Junior Reflections Week 24 March 2025

Dear parents,

Virgin Money challenge

Monday saw the start of Virgin Money which took place over three days. I am always in awe of the entrepreneurship that the pupils show and as always, I overspent and have quite a few IOUs, which I know the pupils won’t let me forget… The skills that the pupils learn from this successful initiative are life skills: collaboration, compromise, kindness and integrity – many of our virtues. This is such a great way of getting pupils to collaborate with each other and learn the art of compromising (which as we know is always hard) and looking at how to make a profit; certainly all skills for the future. The Dragon’s Den takes place on Monday which sadly I will not be able to attend but will certainly look forward to hearing all about.

Assemblies

Rev. Close led our Monday assembly this week on the subject of diversity and celebrating our differences. We looked at the wonderful way our minds work differently, taking a look at the famous white and gold dress, or was it blue and black? We spent time exploring the great benefits there are to seeing the world differently to the people around us. Friday was Red Nose Day and Rev. Close was looking at the subject of laughter and joy and how they are good for the soul; we all know that passing a smile can lift our mood and costs us nothing.

The arts

The art monitors have created unique self-portraits, wearing sunglasses—but look closely! The real magic is in the reflections. Sunglasses don’t just block the sun; they reveal a whole new world in their lenses. In these artworks, each reflection tells a deeper story, capturing a special memory, a dream, or even a hidden feeling. It’s like two pictures in one—the artist on the outside and their thoughts on the inside. These creative pieces invite you to look beyond the surface and discover the stories hidden within the reflections. We cannot wait to see these proudly on display. Well done Upper Two art monitors.

I had the privilege of watching Upper One’s performances of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ this afternoon, and just WOW, they were absolutely brilliant! Congratulations to everyone involved, and a special thank you Miss Cox for masterminding these simply outstanding shows, and to Mrs Russell and Mrs Wopshott and the many other staff who helped in the lead up. If you missed the performances, these were recorded and links will be shared next week.

Sport

This week our house matches got up and running, with all the pupils in the junior school taking part and proudly representing their houses. Today, we have a block fixture against West Buckland as well as a mini netball tournament at home with Trinity School. A huge good luck to the U11 girls hockey team, who travel to Clifton College next Wednesday for the West of England finals!

Have a lovely weekend.

Mrs Saskia van Schalkwyk

Spring Charity Concert

Join us on Wednesday 2 April at 7.30pm for the annual Spring Charity Concert, in aid of the Amber Foundation, at St. Michael and All Angels’ Church, Heavitree, Exeter.

Tickets: Adults £8, children £4 – please purchase via the MSP box-office.

 

Playground people of the week

Ottilie S U2T

Betsy S U2C

Lost property

There have been a lot of unnamed items found over the past few weeks. Please take a look at the photos below to see if anything belongs to your son or daughter, and ask them to collect them from the junior school reception. Email the junior school reception, at jsreception@exeterschool.org.uk, if you have any questions.

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
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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One of our teams takes an old, off the grid, Sony Cyber-shot point and shoot camera (no microphones so watch out for dodgy captions) on their @armytentors challenge to give everyone a real behind-the-scenes look at what it's really like to complete such an immense challenge. 

From the crowds of the start line to the middle of nowhere and the emotional rollercoaster and blisters between, their emotions shine through in this real-life feature filmed entirely by Lower Sixth pupils from Exeter School.  Head over to our YouTube channel to watch the full video now.

#tentors #cadetsinschools #exeterschools #devon #RoyalNavy #RoyalAirForce #RoyalArmy #CCF #rambling #dartmoor @exeterschool_alumni @exeterschooltentors 
 

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

Tiger Feet by Mud, https://t.lickd.co/l/9PqmP4a2pMZ

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AMAZING! Firstly, we'd like to say to the original poster that we are so glad you're ok and we hope you are recovering well. 

Secondly, what impressive young people our boys and girls are to step in to help when others passed by, on a day when they probably had expected their GCSE Chemistry exam, completed earlier, to have been the most significant occurrence on their minds that day.

It's easy for school's marketing campaigns to be whimsical, flimsy and expected but these pupils have shown that we are teaching our pupils to be 'Real-World Ready'. Well done - we are very proud of you for demonstrating our school's values so fearlessly.

#realworldready #coeducationtothrive #firstaid #medicalemergency #gcses #welcomeandserve #independentschoolsuk #amazingpupils #schoolofgreatcharacter #welldone #upstandingcitizens #exeter

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Ishaan, Eli, Hari and Leo in Lower Two played with their team Exeter Central City in the plate final yesterday. 

They absolutely smashed it 2-1 and won the u10 Exeter & District League Plate 🎉🏆

@exschsports #aspireandflourish #teamwork #football #winning #cupwinners #juniorsports #exeterjuniorschool

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Junior school - Virgin Money challenge 2025

Art scholars cardboard workshop - March 2025

Techvision - March 2025

U2 Leadership lessons 2025

Abstract art workshop by Liese Webley - February 2025

Informal Woodwind Concert - 12 March 2025

World Book Day 2025 - Junior School Reading Roundabouts

Informal Piano and String Concert - 5 March 2025

M5-U5 Granada trip 2025

EdFest25