Senior Reflections Week 10 November 2024

Dear parents,

The end of the week has certainly brought excitement, in the shape of a rather heavy and rapid dump of snow for your children, and the resultant distribution for daily life at school. We are very grateful to you all for your efforts to get your children to and from school safely, and also to our brilliant staff team who have worked so hard to look after the children here on site, and keep them safe. I hope that everyone has remained safe and well and that the children have had a lot of fun in the snow. I was impressed with the number of snow sculptures that appeared on site, and the speed with which they did so yesterday!

Parental forum – mobile phones

Unfortunately, the parental forum arranged to look at mobile phone use and policy had to be postponed yesterday due to the weather.  This is high on our list of priorities, as you now, so we will be rearranging this as soon as we can. There has been a lot of discussion in the press about mobile phone use in schools this week, and with the news of a ban in Australia, I am sure that the forum will provide a lively platform for discussion. Mr John Wood and Mr Mike Glanville, who are chairing the mobile phone task and finish group, will also be sharing the data from the parent survey at the forum. This was extremely insightful, with over 550 surveys completed; we certainly feel that we have a good view of what the parent community thinks, and also that this is important to all of you. Please do look out for the rearranged date and come along if you can.

Music and drama

Unfortunately, the chamber concert planned for yesterday evening was also cancelled, but happily the informal piano concert went ahead on Wednesday and was a showcase of excellent performances from the junior school right through to the sixth form. It is always extra special when pupils play their own compositions – so well done, especially, to Alex who performed his own work.

Next week, we look forward to the senior school play, Blue Stockings, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. It is not too late to buy your tickets from the box office. This play is being set in the Butterfield Hall to create the authentic setting of a university college and I am very much looking forward to it. I know that the cast and crew have been rehearsing really hard and I wish them all the best for the final rehearsals in the days ahead, and in the performances.

Medical interviews

Last Saturday, we welcome a whole host of medical friends of the school to our annual interview practice for our aspiring medics, dentists and vets. It was excellent to see such engagement and positivity form the pupils and I am very grateful to all our interviewers, some of whom have been doing these for many years.  We have such skill and experience from the clinical professions in our parent body, and in the wider school community, and I am very grateful to all who help our pupils to feel ready for their university interviews when they come.  Clinical courses remain a popular choice for our sixth formers, and are hugely competitive, so this additional interview practice really is crucial. Many thanks to Mr Pete Boddington for leading on this and to all involved.

M5 parents’ evening

I hope that your interactions with teachers on Tuesday evening were positive. This is a crucial period of your child’s school journey and we know how much you value the feedback and interaction with teachers. I know that some of the (online) meetings were affected by a technical problem and so I would urge parents who have continuing questions to please get in touch with Mrs Ridler Murray, head of year, so that we can make sure that you are fully informed about your child’s progress. Our apologies for the technical glitch with the School Cloud system.

Today, we welcomed Steve Race MP, our local member of parliament, and enjoyed showing him our wonderful school and sharing with him the positive impact that we as a school have on the wider community in Exeter and discussing wider educational issues.

I hope that tomorrow’s sporting fixtures against Collegiate School, from Bristol, are all able to go ahead – please do keep an eye on the communications from the sport department to ensure that you and your children are aware of what is happening.

Have a lovely weekend and stay safe and warm in these challenging conditions.