Senior Reflections Week 3 September 2024
Dear parents,
Enjoy the sunshine
It has been glorious this week to welcome back such lovely late summer sunshine and a joy to see your daughters and sons enjoying our wonderful grounds in their free time. With three trips out this weekend – the sixth form biology field trip to Nettlecombe, the Third Form off to Heatree for their induction weekend, and the Lower Two residential at Beam House – I have my fingers crossed for continuing lovely weather so that they can all enjoy these experiences under a clear sky.
St Ives trip
Last weekend the pupils on the art trip to St Ives had a fabulous time – it was distinctly tropical, I hear, and the Middle Fifth artists came back inspired, not only by the environment in which they had spent their weekend, but also by the motivating workshops and talks that they had enjoyed. Many thanks to Ms Jen Brewer, Mrs Jess Rafferty-White, Ms Chloe Brownsey and Rev Mark Close for facilitating this excellent experience for the pupils. The pupils, by the way, were a great credit to the school, so congratulations also to them.
School uniform
Again, I want to thank you all for your support in making your children look smart in their school uniform. There is an appreciable improvement and we now have quite a stock of second hand items which have been donated, if you are still struggling to get hold of a blazer or a skirt. We will be continuing to remind your children, and we appreciate your support with this. Please, if you have further items in good condition for the second hand shop, we would love to have them.
Whole school photograph
On Tuesday, we will be having our whole school photograph taken, which happens only once every four years or so. We kindly ask all pupils to arrive in full uniform, looking their best and most presentable.
Open events
On Thursday morning we welcomed families to the pre-prep for their open event. It was a great pleasure to be able to show prospective families and their children around, and to talk to them about what a wonderful experience our pre-prep offers to the youngest Exonians. The campfire was burning in the forest school, and the children were really enjoying their learning, both indoors and outdoors. It’s impossible not to be buoyed up when visiting!
On Saturday 5 October we have our main open event for the year when we will be welcoming hundreds of families to the main campus to see our facilities and provision, and, most importantly, to meet with your children to find out what they love about school. It is crucial that we have as many pupils here as possible, and I hope you will support us in making sure that your child is available to assist on that day. And, as always, please do encourage friends, families and neighbours who have children of school age to come and see what we have to offer. We look forward to welcoming them here. Please confirm your child’s attendance at the open event using the form on MSP.
Next week, on Thursday 26 September, we welcome Upper Fifth pupils and their parents to a special event in the sixth form centre. This will be a chance to meet with other parents, to see the fabulous refurbished spaces and hear a little about life in the sixth form here at Exeter School. Of course, the main sixth form open event is later in the term, on November 7, and we hope to see you at both events.
On Friday 27 September we will welcome governors to school for their annual education day in which they have a chance to see the school in action and meet with your children. Our board members love this opportunity to get under the skin of the school on a working day, and we love to see them here. This will be the first of these events with Ms Gillian Hodgetts as our new Chair of Governors, and at the end of the day we will be welcoming Mr James Gaisford, the outgoing chair, and other retired governors, back to see the sixth form space, to meet with colleagues, and to cut the ribbon and officially open the sixth form centre.
This weekend we have a block fixture of boys’ rugby matches against Blundell’s School, with games both at home and away, and we wish all the players a fantastic time, hopefully in the sunshine.
Have a lovely weekend,
