Senior Reflections Week 32 June 2024
Dear parents,
New staff
Today is an exciting day as we welcome our new colleagues to the school for the start of their new staff induction programme as they look forward to September. This year we have a wonderful group of new teaching staff across the senior and junior schools and I have summarised them for you here. Between them they bring with them many decades of experience in a range of different schools and settings from New York City to London, and Taunton (!), and we are very much looking forward to getting to know them all and working with them as they settle in and start their Exonian journey. They are very welcome indeed and we wish them all the very best. We will be saying a proper goodbye and thank you to our departing colleagues in the weeks ahead.
| Role | Appointee |
| Director of Learning & Teaching (new post) | Mr Paul Fennemore (English), replacing Mr Stephen Hancock |
| Head of Maths and computer science team leader | Mr Matt Worthy, to replace Dr Geoff Chapman |
| Modern foreign language (German) teacher | Mrs Claire Sewell, on the departure of Mrs Alice Francis |
| Head of Classics; culture & communications team leader | Mr Harry Drew, as Mrs Emily Dunlop leaves us |
| Head of English | Miss Jenni Wilson, following Mr Andrew Dobson’s departure |
| Head of History; humanities team leader | Miss Angela Harris, as Mr Giles Trelawny departs the school |
| Science teacher (physics) | Mr Sam Larkham, replacing Mr Richard Tear |
| Maths teacher | Mrs Yvonne Osborne, who replaces Mr Tom Bowler |
| English teacher (part-time) | Mrs Elloise Stone, due to reorganisation and additional teaching need |
| Junior school teacher | Miss Aimee McElhatton, as Mrs Rita Pettet leaves us |
| Junior school teacher | Mrs Polly Wopshott, due to Mrs Jacquie Barnes’ departure |
House tea parties
This week we have started the transition activities between the ten current houses to the new five house structure. Tea parties for Daw and Dowrich Houses were held on Thursday after school and we have more to come with Acland and Buller on Wednesday 12 June, Crossing and Townsend on Thursday 13 June, Goff and Raleigh on Monday 17 June and finally Collins and Drake on Tuesday 18 June. We welcome parents and pupils to these informal gatherings for a cup of tea and a scone and a chat, and a chance to say goodbye and thank you to the outgoing house team.
LAMDA drama showcase
This week our pupils who have been preparing for LAMDA drama exams performed their assessment pieces in two evenings of showcase on Tuesday and Wednesday after school. Many congratulations for yet another great crop of top grades from our dramatic pupils and many thanks to the LAMDA team for supporting them so well. We look ahead to the lower school play and the Upper Two play in the weeks to come and I am sure that both of these productions will also be wonderful.
Family Society Summer Fete
This exciting new venture is coming up soon and we look forward to seeing many of you here at school on Saturday 15 June in the afternoon. We have over 40 stalls booked in with everything from physiotherapy to face painting, fine wines to pop up pizza, and some traditional stalls like a bottle tombola and a raffle. We hope that you will be keen to come along and share in the community atmosphere and help us to raise funds for the school’s charities and the family society. Enormous thanks are due to all involved in organising the event, in particular Mrs Ruth Hughes, the chair of the family society, who has done a huge amount of work with the committee.
Lower Sixth futures week and sixth form centre refurbishment
This week has seen the Lower Sixth completing their end of year assessments, and I have my fingers crossed for them all for some great results. Today is the first day of futures week for them, with a business and enterprise day, run by Mr Stuart Mackintosh. The pupils always enjoy this team building day with a specific theme and today was not an exception. Last year the theme was the refurbishment of the sixth form space, and I am sure that none of the pupils thought that their ideas would actually be turning into reality just twelve months later. The sixth form centre upgrade is going well and you may have seen the extension going up on the west side of the building. We are very excited about the new space and have shared with the pupils already a virtual fly through of the new space, in assembly this week. There was a lot of excitement amongst the pupils as they saw what their space will look like in just a few months’ time. We are on track to be finished by September and very grateful to the pupils and my colleagues for their forbearance as the work has progressed.
Caspar’s fundraiser for the YMCA
Caspar, one of our Upper Fifth pupils, is raising money for the local YMCA. He and his father are planning to hike the North Cornish coast for 50km, no matter the weather. To support Caspar and read more behind his expedition, check out his Justgiving page here.
Weekend activities
We have a wide range of activities on the calendar this weekend; with pupils form the RAF section of the CCF off flying on Saturday with Dr Smale, athletics on both Saturday (Devon Schools’ Athletics Championships) and Sunday (Mount Kelly Trophy). In addition there is a block fixture for boys’ and girls’ cricket against Mount Kelly on Saturday. Best of luck to all those involved and we hope for fair weather for the fixtures.
