Senior Reflections Week 31 2024
Dear parents,
Devon County Show
Thank you so much to the many members of our wonderful community who dropped into our stand at the county show last weekend and said hello, had a drink or played some of our dressing up games (mostly the younger Exonians!). It was lovely to have so much interest in the stand from so many members of the wider Exeter and Devon communities, as well as those who know us well. If you did drop by, I hope that you managed to stay dry during the downpour at lunchtime on Saturday, and that you were able to liberate your car from the mud at the end of the day!
Exeter School Family Society summer fête
On the subject of community events, please do make a note of the date for the upcoming ESFS summer fête, on Saturday 15 June, from 1pm. We have some fantastic local businesses coming to school on that day with a range of great products and activities from face painting to chiropractors, food and drink, and lots of stalls run by your children and our staff teams too. Hopefully the sun will shine on us and it will be a fabulous event, and if not, you will be pleased to hear that we have a wet weather plan. Many thanks to the ESFS, particularly the chair, Ruth Hughes, for their great work in organising everything. It’s not too late to book a stall if you would like to bring your own business along and engage with the community on the afternoon. Contact Ruth on email wattyr03@gmail.com / mobile 07812 206808 for further details if you are interested.
Alumni dinner in London
On Wednesday we were extremely lucky to be hosted for a fantastic alumni dinner in the RAF club in Piccadilly. Our alumni are a fantastic and much valued sector of the school community – with many of them giving their time to the school through volunteering in the careers department, speaking at events, and also as governors on our board. They bring a wealth of skills and experiences to the school community and meeting with them is always a great pleasure. This particular dinner, in such spectacular surroundings, was attended by alumni spanning the decades from 2021 leavers, to one gentlemen who had graduated Exeter school in 1965. You can imagine how varied and interesting the discussion was! Of course, our alumni always want to know how your children are getting on and to hear about the development of the school’s facilities, since many of them are not regular visitors. I am pleased to say, also, that we are lucky to have some generous donors on our alumni body who help to support our bursary fund with their philanthropic activities. This is something that the whole school community can get involved with and our director of alumni and development, Alice Holohan, is always happy to talk to anyone who wants to know more about how supporting the bursary programme can make a difference.
Assessment week
Exams and assessments have continued for your children in the senior school this week and I continue to wish them the best of luck with their revision and the tests. For the Third Form in particular, this is the first formal examination period, and some of them will feel a bit daunted by the process. I am very grateful to our fantastic teaching staff team who put so much effort into planning and implementing the exams for the pupils, ably supported by the exams team. Many thanks to them all. I am busy marking the Third Form biology papers – something that I enjoy and that gives me a good sense of how well they are all doing as a year group. I must say, it is a pleasure to see their work, and I commend their commitment and efforts.
Fees in advance scheme
A reminder to parents who wish to commit to paying school fees for the future, the school has a fees in advance scheme. We anticipate that the accounts team might be busy in the coming few weeks and so suggest that parents consider this scheme early if they wish to take advantage of it. You can find out more about this by reading the documents here.
Looking ahead – speech day events
We have lots of activities and events packed into the second half of term. Please remember that speech day events for the middle school (in the morning) and sixth form (in the afternoon) are on Thursday 27 June, and for the lower school are in the afternoon of Tuesday 9 July. We look forward to seeing many of you here.
Goodbye to colleagues
Very sadly we say goodbye this week to three colleagues, all from our wonderful operations and professional services team who work closely with your children, and who they will know well.
Ms Emma Taylor, our art technician, is leaving us after eight years in the art department, keeping the creative wheels of the school moving smoothly and expertly. In that time, Emma has supported colleagues and pupils, including attending trips and activities and teaching some key stage 3 classes. Always positive, her presence and consistency during a period of change in the department, has been invaluable. She goes with our very best wishes to work at a commercial artist’s studio in Devon. We thank her for her hard work and hope she will stay in touch.
Mrs Julie Furniss will be leaving Exeter Pre-Prep School as she retires. Formerly the bursar’s PA and HR administrator, Julie moved to the pre-prep two years ago and has been a wonderful colleague there, doing everything from school administration and admissions to driving the minibus and serving school lunches. She does it all with a smile on her face and a very kind heart. Julie tells me that she has (term time) holidays planned to Iceland and Dorset almost as soon as she has retired – I think we are all jealous of her! We wish her a long and happy retirement and thank her for all her hard work.
Mrs Gina Robins, our finance bursar, is leaving us after a successful 18 year tenure in the accounts team where she has looked after our finances and worked closely with the bursar and governors on many initiatives. She has decided it is time to work part-time and is moving to be the head of finance in a commercial organisation, Bonsoir of London, a retailer. We are very grateful to Gina for her pragmatic, committed and supportive approach to all things financial in the time that she has been with us. Lots of you will know her through your own interactions with the accounts team and will know what a great Exonian Gina is. We will miss her very much and wish her good health and happiness and every success in this exciting new role.
Ms Michelle Hendrick is leaving us after more than forty years of service in our catering team. Michelle is a wonderful colleague, and while she is technically employed by Sodexo, our catering provider, she feels very much a key part of the Exeter School family. Michelle joined us as a young chef and has worked her way up through the organisation to manage our catering services, something that she has done with flair, creativity and innovation. We are incredibly lucky to have such fantastic food every day at school, and fortunate to have Michelle’s smiling face at the helm. We will miss her very much and thank her for all she has done to keep us well fed with such delicious and nutritious food for so many decades. It is hard to imagine our kitchens without her…. Best of luck for a long, healthy and happy retirement Michelle. Exeter School will not taste the same without you!
General Election
You will all be aware of the fact that the prime minister has called a general election for July 4. This will be a busy day at school – we have an open house for prospective parents and also new pupil afternoon on that day. These will go ahead as planned. The governors, along with the leadership of the school will be tracking the outcomes of the election and any ongoing impact on us as an organisation. We will of course keep you updated when we have information to share with you.
As we head off to half term, I wish you and your children a happy and restful break, and hope that the Upper Fifth and Upper Sixth keep up the revision ready for the exams in the second half of term!
