawaiian Magic by 101 Strings Orchestra, https://t.lickd.co/l/1PENMPJKwkv

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This Sunday is @thegreatwestrun and our very own Mr Harknett will be running his first half marathon on behalf of @charityforcecancer! He ran the 10K for them last year and raised just over £100 so he would love to take it further this year and get to £300. 

Cancer care is very close to his family’s heart and we know that is true for many in our school community so please do give if you feel able and help him to smash his goals!

His JustGiving link is available in our Linktree in our bio

#WelcomeAndServe #Charity #FundRaising #HalfMarathon @exeterschool_alumni @exschsports #Support #Community #ExeterSchools @ExSchDrama

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We've been busy preparing for our visitors to the @devoncountyshow and can't wait to speak to you all over the next few days! Stop by Ave A, stand 94, for a chat, some shelter, a seat...🥳 We love showing what our young people get up to, letting you know of scholarships, bursaries and other opportunities available and in store for anyone dreaming of becoming an Exeter School pupil. We'd also love to catch up with any @exeterschool_alumni.

🐶Labradors Murphy and Ketchup will be visiting with us as well as our much adored Bichon Frise, Ruffles, from @exeterpreprep on Saturday. Can't wait to see you! 😎

#devoncountyshow2026 #countyfair #devon #westpointexeter #RealWorldReady #CoEducationToThrive #ComeAndChat #WelcomeAndServe #Exhibitors #Summer #Admissions #School #DevonSchools #Scholarships #Bursaries #Welcome #OpenDay

🎵 Copyrighted music licensed from Lickd. https://lickd.co

On The Move by CALVO, https://t.lickd.co/l/kVB3yow3Rr4

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Junior School gardening club farewell

Upper Two Residential

Year 1 visit to Clyst St George Fire Station

Junior School Sports Day

AP Swim Clinic

Jazz Supper 2024