On Friday 30^th February, a group of pupils from Exminster were joined by other from the DLP to take part in a Samba Workshop. A huge thank you goes to Steve Hastings from Radcliffe who ran the workshop. The aim of the workshop was to jumpstart an interest in Samba music playing so that a DLP Samba Band can be created.

Here are some of the comments from children who took part:

Jack H: “The Samba band was very fun and I learnt lots from it.”

Leo: “It was EPIC, I loved it. When I grow up I’m going to be a superstar on the drums.”

Eboni: “I thought it was really good because it was different from everything I have played before.”

Anna: “We swapped instruments which I really enjoyed because we could use different ones.”

Well done to all of the children involved. You represented the school really well and hopefully will be part of a DLP Samba band very soon!

So on the final day of our EPIC choir residential we sang to the Prime Minister (or just his guards!) outside 10 Downing Street. We also had a choppy trip down the River Thames looking at all the wonderful sights.

Who better to sum up the O2 performance than the children themselves!

“Amazing atmosphere – incredible music lighting and sound!” – Ella

“Speechless – it was that good!” - Harriet

“Too good for words!” – Kerenza

“Excellent performance!”- Molly

“Insane!” - Georgia

“I was worried about it at first but when you’re in there it was like being on a different planet!” – Eva

“Breath-taking!”  - Callie

“It was massive!” – Ollie

“Wow!” – Cameron

“Amazing!” – Zach

“Really well organised.” – Alex I

“The atmosphere was amazing!” – Hayden

“The best experience ever!” – Mark

“Happy and scared at the same time,”  - Alex A

“Once in a life time experience, heart pounding !” – Dylan

“It felt like a dream!” – Betty

“Big and amazing!” – Imogen

“It was amazing!” – Kitty

“Awesome!” – Esme

“All the songs were good fun and we were at the top which was amazing!” – Mia

“Amazing but quite scary!” – Emily

“It was really good that all the children sounded so good together!” – Isla

“There were lots of people watching and the sound was amazing!” – Sophie

“Exciting!” – Gina

“Brilliant!” – Ailie

“Very energetic!”- Abby

“The atmosphere was incredible!” Evie H

“It was fun and had a really good atmosphere!” – Daisy

“Phenomenal!” - Kate

“I was really starry!” - Gregory

“It was as massive as the Eiffel Tower!” - Christos

“Long, tiring and colourful!” Sienna

“It was like waves going over your heads with the lights!” -  Tia

Read more: Exminster Choir Live at the O2 Arena, London!

On Friday Morning the choir visited the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. In under two hours they managed to travel the world and find out many fascinating facts!

On Sunday 1^st June, our champions of Devon represented out region- competing in the South West of England girl’s futsal finals. The standard was very high! Exminster were the only school that made it to this stage. Other teams that we competed against, were fully established futsal academies from regions as far away as Cheltenham. Unsurprisingly, they were very well organised and played some impressive football. Nevertheless, the effort from Exminster was magnificent. They finished each match with bright red faces, especially Jessica! In all of the games, we had a lot of possession and many chances. Brooke hit the post and the cross bar several times during the tournament- unfortunately the luck was not with us on the day. Only losing some of the matches by 1 goal and managing to score a few, the girls can be incredibly proud of their performance. Overall, Exminster finished 4^th meaning they are the 4^th best team in the South West of England!

On Wednesday 21^st May, a group of children from years four to six went to a swimming gala at Dawlish, competing against 5 other schools. Firstly, they had to compete in individual events, later followed by three relays. The individual races were all one length; these included breastroke, backstroke and front crawl. The races were all very close. Super effort from our individuals helped Exminster achieved some wins and many second places. However, after the individual races, we were in second place- one point behind Kenton! Exminster were determined to overtake them in the relays.

Read more: Super Swimmers Come Home With Gold!

On Thursday 27th March, the year 4/5 boys and girls futsal team went to the Devon Finals. This meant that both teams came across tough opposition, as all the best teams in Devon qualified. After fantastic team work and superb effort, the boys finished 5th overall. The girls however went on to win the whole tournament! They will now represent Devon in the South West of England finals. What a fantastic achievement! Well done to all involved.

On Monday 17th March, we entered a boys team and a girls team into a year 4 and 5 futsal tournament. Both teams went through the eveing without loosing a game, therefore winning the whole competition! 

Read more: Futsal champions!

On Tuesday 11^th of March, 6 teams set off to enter a regional gymnastics competition; there were 4 categories: yr. 5 & 6 recreational, yr. 5 & 6 competition, yr. 3 & 4 recreational and yr. 3 & 4 competition. Our talented teams elegantly swooped in knocking out the competition by professionally performing the floor routine and the vault!

Read more: Gymnastics Winners!

