Senior Reflections

Senior Reflections Week 11 2023

Dear parents,

It was such a pleasure to see so many of you at the drama performances of A Midsummer Night’s Dream last week. The pupils were outstanding I am sure you will agree, both on stage and in technical support roles, and I congratulate every one of them. It is impossible to pick out a favourite – though the fairies were especially full of energy and vitality! Once again we thank Mr Jamie Brough, Mr Chris Harknett and Mr Alex Sorlie-Pring for such fantastic direction, oversight and technical support of our pupils’ dramatic talents in school. If you would like to watch it again, please find the play recordings here – Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

CCF and cadet activities

This morning Dr Smale and I attended a passing out parade at the Royal Marines Commando base in Lympstone, accompanied by a number of our senior cadets. This is a unique opportunity for the pupils to see the military machine in operation and I am sure that they will be inspired by witnessing such a special occasion from close quarters. We have a number of young people in school who have aspirations for a career in the services and I am sure that this experience will further solidify their dreams.

Auschwitz trip

This weekend we have a group of about 35 pupils (aged M5 to sixth form) away in Poland, visiting Auschwitz. Run by Miss Rose, Assistant Head (Character) this is an opportunity to consider the lessons learnt from history, and how we can question the morality of past regimes. I am sure that many of you will have visited camps that were part of the Holocaust, and will remember the feeling and atmosphere that one encounters there. It really is a unique experience and is one which will, inevitably, raise many questions in the pupils’ minds, and, I hope, leave them feeling resolute about the importance of compassion, peace and unity in the world today. We wish the group safe travels and thank Mr Graham Bone and Mrs Samantha Wilson for supporting the trip.

Admissions

We have continued to welcome prospective pupils into the school with their families this week with a successful open house event on Tuesday morning and music scholarship interviews throughout the week. On Saturday we are looking forward to welcoming external 11+ applicants for their preparation morning – to get to know us a little better before the assessment day in January. We are also interviewing prospective sixth form pupils. If either of these events are important for you, please get in touch with the admissions team as soon as you can, as they are filling up fast and we have limited spaces.

Pupil wellbeing

Following last year’s successful autumn sessions with Lisa McCullagh from South West Autism, we are pleased to offer more parent sessions this year. The sessions are designed to support parents of children with a diagnosis of autism / Autistic Spectrum Condition, or on the ASC pathway. Equally, parents who would like to find out more should find the sessions informative. The first session, focusing on the challenges of the festive season, will take place on Wednesday 13 December, at 5:30pm in the Andrews Hall. There will be two more sessions next term, on 3 and 24 February from 10am – 12pm.

Some parents will have already received notification of these sessions and have signed up. If you would also like to attend some or all of the sessions, please email Ali Dunning.

Please also remember that there is a wide range of useful resources on the Teen Tips Wellbeing Hub for parents. Current featured content includes important and relevant topics.

Sixth form netball

Many congratulations to the girls and boys who played in the charity netball match at lunchtime on Thursday. It was closely fought, with fast and furious action from both sides. Some of the skills on display were rather questionable (from the boys at least) but it was all great fun and for a good cause – with money being raised for Breast Cancer and Movember charities.

Joe Pinner-Poustie

Most of us struggle to get out of bed and arrive at school on time on a regular day. Not so for U6 pupil, Joe, who, along with a number of his classmates, ran from Exmouth to school on Monday morning, arriving at 8:10am after completing a half marathon distance. Supported along the way by Mr Ed Jones, and raising money for Movember, we congratulate Joe and Mr Jones for their half marathon distance and the staff and pupils who joined him for various lengths of the journey. It was impressive to see him arriving into school to a hero’s welcome. Well done Joe!

Weekend activities

With rugby against Truro and hockey against West Buckland School this weekend we have a full fixture card on Saturday. The sixth form enterprise group will be selling their wares, with the music department providing entertainment at the St Leonard’s Christmas Fayre in the afternoon on Magdalen Road. Please do come along and support them. And on Sunday at 5 pm we have our Advent service in the chapel. All are welcome to come and enjoy some reflections as we look ahead to the Christmas period.

Have a lovely weekend,

WaterAid Christmas Concert

Our annual Charity Christmas Concert, this year in aid of WaterAid, takes place on Tuesday 5 December 2023 at 7.30pm in Exeter Cathedral.

The musicians of Exeter School will provide a joyful start to the festive period with a concert of seasonal music and readings. The groups that perform are the Chamber Choir, Senior Choir, Show Choir, Belles Canto, Vocal Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra and the Senior Brass.

Tickets can be purchased here for the nave or unreserved side aisles, with reductions for children. Ticket Prices Nave Adult £15 / Child £8. Unreserved side aisles Adult £13 / Child £7.

We will let the pupils know when tickets are ready to be collected from the Bursary office at Exeter School, otherwise they will be available at the Cathedral on the evening of the event. People with special access requirements are asked to contact the Box Office on (01392) 458934.

