Junior Reflections Week 5 October 2025

Dear parents,

We have reached the penultimate week before we break up for half term, and it really feels that autumn has arrived. I would like to thank you for ensuring that items of clothing are named; we are currently seeing a rather large amount of lost property and when items are named, they have a higher chance of being reunited with their owners.

Assemblies

I had the delight of spending the morning over at pre-prep on Tuesday, where I led an assembly about harvest festival and I was joined by my rather naughty friend Jim (aka puppet). A lot of hilarity followed where Jim taught the pupils how to behave and the importance of consent. It is such a tonic to visit all the little people; I could write a book with some of the things that they come up with, and it certainly brightens my day. Our assemblies this week in the junior school focused on age-appropriate online usage for the lower school, and Rules of Law for the upper school. Assemblies are integral to our school day; an opportunity for pupil engagement, messages to be delivered and if pre-prep was anything to go by, a lot of laughter.

This week’s house lunches and assemblies were a great success, offering a fantastic opportunity for the children to get to know each other a little better across year groups. During the assemblies, each house began sharing ideas for creative designs for their unique house shields. This is an exciting time as the houses have the opportunity to decide what symbol they would like to represent them. These will eventually be printed and displayed in the junior school. If your child is continuing to work on their design at home, all instructions are available on Teams. We are looking forward to seeing what the pupils come up with.

Scholarships

A quick reminder that scholarship applications are now open for pupils currently in Upper Two (Year 6), Fourth Form (Year 8) and Upper Fifth (Year 11), with deadlines approaching soon. Please see the school website where you can watch our video presentation or contact admissions@exeterschool.org.uk for further details.

Coming up

The final week before half term is nearly upon us and in true Exeter Junior School style, we don’t slow down, with a taster day for pre-prep, an ‘experience afternoon’ in the senior school for the Upper Two and their parents, comets club visiting the Van Gogh exhibition (I sensibly volunteered to drive the minibus for this one) and some IAPS girls hockey to name but a few.

Have a restful weekend and I look forward to seeing you next week.

Mrs Saskia van Schalkwyk

Playground person of the week

George H U2T

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
“The best is yet to come” ✨

It was a joy to see the pupils show such passion and focus to bring their poems to life during our annual Poetry By Heart competition.

Parents will be able to see a full recording through the link sent out in this week’s newsletter.

@pbhcompetition #PoetryByHeart #ArtsInEducation #PoetryCommunity #ExeterSchool #SchoolLife #DevonSchools

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Oxford success for Lali, Max and Tyler 🎓

Many congratulations to all three pupils on their offers from the University of Oxford. Lali and Max have offers to study Biology, while Tyler has an offer to study Classics. 

Huge credit to all those who applied and reached the interview stage. We also wish the best of luck to our pupils who are awaiting tomorrow’s news of Cambridge offers 🙌 

@oxford_uni #ExeterSchool #OxfordOffers #IndependentSchoolsUK #PupilAchievement #AcademicExcellence #Oxbridge #CambridgeOffers

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📢 We are seeking a practical, organised, and enthusiastic DT Technician to join our Design and Technology department. 

Working closely with teachers and students, the successful candidate will support practical teaching by preparing materials and resources, maintaining tools, equipment and machinery, and promoting safe working practices within well-maintained workshops. 

🕛 The closing date for applications is 9am on Friday 6 February. Apply now via the link in our bio.

#JobAlert #ExeterJobs #EducationJobs

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It was a fun and inspiring Robot Day for our Lower Two pupils earlier this month, as they worked together to design, test and refine their robots 🤖

#ExeterSchool #SchoolLife #CodingForKids #CreativeLearning #InspireAndChallenge

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A huge congratulations to Upper Two pupil Stephanie, who won first prize in her category (Grade 4) at the regional heat of the European Piano Teachers’ Association UK competition last weekend 👏🎹

We are also delighted to share that Stephanie and her sister Louisa (Upper One) have both secured places at the National Youth String Orchestra spring residential, following successful video auditions last summer. 

Well done to both pupils on such wonderful achievements 🌟

@epta_uk @nysostrings #ExeterSchool #YoungMusicians #PupilSuccess #InspireAndChallenge #IndependentSchoolsUK

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Did you know… we’re now on TikTok! 🎉 Make sure to follow us (link in bio), as we have lots of exciting video content on the way.

Also please comment if you have any suggestions for the type of content you would like to see, as we want to capture the moments that make Exeter School so special to our wonderful community 💫

#ExeterSchool #SchoolLife #SchoolCommunity #IndependentSchools #DevonSchools

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15A vs Ivybridge - 9 October 2025

Hockey 1st XI vs Blundell's - 9 Oct 2025

Rugby vs Sherborne and TBGS - 8 October 2025

Scholars' Concert and Cream Tea 2025

Exonian Quiz - 3 Oct 2025

Lower Two residential 2025

U6 Biology trip to Nettlecombe 2025