Dear parents,
Welcome back! We all hope that you had a great half term break; that for the Upper Sixth families, the trial exams have started well; and that your daughters and sons are feeling confident in their assessments. The ski trip had a fabulous time in Austria and returned safely. I hope that those of you who had children on the trip felt that it was a worthwhile and enjoyable experience, and I am grateful to the staff team, led by Mr Richard Tear, for facilitating the opportunity for the pupils.
Professional learning
Despite it being a short week at school, it has been a busy one. We started the week with two days of staff development in our education festival. This year focused on wellbeing for the whole school community, and on Tuesday we focused on AI and raising boys’ achievement. Both days of professional learning were excellent, with a wider range of great speakers and workshops, including some wonderful sessions led by our own staff team members. It really set us up for the second half of term brilliantly. It was a great pleasure to welcome parents to talks at the end of both Monday and Tuesday, and I hope that those of you who joined us for these sessions found them both informative and enjoyable.
The arts
The second half of term’s first arts event was an informal wind concert on Wednesday, with performances from pupils across the age range. As ever, your children showed great tenacity and dedication in their music making and it was lovely to see such a range of instruments on show, from bassoons through flutes to saxophones. Well done to all of our players. This evening we have the GCSE drama performances in the drama studio, and I look forward to this collection of short performances from our Upper Fifth. They show such creativity and skills both in devising pieces and producing them, organising the technical aspects, and rehearsing the performances. I look forward to seeing some of you there. Our Young Artists’ Collective has been working hard on a photographic project, and it is fantastic that their work will be exhibited in the Conversation Café in the city centre starting this weekend, with the opening show at 12 noon on Saturday. Please do come along and see the work, which is inspired by the stories of Ukrainian refugees in Exeter. The pupils have worked hard with their photographic subjects, and we have enjoyed hearing their stories and learning something about their lives. I am very excited to see the final pieces!
Alumni
Last night, a small team of us were in London for a drinks event for alumni and a 10 year anniversary reunion for the class of 2014. It was a pleasure to meet alumni, some for the first time and some who I have met a number of times now, and to hear their stories about school and see the strength of their relationships so many years after leaving. They are always delighted to hear stories of how the school is going and what the new developments are. We shared with them something of the extension and improvements to the sixth form centre, which have already started, and also encouraged them to come and see us again when they are next in Devon. Mr Giles Ashman and Mrs Ali Marsh joined us, adding to the event with their own memories and connections.
Staff changes
It is recruitment season in school at the moment, and we are busy welcoming prospective team members to the school for interviews. Your children might mention that they had a visiting teacher or that they met candidates on a pupil panel. We really value the pupils’ feedback in such situations, and it is fair to say that our interview candidates love meeting your children and are always very positive about them, whether in a panel discussion or a teaching episode. This week we have welcomed a new teacher, Mrs Elloise Stone, to the English department to provide cover for an absent colleague. We hope that she settled well and is enjoying getting to know your sons and daughters.
This weekend we have Ten Tors out on the moor for a training expedition, and there is a full fixture card of matches in hockey against Mount Kelly and netball against Blundell’s. We wish all those pupils involved a great weekend and thank our staff for supporting these opportunities for your children.
