Well done to our team of codebreakers, Hannah, Tess, Maliha and India, who competed in the second round of the GCHQ Cyber Discovery Challenge at the MET Office before half term.  The girls took to their laptops to solve a series of online puzzles in the first co-ordinated event of this kind run by the

Our Sixth Formers thoroughly enjoyed their Masked Ball which took place just before half term – an annual event to relax after their mock exams. The games of ‘Musical Chairs’ and ‘Over Under’ were highly entertaining and amusing – only at The Maynard! The photo booth with its many different accessories also proved to be

42 of our girls set off on the much anticipated Ski Trip to the Austrian Alps over half term, accompanied by Mrs Davey, Miss York, Mrs Thorne, Miss Lavelle and Dr Rudling. They had a fantastic time – as well as developing their skiing in some beautiful conditions – and a couple of tougher snowy

All of Year 3 – Year 6 took part in the Junior School Swimming Gala on Wednesday 26 February. The girls were superb; they swam brilliantly, showed excellent support for each other and showed real perseverance! The 10 x 1 Y6 relay was a real sight to see! The results were: 1st Haberdashers (161 points) 2nd Armourers

Following on from our mufti-day to help raise money for the Australian Bushfire victims, we are thrilled to say that we have so far raised £628.91 and the figure is still rising. The Lower 6 Geographers have a number of koala bracelets for sale (at £3 each) in School Reception for anyone hoping to contribute

Congratulations to our equestrian team Isobel, Zoe and Kitty who came 2nd in the 90cm at the Eventer’s Challenge at Pontispool on Saturday and have qualified for the Championships at Hickstead!  Isobel also won the 1m, qualifying as an individual! Well done!

There have been a lot of muddy legs across the Junior School these past couple of weeks as the girls learned their courses and then competed in their House Cross Country races. Congratulations to them all for persevering in the somewhat slippery conditions! In the final placings, Merchants came out on top followed by Goldsmiths,

Upper 3 (Year 7) went to the Eden Project on Wednesday 5 February as part of their Geography course and took part in workshops about ‘Rainforest Adaptations’ and ‘Natural Selection’. They were able to use their existing knowledge of adaptations to apply this to the rainforest and learnt some very clever ways to survive!  The

Year 6 went on their eagerly awaited trip to Plymouth Aquarium on Friday 7 February where they had the opportunity to not only take a personalised tour around the site (and get to ask dozens of questions!) but also use the Aquarium’s fantastic laboratory facilities to dissect a squid. ‘We found its beak, the lens

Children’s Mental Health Week took place from 3 – 9 February 2020. The theme this year was ‘Find your Brave’ and Year 4 have been discussing this topic and writing about what it means to be brave: ‘Being brave means standing up for yourself or someone, doing things you’re afraid of. It’s about overcoming sadness

On Thursday 6 February, along with schools, libraries and bookshops all over the world, we celebrated Harry Potter Book Night at lunchtime in the library. Activities and decorations were organised by our librarian and a very enthusiastic group from Lower 5!  The highlight was the traditional treasure hunt around the school, with other activities including

Devon Wildlife Trust joined the Junior School this week for a morning of environmental activities. We are always delighted to welcome the DWT back to school and have been a partner with them for over ten years now, working on many projects here at school and around the city, including in the past planting wildflower

Further to the publication of the Department for Education’s Performance Tables, based on the A-level and GCSE examinations 2019, we are delighted to again be ranked as the highest scoring independent school across the whole of Devon whilst also nudging the very top of the tables on a national level. At GCSE we are the

The Under 14s played some terrific matches against very competitive teams at the Regional Finals in Bournemouth on Saturday 25 January. They recorded wins against Truro High School and St Edwards, Dorset and lost by very small margins to both Dean Close (5-8) and the eventual overall winners, Taunton School (7-10). It was such a

This week’s artwork comes to you courtesy of Lower 6 A-level artists, Lowena and Peggy. Lowena’s pieces are following a “gothic” theme, whilst Peggy is focusing on her portrait work.

