Dear parents,
Public exam year groups
It has been a busy week for the Upper Fifth and Upper Sixth pupils, with the upper fifth starting their study leave today – it was lovely to see so many of them busy signing each other’s shirts with colourful Sharpie pens and I was very happy to add my signature to a few. This is quite a rite of passage for them as they commence their study leave and really get their heads down and get to grips with the revision programme as they look ahead to the GCSE exams. In the sixth form, the Upper Sixth have celebrated the end of their time at Exeter School with some fun events this week, including wearing their pyjamas, having water fights and dressing in a broad array of sports gear. They don’t go off on study leave until next week, but wanted to bring the celebrations forward as so many of the Upper Sixth are studying A Level geography, whose first exam is before all the others. They did not want them to miss out on the fun and games (and the water fights!). Next Thursday is the formal leavers’ service for the Upper Sixth and their parents, and we will be saying goodbye to them as they head off to their study leave. I have enjoyed reading the Upper Sixth reports over the last week or so. They are full of thoughtful, well considered comments to the pupils and some words of wisdom and inspiration from my colleagues. They are a fabulous year group.
View photos from their fun on inflatables
The arts
On Tuesday we were treated to a fantastic pair of A Level performance pieces from the Lower Sixth drama pupils. Their ingenious takes on an established play were highly entertaining and extremely clever. Well done to all nine of the performances and also to the staff team, led by Mr Brough, who coach and support them so well. On Wednesday we enjoyed a magnificent musical treat in the local St Michael’s Church in Heavitree, raising money for Azuko, a charity supporting a vision of a world without housing poverty. The variety and depth of performance was excellent, as ever, and as we listened to the Magnificent Seven (the closing piece by the symphony orchestra) I found myself wondering how many schools of our type and size could field a pupil orchestra with four double bases and four bassoons? I will leave you with that question.
CCF activity
Following the now nationally famous “bum-shuffle”, the CCF were out on manoeuvres last weekend with the DofE bronze expedition group completing their practice successfully in the Exe Valley. It was lovely to see them up at Mamhead on Saturday and my grateful thanks go to Mrs Trica, Dr Smale and Mr Tear for supporting the expedition. This afternoon we had a formal CCF parade and the unusual situation of awarding commendation awards to two of our CCF leaders. Dr Simon Smale (contingent commander) and Mr Dan Trim (leader of the army section) have both been nominated for, and successfully awarded, the Certificate of Meritorious Service. The wonderful part of this is that each of them secretly nominated the other, and neither of them knew that they were successful! We are lucky to have such a fantastic contingent and we congratulate both Dr Smale and Mr Trim on being recognised for their service and commitment.
Senior prefect team
The new senior prefect team had a great leadership session at Powderham Castle on Thursday. They used the day to consider character development and their own leadership style, being supported by a leadership training specialist in their activities off site. I congratulate them all again on their appointments and thank Mr Chu and Mrs Culley for supporting the day which I know was extremely useful for all concerned.
Next week we have an open event on Thursday 9 May in the evening. Please do share this with friends and family as we would love to see them here. They can register via this page.
There are cricket fixtures against Wellington School and Queen’s College, Taunton this weekend and we wish all those playing a dry and successful weekend of sport.
Have a lovely long weekend.
