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

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With many of you probably making your way through Easter chocolates, Alec Bourne, sous chef at Exeter School, talks to us here about how important our food choices are when it comes to fuelling our bodies for the activities we're undertaking during the school day. Check out our salad bar when you're back in school to see what you can choose to fuel your minds for the exam period so that you can always be looking to aspire and flourish in your next endeavour. 

#HealthyEating #SchoolDinners #SchoolLunch #WelcomeAndServe #SchoolOfGreatCharacter #sodexouk_ire #EatWithPurpose #FuelWithFlavour 

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

Captured In The Moment by Aidan Hogg, https://t.lickd.co/l/PG8vlz5wegl

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🏏Free professional learning event for sport coaches ⚽️

We are delighted to be partnering with Leeds Beckett University to host a Knowledge Exchange Event at Exeter School, bringing together school-based practitioners for a collaborative day focused on long-term athletic development (LTAD) in schools.

This free professional learning event invites PE teachers, sport coaches, athletic development coaches and directors of sport to connect, share practice and explore how schools can create joined-up, sustainable athletic development programmes that support every young person. Across the day, delegates will move from theory into practice through a carefully structured programme of discussion, workshops and practical sessions, designed to support the creation of a shared vision across PE, sport and strength and conditioning. 

Participants will explore how schools can work more collaboratively to strengthen long-term athletic development, while addressing key challenges such as workload balance and the demands placed on both staff and students. The event will also highlight innovative and collaborative approaches to athletic development, encouraging practitioners to share ideas, challenge current practice and develop practical solutions that can be implemented within their own school environments.

For more info and to register, please see the link in our Linktree in our bio.

#sportsdevelopment #professionaldevelopment

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County champions 👏🏻🏆 - well done to our U14 rugby squad who rounded off a brilliant term with a 54-7 win in the county cup final yesterday. 

@devonrfu @exeterschooluk #champions🏆 #countycup #exeterschoolsport #schoolofgreatcharacter

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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

Whole School open evening - Thursday 7 May 5.30pm

 

Experience the school in action at our open evening – 5.30pm on Thursday 7 May. This event offers the chance to hear from the Head and have the opportunity to visit both the junior and senior schools. Click here to book your place.