National squash

Our senior squash teams have been in action over the past two weeks as they started their national cup campaign. The U16 squad made a great start to the season with victories over King’s Taunton, Truro and Marlborough College B. Alex, Yasmin, James, Will and Karan were all in great form and will progress to the main competition knock out stages in the new year. It was the turn of the U18s this week as they travelled to Wycliffe in Gloucestershire to play the hosts and Malvern College. Wycliffe are the top ranked squash school in England (they current number 1, 2 and 3 are internationals) and dominated proceedings, nevertheless, all five senior players played well and gave it their all in defeat. The Exeter team will be disappointed with their defeat to Malvern as they will feel it is a match they should have won. The U18s will now play in the plate competition next term and both teams will be hoping to reach finals day in Birmingham in March. Finally, the junior squad (U13/U12) play their first match of the season this evening against King’s Prep starting at 4.15pm. We look forward to watching our junior players in action.

Rugby – final weekend of the season

Tomorrow sees the final rugby block of the season and the Devon/Cornwall derby as the school teams face Truro School. Following a highly successful block against Wellington two weeks ago and a really physical test against Collegiate last week the rugby teams will want to finish on a high. The U15 and U13s are at home and the U16, U14 and U12 away. We wish them all the best of luck.

Coat Collection

The Community Service team is running a coat collection again this year. We would be very grateful if you could donate your family’s outgrown and pre-loved warm coats and shoes / boots to help keep people warm this winter. Items for both adults and children will go to a good home! All donations are very welcome as supplies are running low with all the charities who help the homeless, refugees and others in need. Please bring donations to room 34 in the Senior School.

Thanks in advance from the Community Service Team.

Advent Carol Service

A chance to sing some carols and reflect on the season of advent and Christmas. Join us on Sunday 3 December in the Chapel at 5pm for the service and afterwards for refreshments. All are welcome, no need to book.

 

Senior School News

Senior Sport News

Alumnus Steve Dukes (1992-1997), CEO of @confused_com, returned to school this week to give an assembly. He advised pupils about aspiring to reach their goals, using negatives to fuel your journey. He said, 'when you’re at school, being called names like ‘odd, weird and awkward’ can often mean something completely different in adult life - these words become ‘creative, unusual and innovative’.  His top advice was to become like a sponge, find what learning method works best for you, learn fast and act on it. Great advice Steve - thanks so much for visiting us!  @exeterschool_alumni #visitingspeakers

...

48 0
While it was hard to get a good photo of our sixth form linguists attending an online conference on Wednesday, pupil Sophia's feedback was that "it was really good to see how linguistics goes into so many areas and how some things seemingly unrelated (so far away from linguistics) can have a big/strong connection with linguistics."   They were treated to four diverse talks, ranging from how AI can help us learn foreign languages, how forensic linguistics can help compare different texts and ascertain if the same person wrote both texts (helpful in identifying and profiling criminals), how idioms are processed in our brains and used in social discourse, and how dormant languages can be reclaimed. The talks were 25 minutes each with a Q&A afterwards. As well as being informative, these talks allowed pupils to see what a course of study or a career in linguistics might look like. Many thanks to @oxfordhighschoolgdst for running the event.   #onlineconference #linguisticsevent #forensiclinguistics  #exeterschools #independentschoolsuk #sixthformlife

...

37 0
Huge congratulations to Jack (U6) who continues to excel with his sailing and has recently been selected for 29er British Sailing Youth Team. The British Sailing Youth Team is an annual programme designed to support and develop the best sailors in the UK. The focus of the programme is to ensure sailor learning and individuals develop to fulfil their potential within the sport. There are a small number of boats in the team, and selection has been very competitive this year.   Jack also competed in the European Championships in Garda in July. He had also sailed at the Worlds in Porto. We can’t wait to hear about Jack’s progress.   #exeterschoolsport #exeterschool #schoolofgreatcharacter

...

63 0
Netball success - well done to the U14 girls who won the Exeter round of their national competition winning all of their matches and progressing up the next round. @exeterschooluk #netball #exeterschool #exeterschoolsport #schoolofgreatcharacter

...

119 1
Exciting week of national cup sport with the 1st XV playing @sherborneboys tomorrow (Home - 15:00) and the 1st XI hockey up against @blundells_sport on Thursday (Home - 16:30). Come along and support the school 1st teams. @nextgenxv @exeterschooluk #exeterschoolsport #exeterschool #schoolofgreatcharacter

...

123 0
Great to get the football season underway! Last week the 1st XI played their first match of the season in a well contested match against King’s College, Taunton. We look forward to following their progress this year. @exeterschooluk #exeterschoolsport #exeterschool #football #schoolofgreatcharacter

...

151 0
First competitive fixture of the season for our swimmers. Our teams competed at the South West regional round of the ESSA relays held at Millfield last Wednesday. The school fielded teams in all age groups with 8 pupils competing for the school for the first time. The senior teams performed particularly well, putting themselves in the running to make the national finals later in the term! @exeterschooluk #exeterschoolsport #swimming #swimfast #essaswimming

...

105 1