St Peter's School proud to welcome Royal couple
On Thursday, 20 September, the staff and pupils of St Peter's were
honoured to welcome TRH the Earl and Countess of Wessex. This was
a very special day as it commemorated the date, 125 years earlier, when
the Reverend Alfred Wren founded the school at his home in Exmouth with
just five boys. The school has come along way since then and is
now home to some 250 girls and boys from the age of 3 to 13.
We
are especially delighted that the Countess agreed to be part of our
celebrations as her Grandfather, Theo Rhys Jones, was Headmaster here
between 1942 and 1959. Before her marriage to HRH Prince Edward,
Sophie Rhys Jones was our special guest in July 2002 when we celebrated
50 years of being at our current site at Harefield, Lympstone.
To commemorate this occasion, following a performance by our Chamber
Choir, TRH unveiled a plaque in our newly refurbished sports hall,
which will now be called The Wessex Hall, in their honour. The
Royal couple were then escorted by Headmaster Rob Williams and Charles
Abram, on a tour of the school when they were introduced to staff and
children from our nursery and junior school. The children
were delighted to meet the Countess and show off their artistic skills.
Edward and Sophie then spent time chatting to staff member Emma Tyson
and pupils who were working in Forest School making dens and collecting
items for their environmental collections. The party then made
its way to the front lawn where our intrepid Year 8s were putting on a
display of their talents to show the Earl the skills that they learn as
part of our Cross Keys award.
The afternoon was rounded off with the planting, by Prince Edward, of a
Cedar tree to replace a wonderful specimen that was part of the estate
when Sophie's grandfather was Head and the was blown down by the gales
in 87 and the unveiling of a bronze statue, commissioned from former
pupil Robert Cholawo. Then time for a chat with pupils who had
gathered to say goodbye, before departing late in the afternoon.