School life
Clubs, competitions, student voice, and what happens after you leave.
Clubs & competitions
Through neighbouring Exeter College, EMS students can join:
- Jiu JitsuDebatingTen TorsDuke of EdinburghModel United NationsJazz ProjectBasketballRugbyBandOrchestraBadminton
EMS runs its own activities and enters national competitions, including:
- A weekly running clubChess clubA student-run newspaper, The Write Angle, founded in 2020 and published biweekly, written and edited by studentsThe National Centre for Computing Education's Computing Hub programme — EMS is a designated hub supporting local primary and secondary schoolsThe Bebras Computational Thinking competitionThe Mathematical Olympiad for GirlsThe British Physics OlympiadThe Senior Team Maths ChallengeThe National Cipher Challenge
Student council
Sixteen students (two per form) meet with the Headteacher regularly to discuss concerns and consult on school improvement, led by a student chair and secretary who also attend governing board meetings.
Volunteering
Students are asked to volunteer in some area of school life from the start of Year 12 — showing prospective families around on taster days, peer mentoring, supporting outreach to younger students, or running the school library among the options offered.
Christmas Lectures
Held every December, hosted by the University of Exeter — the venue for Year 12 students to present their EMC project findings to an audience of academics, families, staff and governors.
Staying in touch after you leave
The school runs its own alumni programme (sign-up via exetermathematicsschool.ac.uk/about-us/our-alumni/, contact alumni@exetermathematicsschool.ac.uk), inviting former students back to mentor current ones, give careers and university talks, and support outreach — alongside a parallel "Friends of EMS" track for non-alumni supporters. The school's own site features a small number of first-name, leaving-year alumni profiles as part of this — its own published examples include Tilly ('16), Ellie ('17), Ruth ('16), Patrick ('16), Fiona ('18) and Alex ('17).
The first-name examples above are the school's own choice of what to publish on its public alumni page — we're not adding anything beyond what the school itself has already made public. See our alumni page for the one former student we found who meets a genuine, independently-documented notability bar.