Senior Reflections Week 15 January 2025
Dear parents,
A very happy new year to you all. I hope that you have enjoyed the break with your children and that they are rested and ready for the term ahead.
Staff news
We start the new term with some wonderful news β the birth of a new baby to Mrs Hetty Hayden, a member of the PE team, on 11 December, 2024. Octavia is Mrs Haydenβs fourth child and we congratulate her and the family on the new arrival; doubtless they had a fabulous family Christmas together! Mrs Haydenβs maternity leave will be covered by Ms Jessica Baker, who is already a part time sports teacher in the department. As well as being a sports specialist, Ms Baker has led on special needs and learning support in schools and comes to us with a huge amount of experience. We wish her well as she takes on these extra responsibilities.
Mrs Emma Cartright, a member of the maths team, commenced her maternity leave at the end of last term and we welcome Miss Charlotte Franklin to the department this term in a maternity cover role. Miss Franklin has a PGCE in maths from Exeter University and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Birmingham. She has taught maths and led a department both in UK independent schools and also in the Cayman Islands. Her most recent position was at the British School of Boston, where she spent a period of time leading the maths department and also as the IB coordinator. She brings with her excellent experience as an examiner in maths too and we welcome Miss Franklin and hope that she is very happy in her new post with us.
Last term, we said goodbye to Mrs Lisa Barlass our school nurse of six years and I am delighted to announce that Ms Vanessa Fraser will be joining us as our new school nurse on Friday 7 February. Qualified at the University of Glasgow, Ms Fraser has extensive experience as a first responder and a practice nurse as well as in hospital nursing. She is also experienced in safeguarding in her role as a trustee of a local pre-school and in her involvement with The Scout Association. We look forward to welcoming Ms Fraser to the staff team next month.
In the music department, following Mr Brian Mooreβs stepping down, Mr Sam Massey will be leading the brass ensembles from this term. We look forward to hearing his music making in the months to come.
School uniform
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your great support of our aim to get the school looking smarter, and congratulate your children on wearing their uniform so much more smartly last term. As we start back, we hope to see the next two terms looking super smart too and remind you to check that shirts are tucked in, jewellery rules are adhered to, hair is tied back, skirts are not rolled over at the top and blazers are worn every day, please so that we can be as smart as possible. You can check the school uniform requirements in our school handbooks, here. Remember that we are bringing in our new uniform from September 2025 which will allow you to refresh the school wardrobe with the new designs from the autumn.
Upper Fifth trial exams
This week has seen the Upper Fifth getting to grips with their trial GCSE exams and we wish all those pupils every success in the exam room next week too. This can be a daunting time and we hope that the assessments go well.
Snowy weather
Many thanks to parents for your support and forbearance with the snowy conditions on Wednesday afternoon. Whilst here in Exeter it was just a little slushy, out on the hills the situation was quite wintery and we know that some of you had challenging journeys home. We continue to work with our school transport provider, Vectare, to ensure that you are fully updated when there are issues with the bus routes and that the buses run safely and effectively to ensure that your childrenβs journey to school is secure.
ISI inspection
Following the schoolβs inspection from ISI last term, we have now received the report, which we are very happy with. This will be circulated to parents and published on the school website on Monday 13 January. We hope that you enjoy reading it and hearing what the team thought of the school when they visited.
Admissions testing
On Saturday we will be welcoming over 100 children for admissions tests for entry to the senior school in Third, Fourth, Lower Fifth and Middle Fifth forms. It is always a great pleasure to meet new prospective pupils and I know that some of them already have siblings in school. If your child is sitting an entrance assessment tomorrow, we wish them the very best of luck and look forward to seeing you in the morning.
We have more than twenty matches tomorrow as the hockey season commences for boys, and the girls start their netball season. Best of luck to them all as they play against Blundellβs, the Maynard, Plymouth College, Mount Kelly, Wellington and West Buckland School.
Have a lovely weekend.
