Junior Reflections Week 17 January 2025

Dear parents,

Drone Day

Monday morning brought a unique start to the week with Drone Day, an event that kicked off with great excitement. The day was a resounding success, featuring STEM workshops for Lower Two and Upper Two pupils. These workshops were organised by house groups, providing a wonderful opportunity for pupils to collaborate across different classes and year groups.

All pupils, including our younger learners in Form One and Upper One, attended a special assembly showcasing the drones in action. This assembly was a source of inspiration for our younger pupils, sparking excitement for their future opportunities to program drones. During the workshops, pupils successfully programmed drones using the Swift programming language, with up to 11 drones flying simultaneously in the Andrews Hall at various points!

For those who were inspired by the activities, the video games created during the sessions used MakeCode Arcade. Pupils can save and access these games using their school accounts. Additionally, Swift Playgrounds, a free iPad app for programming apps for iPads and iPhones, is now available on all Upper Two pupils’ school iPads.

Careers

Upper Two pupils were also joined by Mr. Stuart MacKintosh, Head of Economics in the senior school, who delivered an engaging talk on future career opportunities, entrepreneurship, and navigating a changing job market. The session sparked a flurry of creative ideas, and we’re excited to see the resulting projects take shape.

Thought provoking talks

On Wednesday, Upper Two enjoyed a fascinating maths talk by Zoe Griffiths from Think Maths. The session explored various mathematical problems, focusing on topology and the Möbius strip, and concluded with a spectacular smoke-ring finale. Comets Club was led by Rev Close where pupils discussed “What’s it like to be a vicar?” The pupils visited the chapel to discover the various duties of a vicar. The group stepped into the roles of a wedding party and learned about the key moments of a ceremony. A big thank you to Rev. Close for leading such an engaging and informative Comets session.

Open morning

We held our first informal open morning of the year where prospective families can see our school in action. As always, our Upper Two guides were outstanding, talking so positively about their school; we sometimes take for granted how lucky we are, here, at Exeter School. Often when writing about all the things the pupils have done I am amazed at how we fit it all in but we do! For me all the little extras are what makes this school so wonderful.

Sports fixtures

The lower school kicked off the fixture season on Thursday with a fantastic mini tournament of netball whilst the boys got stuck in playing hockey against ECS. A fun afternoon of sport which luckily was not stopped by the weather.

Wishing you a dry weekend.

Mrs Saskia van Schalkwyk

Reminder

If you need to make any changes to end-of-day pick-up arrangements or club attendance, please email jsreception@exeterschool.org.uk as the first point of contact. Form tutors may not see these updates promptly due to teaching commitments.

Exonian lecture

Captain Elizabeth Godwin – Life Guards Squadron

Captain Elizabeth Godwin was born in Devon and attended Exeter School from the age of 7 – 15. She graduated from King’s College London, qualifying as a Nurse in 2015. Whilst at university Captain Godwin commissioned into the Reserves and captained the 1st XI Hockey team.

Captain Godwin commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as the first female officer in the Life Guards, The Household Cavalry, since the regiment formed in 1661. She was also awarded the Sword of Honour as the best cadet in her intake.

Captain Godwin will share her experiences and give a first-hand insight into her career to date. She will explore nationally significant events as well as her day-to-day responsibilities as the leader of Sqn 2iC, which include running the Life Guards squadron of 60 soldiers and 100 Military Working Horses.

Friday 7 February, 6-8pm Exeter School main hall.

Click here to book tickets

Playground people of the week

Reuben S-R U1W

POSTPONED – ESFS pre-prep and junior school parents quiz

Exeter School Family Society’s quiz night for pre-prep and junior school parents, due to be held tonight, has now been postponed.

More information about a new date to follow.

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
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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We love this quote emailed from one of our visitors to our most recent open day. If you didn't get the chance to visit, please get in touch with our admissions team to arrange a personal tour that suits you.  Scholarships are also available with more information available in the link in our bio - applications close 14 November.   #scholarshipsavailable #indpendentschoolsuk #talkeducation #goodschoolsguide #openday #exeterschoolopenday #parentreview #opportunitiesabound #exeterschools #exeterjuniorschool #exeterseniorschool #independentdayschool

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Junior school drone day 2025

Informal Percussion & Drums Concert - 22 January 2025

Swimming gala vs Exmouth College - 22 January 2025

U14 & U15 Hockey vs King's Bruton - 18 January 2025

1st VII, U15A & U14A Netball vs Mount Kelly - 18 January 2025

Netball tournaments - 11 Jan 2025

Exeter School 1st XI vs Blundell's School 1st XI - 11 January 2025

Young Changemakers Reindeer Run 2024