students in class
Junior Reflections

Junior Reflections Week 18 2024

Dear parents,

Graham Keene visit

February has arrived, as have the first lot of daffodils in my office. A lovely feeling of Spring is nearly here. I joined the Upper Two pupils first thing on Monday morning to listen to our very own local mountaineer, Graham Keene. The pupils were mesmerised by his account of climbing the seven highest mountains in each of the continents, and he encouraged the pupils to follow their dreams – anything is possible.

Future-ready learning

Mrs Morgan and I visited Wells Cathedral School on Tuesday as part of the District 4 heads termly meeting and a chance for our digital leads to meet up. The discussion topic was “Future-ready learning”, and we had a very interesting and informative presentation from Lex Lang on the integration of AI in education. It certainly gave us a lot to think about, not just as a teacher but also as a parent.

Comets club

This week, comets club headed to the senior school for “Combinatorics – The Art of Clever Counting”. Mr Bowler introduced compositions to the group, where the pupils were asked to break down whole numbers. The Upper Two children were brilliant at identifying patterns, and they got to see how creative mathematics can be! A huge thank you to Mr Bowler for inspiring our pupils.

Informal Brass Concert

I attended the Informal Brass Concert, and what a treat I had. I was blown away, excuse the pun, by the talent, and a special mention goes to our very own Nathaniel in Lower Two, who performed the James Bond theme tune on the French horn. It was a brilliant performance. I do enjoy the Informal Concerts, and it is lovely to see many of our old junior school pupils play as well.

Junior school council

On Thursday morning, the junior school council welcomed three of our senior school council members, Alex, Jasmine, and Tom, to our half term meeting. They talked about their roles and the brilliant changes they have helped to influence before taking questions from the pupils, such as changes to school uniforms and school lunches. Alex, Jasmine, and Tom shared words of wisdom and encouragement as well as fond memories of their time in the junior school before hearing feedback from each class on what has been enjoyed, what was not quite so good, any worries, and finally, suggestions for the school council to discuss at future meetings.

Coffee morning

It was lovely to see many of the lower school parents at our coffee morning on Wednesday; as always, it was a great start to my day and great to catch up. This evening sees our annual junior school quiz, which I am very much looking forward to, and tomorrow I will be welcoming many new families and their children to our assessment day.

I hope that you all have a lovely weekend, and I am sure I will see many of you this evening.

Playground people of the week

Archie F1C

Lysander  U2T

George U2E

U11 Hockey – Devon Finals

The U11 boys hockey team travelled to Blundell’s on Wednesday for the Devon Hockey Tournament. They displayed some fantastic skills and scored some great goals during the tournament. Exeter School progressed through the group stages in top place and came up against West Buckland School in the semi-final, where the game went to penalty shuffles. Exeter School narrowly lost the shoot out and West Buckland School progressed to the final. Well done to all the pupils involved!

Informal Brass Concert

15 players from across the school took to the Music Hall stage on Wednesday in the Informal Brass Concert. Featuring nine trumpeters, three trombonists, a euphoniumist, a hornist and a tubist, and ranging in age from Nathaniel in Lower Two to Oscar in Upper Sixth, the event offered huge variety in the instrumental disciplines on show and the experience of the players. The choices of piece also offered something for every musical taste, with movements from concertos by Hummel and Haydn, pop favourite Angels, film/stage classics including Raiders March, the James Bond theme and Castle on a Cloud through to jazzy numbers such as Chattanooga Choo-Choo and Funk. You can access the audio recording here.

The next Informal Concert event will feature the guitarists, and is taking place on Wednesday 7 February at 4pm in the Music Hall. Parents, pupils, staff and families and all welcome to attend.

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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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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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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