Huge congratulations to Natalie in Lower 5 who has been selected onto the England Basketball Talent Programme for 2020 and can look forward to playing some national and international tournaments over the coming months. This is a fantastic achievement and very well done to her!

Congratulations to our team of Lower 4 students (Tess, Maliha, Hannah and India) who have made it through to the second round of the GCHQ Cyber Discovery Challenge. To get this far the girls have solved incredibly difficult cyber challenges involving analysing network traffic and the raw code behind websites to solve clues. The second

On Wednesday, a group of girls from the Upper 5 and Sixth Form visited the National Apprenticeship Show at Westpoint Arena in Exeter. The show had a wide range of interesting stands and interactive displays showing advanced and degree level apprenticeships on offer nationally. Career fields ranged from the Armed Forces, Met Office, NHS, civil

We are excited to announce that that we have been shortlisted as Finalists for the upcoming Exeter Living Awards in recognition of the truly fantastic past year we have enjoyed. From topping the region’s league tables, being voted the Sunday Times Southwest Secondary Independent School of the Year and one of The Telegraph’s top ten

January saw our Ten Tors teams out training once again for this May’s Ten Tors Challenge. Despite some terrible weather during the week, the girls arrived on the Saturday morning in time for a stunning sunrise and a beautiful, crisp winter’s day lay ahead of them.  Our four training teams set off across the north

The Pre-Prep girls have been having great fun learning about the Chinese New Year celebrations by watching dragon dances, making their own dragon puppets, writing Chinese numbers and making lanterns.  Year 4 have also been making dragons and fortune tellers as well as having a go at writing in Chinese – which they discovered takes

Congratulations to our four cross country runners who, having qualified through previous trials, competed in the Devon Schools Cross Country Championships at Stover in January. Katie (Lower 5) stormed the Inter-Girls section to post a very convincing victory and qualify to represent Devon in the next round. From a field of 35, she also had

All the girls from Upper 4 went to Plymouth University on 23 January to attend a STEM Showcase where they enjoyed gaining hands-on experience in a whole range of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths ideas. These included playing with robots, driving Segways, experiencing VR technology, handling giant stick insects, trying out coding software and creating

Year 3 have been practicing and improving accurate drawing skills, using different pencils to carefully match tonal values and thinking about reflective symmetry.  They chose to draw elephants and tigers as they have been learning about endangered species as part of their India topic this term. 

The Upper 3 have been looking at the theme of celebration in their art lessons this term. Here are some examples of their colourful and wide-ranging work including the Chinese New Year, Halloween, Christmas, Holi, Day of the Dead and 4th July.

Lower 4 have used mixed media – a wax resist and ‘sgraffito’ technique – to produce this large colourful work on Natural Forms. Inspired pieces!

The Upper 5 (Year 11)  girls had a fantastic time in London at the end of last week – a great opportunity to let their hair down after their mock GCSE examinations. This trip takes place each year and always involves a whirlwind of cultural (and some retail!) activities from visits to the V&A and Imperial

Our Robot Club, Herschel’s Comets, travelled to Bristol on Thursday 16 January to compete in the FIRST LEGO League Wessex regional competition with their robot.  There are four categories in the competition; robot performance, robot design, core values, and project (a five minute presentation) and each year the League introduces a different scientific and real-world

In their Games lessons this term Year 2 are taking part in a new programme of work devised by England Netball, designed to give younger girls a chance to have fun developing skills that will help prepare them for playing netball later on. Named ‘Bee Netball’ (after the England netball team who are nicknamed “the

On Wednesday 15 January, 14 of our Lower 6 Biology students visited Plymouth University to attend an electron microscopy workshop, learning what a research scientist does on a day-to-day basis. They learned how to prepare and examine specimens (such as viruses, the cilia found on cells in the respiratory system and bacteria) that were magnified