🎤Our Year 7's are doing a fantastic job of finding their voices in Music. Students have been learning how to warm up safely, sing with confidence as well as singing in parts requiring lots of resilience.

All the students are really becoming wonderful singers!

Watch this space for the Christmas concert where they will be showing their talent.

Don't forget the choir is free for all to attend every Friday after school in MU1, no need to sign up just come along.🎵

Year 9 students Zack, Daisy and Maisie from West Exe School, part of the Ted Wragg Trust, travelled to London last month to celebrate their success taking part in the AQA’s Unlocking Potential Programme.

They spent the day having fun at London Zoo along with their mentor paralympian David Hill as part of his work with the Dame Kelly's Trust, AQA’s Unlocking Potential Programme is run by the trust. 

They had a great time visiting the zoo, along with students from 27 schools across the country.  London Zoo is home to over 10,000 amazing animals from tiny marching leafcutter ants to a giant 193kg silverback gorilla. 

The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust was set up in 2008 by double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes. It supports retired athletes as they transition from sport, and uses their skills and experience to transform the lives of young people through mentoring programmes.  The AQA Unlocking Potential programme, run jointly with the trust aims to bring out the best in young people so that they can achieve their goals.  

The mentors know what it takes to overcome adversity and have the will to succeed not only in sport, but in life too.  Paralympic swimmer and triathlete David Hill grew up by the sea where he learnt to swim at a young age. Despite being born with no left forearm, David was earning swimming badges by the age of 3! His talent was nurtured until David qualified for the 2004 Paralympic Games. He was world silver medalist in swimming in 2006 and took bronze medals in 2009 in both European and World competitions.

 Julie Fossey, Headteacher at West Exe School said:

“Everyone at West Exe is so proud of Zack, Daisy and Maisie for their participation in the AQA Unlocking Potential Project.  The social action projects they have taken part in this year from cooking hot meals for the homeless to collecting over 250 pairs of socks for St Petrocks have been amazing, they very much deserved a brilliant day out in London!”

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said:

“It’s great to hear that these West Exe students got to spend some valuable time with their mentor while enjoying a visit to London.  Raising aspirations for the young people of Devon is central to the Ted Wragg Trust and it’s lovely to see schools working closely with organisations with this as their mission.”

West Exe School, part of the Ted Wragg Trust, has celebrated Schools Diversity Week this term.

West Exe School’s Cultural Champions led the way in helping to design, create and sell badges to raise money for the school’s charity Exeter Food Action to help celebrate and support both diversity within their community and the wider world.

Exeter’s Devon Diversity group led several workshops for Year 7 students, helping them to understand the importance of cultural diversity.  The students showed real enthusiasm and a keen interest,  asking some really thought-provoking questions.

 As a whole school project, every student took part in sessions around LGBTQ+, cultural diversity and disabilities, acknowledging and celebrating differences and the positive impact this can have on our wider world. 

The students ended the week celebrating their own identities by creating their very own ‘Diversi-trees’ helping them to not only identify differences but celebrate them!

 Julie Fossey, Headteacher at West Exe School said:

“I am so proud of everything staff and students at West Exe have done to celebrate Schools Diversity Week.  We want every young person at our school to know that it’s ok to be different and I hope they have enjoyed all the different activities and opportunities for learning during this important week.”

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said:

“I was delighted to hear that West Exe put so much effort into marking Schools Diversity Week.  It sounds like they put on a brilliant range of sessions and it’s clear that these will have had huge value to students when it comes to how they think about themselves, others and society.”

We welcome families considering the jump to secondary school to visit us at West Exe School to find out more about us and what we have to offer your child.  

West Exe School, part of the Ted Wragg Trust, celebrated Shakespeare’s birthday this week.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in April 1564. The exact date of his birth is not recorded, but it is most often celebrated around the world on the 23rd of April.  Shakespeare also died on 23 April; in 1616, when he was 52 years of age.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust states that: 

Shakespeare’s baptism is recorded in the Parish Register at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon on Wednesday 26 April 1564. Baptisms typically took place within three days of a new arrival, and parents were instructed by the Prayer Book to ensure that their children were baptised no later than the first Sunday after birth. This means that it’s unlikely that Shakespeare was born any earlier than the previous Sunday, 23 April. Given that three days would be a reasonable interval between birth and baptism, 23 April has therefore come to be celebrated as his birthday. 

To mark the day, Year 8 students at West Exe School explored some of the most memorable scenes from Shakespeare’s most famous plays.  The school is also holding a creative writing script competition to discover any budding playwrights!

At West Exe they explicitly teach in depth social and literary contexts to ensure that students have the cultural capital to appreciate how the written word can be used to bring about social change and, more importantly, social justice.  The English curriculum is deliberately academic and covers a broad range of contexts that are designed to inform students’ interpretation of texts and ideas, this allows students to explore perspectives outside of their own, to promotes a greater understanding and appreciation of difference and diversity.

 Julie Fossey, Headteacher at West Exe School said:

“It was great to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday this week, his plays remain such a core part of young people’s literary journey and I am excited to see the submissions for the creative writing competition.” 

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said:

“I was delighted to hear that West Exe School marked Shakespeare’s birthday in appropriate dramatic fashion by exploring some of his most memorable scenes.  Learning more about the author is such a helpful way of bringing texts to life for students and helps everything they learn to really stick with them.”

Students from West Exe School, part of the Ted Wragg Trust, attended a solar careers fair this month.

Year 8 and 9 students went along to Exeter College and met with representatives from a number of companies involved in the solar industry.

The students also played a highly competitive game of giant Jenga, took part in a quiz, which one of the Year 9 teams won, and attended talks on the ‘Future of Solar’.

As the world shifts towards a low-carbon future, the demand for clean energy sources is increasing.  One of the fastest-growing areas of renewable energy is solar power, which has seen tremendous growth in recent years.  

By 2035, the solar industry is expected to support around 60,000 jobs in the UK, that’s up from around 7,000 in 2020 – representing a significant increase in demand for skilled workers in the sector. 

 Julie Fossey, Headteacher at West Exe School said:

“It was great for some of our students to go along to the fayre and learn all about an industry they might not have considered working in before.  At West Exe we want young people to leave us ready for the jobs of the future, so examining careers in the renewable energy sector makes total sense.  

“It was also lovely to hear that one of the exhibitors commented that our students asked the best, most insightful and challenging questions of any of the schools in attendance!”

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said:

“At the Ted Wragg Trust we are keen for all local educational institutions to come together for the benefit of young people, as such I am delighted that some West Exe students attended this event at Exeter College.  It’s brilliant to hear they were asking some really thought-provoking questions of industry professionals.”