On the 7^th of February 2014, 8 eager footballers travelled to Isca College to participate in an annual football tournament held in honour of Matt Hammond , a former P.E teacher at Isca who unfortunately past away at a young age.

After a comfortable group stage, knocking off some easy opponents, Exminster excelled into the major finals.

Read more: Incredible Isca

On the 29^th of January, 12 Exminster outstanding athletes participated in an entertaining athletics competition. Events such as chest push, long jump, the javelin and speed bounce were all key for the competition. After all the events were completed the points would be summed and the overall winner would be announced. However, 15 schools were competing, therefore, the Exminster Primary School athletes had to give their all to be victorious in the event!

Read more: Ace Athletics

On Thursday 16^th January, a team of 8 swimmers competed in a swimming gala at the WESC federation pool. The event was organised by the Dartmoor partnership and was open to all the schools involved. Children participated in several team relays in addition to individual events. The effort, teamwork and enthusiasm was fantastic to witness! Out of the ten schools that entered, Exmninster finished third, receiving bronze medals. Congratulations to the children involved and thank you to the parents for their support and help with transport.

On Wednesday 20^th November, we took two netball teams to compete against almost 20 other teams. Each of our teams were in different groups. They played matches against all the teams in their group and the top two teams from each of the 4 groups, qualified for the semi-finals. One of our teams successfully went on to win the whole tournament, qualifying for the Dartmoor partnership finals on 4^th December! Unfortunately our other team just missed out on qualification. Both teams showed impressive determination and worked incredibly well as a team. Well done to all involved. Good luck in the next round!

On Wednesday 6^th November, 2013, 10 boys competed against 12 schools from the Dartmoor partnership in an indoor cricket tournament. Fantastic individual skill, but more importantly, outstanding teamwork, contributed to winning the competition. Highlights included a world class diving catch from Jack and consistent back to back wickets bowled out by Alex. Well done to all involved!

On Wednesday 13^th November, we entered a netball tournament against five schools in the Dawlish Learning Partnership. Before we went, we were so excited but we knew we would have to try really hard. First, we played Westcliff and we won 4-0. Then, we played Starcross where we drew 1-1. Next, we played Kenn in a game where we won 8-0. Next was our match against Cockwood that we won 3-1. Finally, we played Kenton and we drew 1-1. We knew it was really close between us and Starcross to win the trophy but we knew we had scored 16 goals so we hoped that would be enough. In the end, we won and we were so excited that we were all jumping about. We each got a gold medal and a trophy to take back to school. 'We were so happy and proud of ourselves.' (Josh - Year 5)

On Friday the 20th September, 4 pupils from our school attended a Tour of Britain cycling event. All the schools in the Dartmoor parntnership took part in this incredible competition.

We interviewed the participants to find out how they got on.

What did you enjoy?

The whole group quoted: "It was a once in a lifetime experience and the crowd helped motivate us whilst we were going up the category 1, Haytor hill."

What position did you finish in?

Alex quoted: "It went brilliantly! Without any practise, we came an amazing second place.

Ethan quoted: "We all felt blood brewing in the back of our throats. It was a tough experience for everyone involved in this special event."

Congratuations to Alex, Sam, Ethan and Freya for finishing second out of a large varietry of schools.

On Tuesday 12th March, the year 5 boys, who recently won the partnership futsal tournament, participated in the Devon futsal finals at Paignton sports college. The standard was outstanding as all teams involved were champions of their regions. Nevertheless, Exminster FC clearly stood out as being the most talented team, demonstrating confident passing, fantastic scoring ability and secure defending. We won all of our games, coming away as the CHAMPIONS OF DEVON!

Congratulations to Nas, Tom, Jack, Hamish, Ethan and Alex who will represent Devon in the South West Finals on the 25th May in Swindon.

A big thank you to Jon Veale who kindly organised the use of a mini-bus for the event.

This was a competition for years 4 and 5. We entered two teams. Our A-Team went through the competition without conceding a goal. The standard of football was exceptional. Superb passing and some super finishing helped Exminster A win their group and then win the final in extra-time.

Exminster B also played exceptionally well, scoring 10 or more against some teams. Unfortunately they lost by 1 goal in the semi-final.

Exminster A will progress to the Devon finals on 12^th March at Paignton College.

12 boys and 12 girls from years 5 and 6 competed against many other schools in the Dartmoor partnership. They all had to complete a number of athletic events; individual scores were added up to give a team total. Exminster finished 5^th overall. This was an impressive achievement considering the level of talent ranging across all of the schools!

Exminster entered 4 teams in Stover’s 6aside tournament involving many schools from our region. Both year 5 and 6 teams won their groups and met each other in the final.  This finished 0-0 meaning Exminster A won on goal difference. One of our year 3/4 teams also went through the tournament unbeaten, coming away as champions. A successful day for the footballers of Exminster.