Junior Reflections

Junior Reflections Week 21 2024

Dear parents,

I feel like the weather is beginning to turn. I must admit I am a little bit fed up with the rain, and I know that the children certainly prefer outdoor breaks than indoor. Thank you for reminding your children to bring their coats to school, as this means that, where possible, we will try to get them out for some fresh air, whatever the weather.

Assembly

I had seven budding actors helping me in my assembly on Monday, demonstrating through drama the different roles that bullying can take. My helpers reminded the school that often being a bystander and not helping can be seen as just as hurtful as the person who is being unkind. We discussed how important it is to stand up to bullies and how hard it can be if the person being unkind is our friend.

Parents’ evenings and governors’ meetings

This week has been a busy week with parents’ evenings and governors’ meetings. The junior school committee met and started our meeting with a super presentation about our history department led by Mr Evans and Miss Lawrence (pre-prep), and everyone in attendance thoroughly enjoyed looking at the work that the pupils across the school had completed. The Viking longships by Upper One were particularly impressive, as were the Form One diaries.

School Council

I attended School Council on Thursday, and, as always, I did like hearing all about what the pupils are enjoying but also what we can do to make things a little better. We shared some new badges for Good Works, which was a suggestion from Nathan in Lower Two, and I look forward to showing these to the rest of the school, as the school council was very impressed. The smell of cheese and onion pasties wafted through the junior school on Thursday in our Upper Two cookery club, and it was lovely to welcome Benjamin and Zhi, two Lower Fifth pupils, who were volunteering as part of their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh. I think they very much enjoyed returning to the junior school and spending time in their old classroom.

Next week

A couple of reminders for next week; World Book Day is taking place on Thursday, and I know that the pupils are very much looking forward to dressing up as their favourite character, and on Friday I am looking forward to welcoming the Upper One parents to school to watch the anticipated performance of ‘Viking Rocks’.

Good luck to the girls playing netball tomorrow at Taunton. I look forward to hearing all about it on Monday.

Playground people of the week

Jake U1R

Sandra U1R

Henry U2T

William U2T

Informal Concert

Our final 4pm Informal Concert on Wednesday was an open event, meaning that singers, pianists, pupils accompanying themselves and violinists were all performing. Hugo and Tom played/sang pop numbers by Bruno Mars and Adele, whilst keen composer Amelia performed one of her own songs. Two of our talented Upper One violinists were especially impressive with their excellent intonation and confidence. Anna and Lucia both chose jazzy vocal solos, creating a relaxed mood with Summertime and Love Like You, an ambience that also was conveyed by a sensitive and very moving rendition of Chopin’s Prelude in D Flat (Raindrop) by Spiro. Also performing a piano solo was Ingrid, who played the 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata with vigour and technical accomplishment, and was much appreciated by the audience. You can access the audio recording here.

On Wednesday 6 March at 5-6.30pm there is the Twilight Jazz, Rock and Pop Concert in the Music Hall, in which a number of bands will be performing. Entrance is free, and all members of the school community are welcome to attend. The following week is the Choral Society concert in the Exeter Cathedral, featuring the main chorus, Chamber Choir, Vocal Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, along with our guest orchestra of professional players from across the South West. Tickets are available here.

World Book Day

Mark your calendars, everyone! On Thursday, March 7, Exeter 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. There is an opportunity to order copies of Sam Sedgman’s books in advance at a special discounted rate. Please use the form which can be found here to order, or alternatively, books will be available to buy on the day. 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, Mrs Hardy.

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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