Senior Reflections Week 19 February 2025
Dear parents,
With just a week to go until half term, I am sure your children are looking forward to a well-earned break. This week has been a busy one, as usual, with lots going on.
Winter ball
Last week ended with the wonderful winter ball for the sixth formers on Friday evening. This really was a fantastic event and I am so grateful to the family society volunteers for helping to make it such a success. The pupils had a great time – dressed up to the nines, they were really enjoying the dancing and it was a joy to watch them all beaming – even if they were a bit confused and out of step with the music!
Phone policy
You are aware that we have been doing a lot of work on our phone policy for school and we will be sharing this with you next week. The policy has been very carefully thought through and will, we hope, provide clarity on the way in which we manage phone use in school. We ask that you spend some time talking it through with your children, so that they understand the school’s expectations, and also the sanctions that we will impose if they do not follow the policy. Thanks again for your engagement with this important piece of work it is much appreciated.
School uniform
Since the start of this academic year we have seen a marked improvement in pupils’ smartness and we are continuing to impress upon the pupils the need to wear their uniform smartly and with pride. Unfortunately, we do still see some skirts being rolled over at the waist, and some pupils wearing jewellery, hair being left loose, pupils not tucking in shirts and also not wearing their blazers. We ask that you support us with this please. The new uniform will be available to purchase in the not too distant future and so it may be that if your children do not have uniform that fits, this will be the right solution for you. We will keep you informed about when the new stock is available to order and meanwhile we will keep reminding pupils about wearing their uniform in the right way.
The arts
This week the musicians held an informal guitar concert after school on Wednesday and the Upper Sixth dramatists performed their assessment pieces in the drama studio, again on Wednesday. It takes a lot of courage to perform in public in this way, even in an informal setting, and it is always a pleasure to share in their talents and to see members of the junior school performing (in the informal concerts) alongside their sixth form peers. The music and drama teams work so hard to support them and we are very grateful for their inspirational guidance and leadership. Special congratulations to the seven A Level dramatists; Sophie, Darcy Beau, Jack, Tom, Henry, Maddie and Emily. They are a very talented and hard working group and we will miss their performances after they leave us in the summer.
Enrichment and trips last weekend
Congratulations to the sixth form pupils who competed in the national Chemistry Race at Rugby School last Saturday. Coming a creditable 5th in the rankings, they did very well indeed. Well done to Sidney, Phoebe, Max, Eliza and Cadan. You can find more about this national competition, run alongside Cambridge University below.
Click here to find out more about the Chemistry Race
On Sunday, a group of RAF cadets were competing in the Royal Air Squadron Trophy competition at Blandford Camp. The team worked really hard on all six elements; uniform & drill, first aid, air rifle shooting, command task, aircraft recognition and RAF/RAFAC general knowledge and are to be congratulated for their commitment and enthusiasm. Well done to Joel, Tom, Ed, Oliver, Angelica, Fran, Emma, Rebecca, Xarinelle, Matthew, Chloe, Charlie and Vicky. And alongside this, the Model United Nations (MUN) delegation were at Bristol Grammar School for their conference. Again, well done to Henry, Molly, Tyler (who received a commendation) and Sophie. MUN is a worldwide organisation which encourages an understanding of politics and international affairs and develops pupils’ debating and oracy skills. You may want to read more about it here. I am always impressed by the diversity of trips, activities and opportunities that are on offer for our pupils and last weekend demonstrated a snippet of the range of things that your children get up to. Of course, it also reminds us how committed our staff team are, driving them all over the countryside. Many thanks to Dr Smale and Mrs Tamblyn for taking the chemists to Rugby, to Mr Cunningham who took the RAF cadets to Blandford and to Miss Rose who accompanied the MUN delegation to Bristol. None of these events would happen were it not for the commitment of the staff, to whom I am very grateful. Every weekend we also have sports fixtures and other outdoor adventurous activities and expeditions work too. Again, these would not be possible without a large team of committed colleagues, who really do make a difference to your children’s educational experience. Many thanks to them all.
Exonian Lecture
This evening we welcome Capt. Elizabeth Godwin, former pupil of the school, to give the annual Exonian Lecture. Capt. Godwin attended Exeter School for eight years, and after leaving she moved on to King’s College London, where she trained as a nurse. Whilst at university she was commissioned into the Reserves and captained the 1st XI hockey team. She commissioned from Sandhurst as the first female officer in the Life Guards, the Household Cavalry and was awarded the Sword of Honour as the best cadet in her intake. She has led her troop at home and overseas and also been involved in ceremonial duties including commanding a division of 30 horses and soldiers in the coronation procession of HM King Charles III and marching in the state funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II. She will be sharing her professional life experiences with us this evening and I have no doubt it will be a fascinating event, which I am very much looking forward to. I hope to see many of you there and thank Miss Alice Holohan, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, for overseeing tonight’s event so well.
Strategic planning and parental forum next week
Thank you to the large number of parents who completed the strategy survey online this week. This has now closed. It is not, however, too late to sign up for the parental forum to look at strategy on Tuesday 11 February at 6pm. If you are interested in coming along to look at the data from the survey and to workshop the ideas with us, to feed into the governors’ strategy review, we would love to see you. Please go to “forms to complete” on MSP to sign up.
This weekend the Ten Tors training continues with expedition work on the moor and the groups all camping at Heatree on Saturday night. I have my fingers crossed for dry and clear weather for them all. We also have block fixtures against King’s College Taunton, with boys playing hockey and girls playing netball, both home and away. Best of luck to all our athletes.
