Senior Reflections
Dear parents,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The senior school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, on Thursday, tonight and tomorrow, has been extremely well received by all who were lucky enough to be there on the opening night. Well known by many of us, this play has been expertly produced and directed by Mr Jamie Brough, supported by Mr Chris Harknett, and has a huge depth of talent on display on the stage. My grateful thanks and congratulations to all those involved – and best of luck for tonight and tomorrow night’s performances. I hope to see many of you there. We have some photos coming through which you can view here and here and we will share more from the performances yet to come in next week’s newsletter.
Music
As the nights are drawing in, Christmas does not seem too far away – and we have a lot of wonderful music to look forward to in the weeks to come.
WaterAid concert in the cathedral – Tuesday 5 December, at 7:30pm – book here
Junior school Christmas concert in the school hall – Tuesday 12 December, at 2:15pm – junior school parents can book through MSP
Senior school Christmas concert in the school hall – Thursday 14 December, at 7:30pm – book here
Please do plan ahead and get your tickets so that you can enjoy our wonderful musicians’ work.
Please do, also, consider joining the choral society in the spring term – for a weekly dose of fabulous music on Tuesday afternoons, culminating in the concert in March, again in the cathedral. Whether you are an experienced choral singer or not, we would love to have you with us.
Pastoral restructure
You will remember that we are moving towards a new pastoral structure, with heads of section (appointed in the last year) and heads of year, criss-crossing our houses, which will be reduced in number to five. The houses will move towards being the vehicle through which character and pupils’ personal development will be developed, whilst pastoral care will be supported through seven heads of year, and a newly fortified tutor system.
In September 2022 Mr Luigi Chu commenced in his role as Assistant Head (head of sixth form) and in April of this year our two additional heads of section, Assistant Head (head of lower school), Mrs Julia Daybell and Assistant Head (head of middle school), Mr Mike Glanville, took up their posts. In the last few weeks I am pleased to say that we have completed the recruitment process for the heads of year and we are delighted to announce the following colleagues as our new head of year team from September 2024.
| Lower school | Head of 3F | Mrs Helen Sail |
| Head of 4F | Mr Ed Seaton-Burn | |
| Middle school | Head of L5 | Dr Gary Robb |
| Head of M5 | Mrs Kat Ridler-Murray | |
| Head of U5 | Mr Dan Trim | |
| Sixth form | Head of L6 | Ms Steph Trica |
| Head of U6 | Mrs AJ Culley |
The new heads of house from September 2024 will be line managed by Miss Bethan Rose (Assistant Head, Character) and are as follows.
Mr Richard Baker
Mr Rob Charters
Dr Matthew Commin
Miss Emily Horn
Mrs Mel Sheehan
All twelve of these colleagues bring a wealth of experience, expertise and ideas to these new roles and we look forward to working with them as we shape the new system in the months to come. We wish them all the very best as they bring their ideas and energies to their new roles.
Parents’ evenings
I hope that M5 parents had productive discussions with colleagues on Tuesday evening. We encourage you to get in touch with heads of house if there are any ongoing areas of concern. The next parents’ evening is for the L6 on Thursday 7 December, here in school.
Scholarships and admissions events
I have much enjoyed meeting candidates for sports scholarships at 11+, 13+ and 16+ this week. It is always a pleasure to hear about the children’s passions for sport, and also how much they look to role models within their chosen sport. This year’s crop have been great fun to talk to – and I wish them all well with the practical assessments. Next Thursday I look forward to meeting our music scholarship candidates – and I am sure that these discussions will be just as entertaining and insightful. On Tuesday 28 November we have an open house event in the morning for prospective families. Please do invite along any neighbours, family or friends who you feel might be in testing about finding out more about Exeter School for their own children. On Saturday 2 December we also have a sixth form interview day and 11+ assessment preparation morning. These two are filling up quickly, so please do encourage any prospective families that you might be in touch with to register as soon as they can. We look forward to meeting new families and their children at all of these events and getting to know them a little.
This weekend’s matches see the girls taking on Wellington School in hockey both at home and away, whilst the boys’ rugby teams are up against Collegiate from Bristol and Millfield Prep for the U11 teams. We hope that the matches are successful and enjoyable for all concerned. On Sunday we wish the Ten Tors participants every success with the second of their navigation training days.
And in the words of the Bard……
“I had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was… The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man’s hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was.” I hope that you enjoy the show!
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.
