Pre-Prep Reflections

Dear parents,

A warm welcome back to the second half of the autumn term. I hope you all had a good break, despite the eventful weather, and that you managed to enjoy some fireworks in recent days. Fortunately, Storm Ciaran didn’t cause too much damage at school. Repair work to some fence panels is taking place this weekend, while over half term, new guttering was installed on the rear extension and the previously-rather-grubby hall floor was polished up to look shiny and new again. Thank you to the operations team for their hard work as usual.

Vision screening

On Monday, all children in Reception and Year 1 enjoyed their vision screening with Julia from the West of England Eye Unit. They were eager to tell me about the fun eye test game they played on an iPad. I understand that Julia will be sending reports to us to share with you in due course.

ISI inspection

Earlier in the week, we had a telephone call from the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) informing us that we will be visited next Tuesday. This is to conduct a material change inspection, which is separate from the usual inspection cycle. The school requested this in order to allow us to increase the number of pupils on roll slightly from 72. Class sizes will remain at a maximum of 18, but numbers on roll in the Nursery are projected to increase in January and April 2024. A new DfE ruling states that, even with part-time attenders in the Nursery, we cannot exceed our number on roll until this inspection has taken place. The visit will be conducted by one inspector and I am sure he will be impressed by our wonderful children, amazing staff and beautiful facilities.

Assemblies

This week, we have introduced our new spotlight virtue of ‘challenge’, talking about the different emotions challenges can evoke, and how we can overcome challenges. Yesterday, Miss Rose visited from Exeter School to talk about the Hindu festival of Diwali, and today we held our annual remembrance assembly, including a minute’s silence. The children have also been visiting the office to buy poppies throughout the week – thank you for all the donations to the poppy appeal.

Governors

At Wednesday’s meeting of the governing body, the possibility of a change of government in the next year or two was discussed, and the likely impact of changing tax policies on the independent sector. We know that this is a question that some of you are concerned about. Please be reassured that our governors are working hard behind the scenes to mitigate for any taxation changes, as far as we can, and to continue to provide the very best value education possible for your children, whilst not compromising on quality. This remains a very high priority for us as a school.

Next week

Next week is anti-bullying week across most UK schools. We will be starting the week off with Odd Socks Day on Monday, which is all about raising awareness and celebrating our unique differences. If the children would like to wear a pair of odd socks to school on Monday, we would love to see them – the louder, the better! Friday is Children in Need Day and will be a non-uniform day to raise money for the charity. The suggested donation is £1-2 and I will be rattling my bucket on the gate!

Have a lovely weekend.

Diary Dates

Monday 13 November – Odd Socks Day
Friday 17 November – Non-uniform day for Children in Need
Wednesday 22 November – Autumn Reviews issued
Wednesday 29 November 4.00-7.30pm – Parents’ Evening (booking form link will be emailed to parents early next week)
Thursday 30 November – Nasal flu vaccinations (Rec-Y2)
Tuesday 5 December 3.00pm – Parent drop-in
Monday 11 December – Christmas jumper day
Monday 11 December – Year 2 singing at Westbank
Tuesday 12 December – ‘Gnome Alone’ pantomime visit
Wednesday 13 & Thursday 14 December 2.30pm – Nativity performances
Friday 15 December – Autumn term ends at 12.00 noon
Wednesday 3 January – Spring term begins

A list of term dates is available on the school website here.

Spotlight on Reception

This week, the children have been learning about Bonfire Night and Remembrance Day. Both of the books we have been reading have explained the historical events of Guy Fawkes and stories from both World Wars, remembering those who lost their lives. In connection with these books, we have been learning poetry, descriptive writing and how to express our feelings. We have also explored how music can make us feel a variety of emotions, such as excited, frightened, calm and relaxed. The children loved participating in The Big Draw, where they listened to ‘No. 13 Dance of the Knights’ by Prokofiev and used six different coloured paints, interpreting the music using their emotions to express themselves. They created wonderful artwork which will be shared as part of an exhibition at Exeter School. In mathematics, we have been working with numbers, counting objects and actions, playing number games, completing challenges and, to the children’s delight, beating the teacher! What a brilliant, busy first week back!
Mrs Martin and Mrs Dray

New website

The new website exeterschool.org.uk has now gone live! Please do have a look when you get a chance. The website gives visitors an overview of pre-prep, junior school, senior school and sixth form life, bringing all sections of Exeter School together in one place. We think it looks very smart and hope you enjoy it! Our former website, thenewschoolexeter.co.uk, remains accessible for the time being, but will no longer be updated and will eventually close down.

The Big Draw

Following the success of last year’s event, we have taken part in The Big Draw again this year with Exeter School. The theme this year was ‘Drawing with Senses’ and pupils across all three schools interpreted this through the marriage of music and art.

All children at Exeter Pre-Prep painted using a range of acrylic colours whilst listening to ‘No. 13 Dance of the Knights’ by Prokofiev, which you will recognise if you’ve ever watched The Apprentice! The piece was played three times and the children were encouraged to paint shapes and lines in response to the music, rather than objects or people.

All families are invited to attend a private viewing of the final exhibition in the senior school art department on Monday 20 November, from 4-5pm. This will be a live event with musicians and some sixth form artists contributing to the artwork to develop it further.
Mrs Goodwill

Stars of the Week

Nursery

Clark

For helping his new friends settle into the Nursery. Well done!

Miss Adams

Reception

Emilia

For using a variety of strategies when reading independently and making wonderful progress with her phonics. Well done!

Mrs Martin

Year 1

Luke

For working so hard in our English lessons: he thought of some great ideas and tried so hard with his neat handwriting when writing them down. Well done!

Miss Lawrence