We are pleased to announce that we have 3 Year 12 students who have completed their orientation this afternoon for the "Lessons from Auschwitz Project" ahead of their visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau next week.

Students attended a seminar at the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham, taking part in workshops to understand what life was like for Jewish people prior to and during the war, and also listening to Annick Lever BEM, a Holocaust survivor.

Keep an eye out for posts next week of our travels to Poland and follow our experience.

Well done to the Year 11 students who performed brilliantly on their speaking mocks at the end of last half-term. This useful guide will help with pronunciation of the tricky words than can appear on the read-aloud task. Pupils this week have been working on their read-aloud skills and have been completing their personalised feedback tasks which will move their learning forwards.  They will now work with Mademoiselle Robic, our French assistant, to improve their pronunciation. The most difficult words to pronounce from the read aloud tasks are listed below – can you pronounce them accurately? 

l'athlétisme 

huit 

heures 

loisirs 

les effets spéciaux 

The link below will help with pronunciation. 

Only 40% of children in the UK say that they have had financial education in School.  As part of our personal development offer, we are pleased to say that every pupil in School receives economic literacy. 

To enhance this offer further, we were pleased to welcome back members of staff from Nationwide who delivered financial literacy lessons to our Year 7, 8 and 9 pupils in the interactive theatre yesterday. 

Pupils discussed what financial literacy is, how to manage their money, and what digital risks are and how to avoid these. 

The aim of the programme is to encourage young people to use the tools available to them to develop good money habits that they can then take into adulthood.  Data suggests that those pupils who have had access to education about finance whilst at school are more likely to have a bank account, save regularly and be confident about managing their money. 

A huge thank you to Nationwide for supporting us with our personal development offer. 

Last week we were lucky enough for Saltmine, a local Theatre in Education company perform "Filters" for Year 10 pupils.

The performance highlighted the risks we may face in the ever-changing world of technology and the impact that our actions now, can have on our future. It also looked at peer pressure that we may face whilst online and where to find support if we need it.

The performers then hosted a workshop for Year 10 to explore the themes further and also invited a small number of pupils to give them feedback on the sessions with a view to our pupils thoughts being able to improve the package even further.

A huge thank you to Saltmine for their performance last week and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

We are pleased to have launched culture day today in school!  Culture Day at Smestow Academy is one of the days that we look forward to most in our calendar and applications are now open to participate!  All pupils are welcome to collect an application form at lunchtime.  Pupils are encouraged to write how they celebrate their culture by wearing traditional dress, create a music or dance performance, share traditional music or artwork etc... Deadline for applications is 14^th November.  We look forward to sharing this fantastic day with our pupils.

Every child deserves a great teacher… and that teacher, could be you! 

If you are interested in a career in teaching, why not train to teach here at Smestow Academy and BBSCITT where:  

• 95% of trainees secure a full-time position in a school after completing their training with us. 
• 60% choose to continue their journey with us, working in a school in our partnership. 
• You learn everything you need from a programme which is “extremely well structured and sequenced”, led and delivered by staff with “dedication and expertise” (BBSCITT Ofsted, 2024)
• You are taught by people who are experts in their field at the cutting edge of educational research. 

Find BBSCITT’s courses here: https://tinyurl.com/2tkyvcvk  

Year 9 Football Team show their class in their first fixture of the year. On 16^th October, our Year 9 boys welcomed Wednesfield Academy to Smestow for a football fixtures. The lads have been very committed to training across the last few weeks and were really excited to get their first game of the season underway and what a start they made. Coming out of blocks on fire that in the early stages Wednesfield did not know what to do, first to every ball and passing the ball around the pitch with class and some real tempo. We had two really early goals from Alieu and Rodrique who both finished off some free flowing moves with some tidy finishes. Smestow then began to dominate the ball and really moving Wednesfield around with some tidy passing and moving that led to a few more chances before the third goal came and what a goal it was…. The ball was cleared high into the air by Wednesfield from a cross, with the ball bouncing on the edge of the box captain Josh ran onto it and hit an unstoppable shot with his weak foot that flew into the far corner with any goalkeeper in there it would not have been saved. His performance deserved this reward and it looked like he had killed the game in the first half until Wednesfield determination got themselves back into the game through a penalty and it was game on again. With not long left in the second half, Alieu found himself through on goal again and made no mistake again giving Smestow a 4-1 lead going into the half time break, what a first half of football and the lads were ecstatic with their performance.

The second half was a much closer contest and credit must go to Wednesfield who dug in and really made it difficult for us in the second half, we still played some fantastic football when the game started to open up and could have grabbed a couple more goals. A shoutout must go to Alex as if it wasn’t for some brilliant saves in the second half, it could have been a much closer scoreline. All in all, an outstanding team performance from the lads which is exactly what Mr Webb asked for. They passed the ball with purpose and quality, scoring some brilliant goals in the first half and most importantly enjoyed their football.

Player of the match goes to San who had a real consistent performance at either right back or left back for the team, winning his battles and playing the ball forward at every opportunity to get us back on the attack.

Special thanks goes to all of the students and staff who came out to support the lads, it went a long way to help them with those extra yards they had to put in and finally big well done and thanks to YR12 Sport students Rhys & Kye who did a fantastic job at officiating the game.

Well done all!

Next week (Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd October), we will be running an Attendance Promotion to encourage excellent attendance during the final week of the half term.

Here’s how it will work:

• Pupils who attend all four days will be eligible for a treat.
• Heads of House will distribute the tickets to forms during their form walks on Thursday morning.
• Form tutors will then hand out the tickets to pupils who are present and on time.
• These tickets can be exchanged for a treat in the hall at break time on Thursday.
• Please note: Pupils who arrive late to form (after 9:05) and miss the distribution will not receive a ticket and will miss out on the treat.

Your support is key in promoting this initiative and reinforcing the importance of good attendance, especially in the lead-up to the break.

Thank you for your help in making this a success!

Last week, Smestow Academy invited Wayne from "I Can Save a Life!" to deliver First Aid training as part of our Personal Development programme for our Year 9 and Year 12 pupils.

All attendees were able to spot signs in the event of a medical emergency and administer CPR, meaning that they are now trained in being able to "save a life!"

All participants will also be given a certificate as evidence of their new skills.

Well done to everyone involved and thank you to Wayne for coming to deliver training to us again!