Senior Reflections

Senior Reflections Week 21 2024

Dear parents,

Last weekend was a tough one for the Ten Tors training team, and they are to be congratulated on the resilience and tenacity shown in some tough conditions. The staff and volunteers continue to give their time extremely generously and with great enthusiasm, not to mention skill. We could not do it without them, and I thank them all for making sure that your children are safe on the moors, despite the sometimes challenging conditions.

Governors

It has been a busy week for the board of governors, with two committee meetings on Monday and a further two on Wednesday. At a time of potential change for the independent school sector, we are lucky to have such good counsel and wisdom on the board; volunteers who give freely of their time, commitment, and expertise to guide the school forward. I remain very grateful to them all for their many contributions to school life and for their support of our aims as a school.

Futures conference

On Tuesday, we had the futures conference for the Lower Sixth. This is a fantastic opportunity for our pupils to hear from individuals representing a range of career choices and professions, and this year was no exception. We draw quite heavily on our alumni body as well as parents and friends of the school for representatives of a range of industries and sectors, and it is always wonderful to be able to welcome Exonians back to school to talk about life beyond Exeter School. Mr Luigi Chu, Miss Alice Holohan, and in particular Mrs Melanie Szender are the masterminds of the event, and I thank them for organising it so well and engaging the Lower Sixth in such exciting opportunities. I hope that your sons and daughters enjoyed it.

Ukrainian photo exhibition

Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing our pupils’ artwork displayed on the windows of the ConversationCafé in Paris Street. Our Young Artists’ Collective have been busy working on a photography project to depict what their Ukrainian subjects – members of the Devon Ukrainian Association – have experienced as they mark the two year anniversary of their country’s invasion. The exhibition will still be on display until 15 March if you are passing and would like to view the photographs. There is a video outlining how it all came together here.

Exonian lecture

Looking ahead, the Exonian lecture this year celebrates the work of climate scientist and Exonian, Prof Edward Hawkins, whose work on climate stripes may be familiar to you. Working at the University of Reading, Prof Hawkins leads in his field, and we are very excited to be able to welcome him on Tuesday 19 March in the main hall. I very much hope that you will be able to join us; you can find out more about the event here, and if you want to know more about Prof Hawkins’ work, please explore it here.

Sixth form centre

You may have noticed that there has been some building work around the sixth form centre on the western edge of the building. These are the start of the groundworks to enable the refresh of the centre, which will be ready for September. This will see the layout altered inside, an extension with a café added to the western face of the building, and a refresh of the study and relaxation spaces inside to make it work better for the pupils. This is an exciting project for us all and will, I am sure, enhance the space and the experience in the sixth form for the boys and girls, as well as for those who work closely with them.

This weekend, we have a full fixture card of netball matches against West Buckland and Taunton and hockey against Taunton. In addition, the rugby squad will be playing sevens matches in Plymouth on Sunday. I wish all the players some great competition.

Senior Artist of the moment

The art department regularly recognises the achievements of individual pupils in the senior school through the award of the title, ‘Artist of the Moment’. Entries cover a wide range of disciplines, including drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, installation and mixed media.

Our Artist of the moment is Hugo in Middle Fifth. These stunning textures have been created from a material called Tyvek. Hugo used a heat gun to create these intricate, organic bubble-like textures. During his visit to the Tate St. Ives on our school trip he was influenced by the vibrant colours used in the Casablanca School exhibition. He then created these exciting pieces – all displayed in Petri dishes too. Adventurous work, well done.

Informal Concert

Our final 4pm Informal Concert on Wednesday was an open event, meaning that singers, pianists, pupils accompanying themselves and violinists were all performing. Hugo and Tom played/sang pop numbers by Bruno Mars and Adele, whilst keen composer Amelia performed one of her own songs. Two of our talented Upper One violinists were especially impressive with their excellent intonation and confidence. Anna and Lucia both chose jazzy vocal solos, creating a relaxed mood with Summertime and Love Like You, an ambience that also was conveyed by a sensitive and very moving rendition of Chopin’s Prelude in D Flat (Raindrop) by Spiro. Also performing a piano solo was Ingrid, who played the 3rd movement of the Moonlight Sonata with vigour and technical accomplishment, and was much appreciated by the audience. You can access the audio recording here.

On Wednesday 6 March at 5-6.30pm there is the Twilight Jazz, Rock and Pop Concert in the Music Hall, in which a number of bands will be performing. Entrance is free, and all members of the school community are welcome to attend. The following week is the Choral Society concert in the Exeter Cathedral, featuring the main chorus, Chamber Choir, Vocal Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, along with our guest orchestra of professional players from across the South West. Tickets are available here.

1st XI Hockey

The 1st team boys hockey squad continued their fine form last week with a convincing 5 -1 win away at Mount Kelly. They have now won six matches in a row and play Portsmouth GS in the national plate today for a place in the quarter finals. There has also been individual success for Frazer who had his national league debut for ISCA HC this weekend against the University of Exeter. Fraser joined his Upper Sixth peer Harry who has been playing for the ISCA 1st XI all season. Great to see two current pupils competing at such a high level.

Rugby success

Our school rugby players have also been in action as the Rugby 7s season starts. Despite the wet weather the seniors travelled to Collegiate School, Bristol for the Collegiate 7s. A Lower Sixth team (due to mocks) performed admirably in their first tournament finishing second in their groups behind eventual winners Dean Close (they only lost by one score!) and finishing as runners up in the plate final. There were wins along the way against Malvern College (29 – 0), KES Bath (29 – 25), Abingdon School (42 – 7). They now play a further warm up tournament at Wellington School this weekend ahead of the West of England 7 and the nationals at Rosslyn Park.

We are also delighted to announce that, following a successful season for the Exeter Chiefs academy,  Ollie (1st XV and L6 pupil) has been selected for the England U17 development camp which is taking place at St George’s Park this weekend. We hope he has a fabulous experience. Finally, Max (M5) has taken his first step towards representative rugby with selection for Exeter Chiefs U15 DDP, well done Max.

World Book Day and Get Reading Week

Next Thursday is World Book Day, and we will be joined in school by the best-selling author Sam Sedgman, co-author of the award-winning ‘Adventures on Trains’ series. Sam will be talking to the whole of Third Form and all pupils can come and meet him at lunchtime in the library. Sam’s books, including his latest, The Clockwork Conspiracy, are available to buy through My School Portal here at the specially discounted price of £7.

Let’s make World Book Day a memorable experience for our pupils by bringing the magic of literature to life. I very much look forward to seeing the pupils all dressed up as favourite book characters a week on Thursday!

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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