Junior Reflections

Junior Reflections Week 16 2024

Dear parents,

It has been another busy week here in the junior school, where we kicked off the week with our theme of ‘making mistakes’. As always, the pupils were enthusiastic about sharing mistakes that they had made but, more importantly, how they dealt with them after. This is, for me, what builds our character; we all make mistakes, mine probably go into 10,000s, but we keep going and learn from them in order to make us a better person. I shared a few examples of my mistakes, and as I told the children, I could have been there all day. I also shared a short video of a few sports mistakes, which I hope the pupils can reflect on in their everyday lives. 

Youth Speaks Final 

On Wednesday, I was joined by Ms Simpson and Mr Brough as judges for the annual Upper Two Youth Speaks. As ever, the finalists were amazing, and all four groups offered thought-provoking and powerful speeches. It was a truly difficult decision, but congratulations to the winners, George, Angus, Greg, and Alex. Thank you to Ms Cox and Mr Evans for your valuable input in preparing all the Upper Twos for this wonderful event. 

Online safety 

Mrs Morgan has been reminding pupils from Upper School about the importance of staying safe online. The digital world that we live in is continually changing. Some of your children may have their own devices, and it is important that, as a school and parents, we remind them of how to behave, just like we would if they don’t follow the rules or expectations at school. But also, what to do if things go wrong… Please do keep an eye on what your children are up to, keep the lines of communication open, and, as we have told the children, many apps have age limits that are there for a reason: to keep them safe. 

Sea turtle talk with Jo Earlam 

Upper One pupils had a visit from local author Jo Earlam this week as part of their geography and art learning. The children enjoyed Jo’s story of ‘Tuamor the Turtle’ and learnt lots of fascinating facts about sea turtles and plastic pollution. The pupils are looking forward to developing their knowledge on this topic and making their clay sea turtle tiles during their art lessons. 

Family society 

I met with the family society on Wednesday to discuss future events, and there is one I would like to draw your attention to. The family society will be hosting a summer fete on Saturday June 15, so please pop the date in your diaries, and more details will be shared in due course. If you are interested in joining our family society, please send your details to jsreception@exeterschool.org.uk and we will pass them on. The more, the merrier, and events like these can only work with the support of the community. 

Coffee morning 

Next Thursday we have our Lower Two and Upper Two coffee morning in the dining hall at 8.25am. I hope you can join us for a croissant, a cup of coffee, and a catch-up.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Playground people of the week

Florence F1H

Amelie U1R

Robyn U1R

Arthur L2P

Benjamin L2P

World Book Day

Mark your calendars, everyone! On Thursday, March 7, junior school will immerse in the enchanting world of literature for World Book Day. We are delighted to host author Sam Sedgman, who will conduct engaging workshops for each year group. We invite you to join the festivities by participating in our biennial tradition of dressing up as your favourite book character. We would like you to step into the shoes of any one of your most cherished book characters. Let’s make this World Book Day a memorable celebration of the magic found within the pages of a good book! Happy reading from Mrs Hardy.

U8s & U9s start their season against ECS

In a fantastic start to the 2024 sporting season, our U8 and U9 teams hosted Exeter Cathedral School for their first hockey and netball matches on Thursday. The afternoon was not about competition but about learning the game and developing key skills. The matches were marked by the enthusiasm and sportsmanship of both teams, creating a wonderful spirit of friendly competition. Here’s to a fantastic season ahead, filled with growth, teamwork, and, most importantly, fun for our children.

Swim Squads

Last week over 80 pupils from the junior school trialled for the swim squads- an impressive number which highlights the enthusiasm for swimming at Exeter School. The level of swimming was very impressive and it is clear that pupils have been working hard over the past few months to improve their skills. Th squads began their training this week and we wish them the best of luck for their galas and competitions this term. Well done to all who trialled and congratulations to those who made the squads.

 

Make £5 Grow: Upper Two’s Maths Project is launched!

Last week Upper Two pupils attended talks given Mr Mackintosh from the senior school and some Young Enterprise sixth form pupils, to launch this year’s independent maths project. Virgin Money have ‘loaned’ our pupils £5 each which will be paid back at the end of the project. Each pupil will be receiving their £5 shortly, with the challenge to ‘make it grow’.

This week we have been exploring how teamwork impacts the world of business and have started to consider how we can use our strengths, interests and hobbies to generate product ideas, playing close attention to the time of the year and our target market.

Pupils will be working in groups of between three to five pupils within their class, to design, make and sell their products and hopefully make a profit. The profit raised will be split between the school charities as chosen by our school council.  Mr Cunningham, Mrs Van and Ms Barnes are busy collecting initial ideas from the groups and are already very excited about what’s to come!

Junior School News

Junior Sport News

A huge good luck to Max, Isaac, Seb and Spencer today as they complete the last day of @gchq's National Language Competition. The online event has been running all week and is a virtual competition for teams of 13-14 year olds from around the UK to compete against each other to solve language-based challenges and score points.

They can log in at different times to complete their tasks around their studies so if you see them around, ask how they're doing! We'll bring you the outcome next week ☺️🤞

#nlc2025 #nationallanguagecompetition #exeterschools #modernforeignlanguages

...

8 0
📢 We are looking for a fixed term, part-time (circa 60%) Teacher of PE to join our school, available for six or twelve-month period from January 2026.

🏑 Applicants will have an allocation of both Saturday and evening fixtures and should be able to teach PE and Games across Years 3–13 and confidently deliver a range of sports and curriculum activities. 

🏏 Experience and enthusiasm for coaching our core girls’ sports—hockey, tennis, netball and cricket—are essential. The role includes contributing to the wider sports programme at lunchtimes, after school and at weekends, as well as organising tennis fixtures in the summer term. 

Check the links in our bio or website 👆

#jobalert #vacancy #PETeacherVacancy

...

25 0
We are incredibly proud of alumnus Ollie (2018–2025), who made his senior debut for Exeter Chiefs on Friday 👏

After many years of hard work, he earned his reward with a senior appearance against Sale Sharks on a blustery night of rugby.

We hope you join us in congratulating Ollie on this fantastic achievement and wishing him all the best on his rugby journey.

@officialexeterchiefs @exschsports #ExeterSchool #ExeterChiefs #RugbyUnion #InspireAndChallenge #ExeterSchoolSport

...

248 1
An unforgettable day for four Exeter School musicians who performed at the Royal Albert Hall last week, as part of the Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra's appearance in the prestigious Music for Youth Schools Prom 🎶 

Current pupils Rebecca and Sebastian, along with 2025 leavers Henry and Charlie were part of the big band playing Giddy Up! and Apollo's Reel, with Charlie taking an improvised solo. A huge well done to all four pupils for representing the school so brilliantly! 👏 

#ExeterSchool #ExeterMusic #InspireAndChallenge #RoyalAlbertHall #DYJO #PupilAchievement #DevonSchools

...

127 1
The U11 girls won the IAPS west tournament yesterday. Not only did they win all their matches they didn’t concede a goal! Bring on finals day in November! 🙌🏻 @exeterschooluk @iscahockeyclubjuniors @iapsuksport #exeterschoolsport #iaps #schoolofgreatcharacter

...

93 1
Well done to our U16 netballers who won the Exeter district round of the national competition yesterday winning five from five! @exeterschooluk @teambathnetball_ #exeterschool #exeterschoolsport #schoolofgreatcharacter

...

161 0
Year 7 assessment preparation morning - Saturday 29 November 9am