Seventeen budding young poets from Smestow Academy have been published in an anthology of poetry titled Lest We Forget.

The published collection of poems, which are based on the theme of war and peace, came as a result of a competition for students aged 11 and above. Launched in November 2023, the competition was ran by a company called Young Writers – an organisation which aims to support and encourage young individuals interested in writing.

In November last year, the English department at Smestow Academy invited students from Years 7 to Years 10 to apply, with a tailored lesson alongside Remembrance Day to encourage and inspire creativity. Many students produced outstanding poetry and were rewarded for their efforts with a certificate during assembly.

This month, the anthology Lest We Forget has been published and includes seventeen names from Smestow Academy. We are extremely proud of their talents, and pleased to see their work showcased nationally. Well done to our incredibly talented poets!

As part of our personal development curriculum, it is important that we provide opportunities for our young people to access economic literacy.  Research shows that delivery of financial education means that children and young people are more likely to save money, have a bank account and be confident about money management.  Financial education enhances financial wellbeing and prepares young people to understand and manage their incomes as adults.

We were lucky enough to have representatives from Nationwide Building Society (Finchfield branch) deliver finance workshops to our pupils and provide a real-world context.  The worked with each year group to raise awareness of financial and economic education.

Thank you to Nationwide for providing this fantastic support.

#smestowacademy #successachievedtogether #makeadifferenceeveryday #strivetoimproveandbeyourbest 

Did you know – approximately 15-20% of the population has a neurological difference?

Depending on how our brains work, we think, move, process information and communicate in different ways.  Many people in our community use neurodiversity as an umbrella term to describe alternative thinking styles such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Autism and ADHD.  

Most importantly, neurodiversity is about recognising those who think differently and remembering that we can all benefit from different thinkers!

We will be acknowledging neurodiversty in our assemblies this week and celebrating the diverse range of thinkers that are in the world around us.

Celebrating Neurodiversity week is another example of how pupils demonstrate our Smestow Values, by making a difference every day and equality and respect for all.  It also means that we provide a welcoming and caring environment at our School.

Please use the link below if you would like to find out more and register for the sessions that are being held across the week:

https://www.neurodiversityweek.com/_files/ugd/3559ab_7d3f299e2f364504a2cc5aa620b8e5d1.pdf

Red Nose Day is a fundraising day in support of Comic Relief, which was set up in 1985 in response to the famine in Ethiopia.  It is a major UK charity with a vision of a just world, free from poverty.  Over the last few years, monies raised have helped to support over 3 million people in the UK and around the world.

At Smestow Academy, we have raised money today by donating any spare change that we can give, wearing red socks, designing red noses and (by popular demand!) a samosa sale at breaktime!  The samosas were a sellout and we look forward to seeing how much money we have raised!

Our fundraising event is another way that we demonstrate active citizenship in school as part of our wider personal development programme.  Our pupils have demonstrated our Smestow values by making a difference every day and welcoming and caring environment.  

On Friday 8^th March, eight year 7 girls participated in the ‘Biggest Ever Football Session’ in Wolverhampton. As part of the Let Girls Play campaign, the FA and Barclays’ invited Smestow Academy to be a part of 5000 schools that competed all on the same day across England. Significantly, sharing the day with International Womens Day, the girls showed heaps of enthusiasm and passion for the sport they love to play for a whole afternoon at Aldersley Leisure Village. 

It was a great opportunity for the girls to compete against local school teams the same age to themselves and experience a fun tournament environment. Although nervous, the girls were excited to get going and desperate to play the whole afternoon! The afternoon consisted of six games in the group stages of four minutes each. Unfortunately we lost to WGS, UTT, ALdersley and Moseley but the last two games were 1-0 which showed a tremendous effort from our defence, in particular Jassica for her blocks to goal and shout out to every girl who volunteered for having a game in goal. This showed great team work and sportsmanship. Alot of progress and learning was had and although narrowly losing each of the group stage games, mainly due to last second goals, the girls finished the afternoon on a 2-0 win against St Chads with Shardae scoring two brilliant goals that were perfectly aimed into the bottom corners and had the power no keeper would want to be in the way of!

Well done to Shahad, Jassica, Shardae, Nicole, Madison, Khiea, Angel & Angel in Year 7.

On Monday evening the YR8 Boys took part in the city handball competition at our Lady and St Chads. In tough conditions the lads did really well and showed excellent teamwork, work rate and resilience throughout their 4 games of the tournament. Considering they have never played in a handball competition before, the skill and tactics on show from all of them was excellent and developed game on game. The boys came up against some strong opposition in Moreton and St Chads which meant that they finished 3^rd in their group and didn’t qualify for the knockout stages but scored some excellent goals on their way; the pick of the bunch coming from Dorian with a solo drive right from defence all the way past their team before firing a shot into the top corner of the goal. The lads really developed their handball skills and learnt more about the specific rules involved in a competitive handball game, some vital experience that they can take away and prepare for next year. They were a credit to themselves and the school showing true resilience and sportsmanship throughout. Well done to Inoke, Jevan, Aleksander, Joshua, Harjot, Aarush, Dorian and Kai all of YR8.

To celebrate British science week and international women’s day on Friday 8th March 60 year 9 pupils had a fantastic opportunity to take part in a STEM day which was delivered by small piece trust

Students worked brilliantly as a team and planned, designed and constructed an aircraft

It was an amazing day where students showcased their leadership and problem-solving skills to deliver this project.  

Well done to all the students involved for showing so much dedication and for being impeccably behaved. A big thank you to Judy Lin, Caroline George for delivering this event and all of the staff who got involved.

Today we welcomed Dr Eve Griffiths and Antonia Thomas from Outreach, who delivered training to Matrix staff on understanding the effects ACES and trauma can have on our pupils’ mental health, behaviour and understanding, as well as how we can facilitate restorative conversations in school.  We learnt innovative new ways to support our pupils in building and maintaining positive, healthy relationships, resolving difficulties and repairing harm when there has been conflict. Thank you Outreach!

A huge congratulations our staff who attended the annual Matrix Academy Trust long service celebration meal last Friday. They joined colleagues from across the trust at the wonderful BANK.  Racking up over 700 years’ service collectively across the trust.  Another huge thank you to you all for your continued dedication to our community. 

On 27th February, Mrs Fellows along with three sixth form students had the opportunity to take part in the Lessons from Auschwitz project which included a one-day visit to Auschwitz One and Auschwitz Birkenau. On the day we took part in a guided tour of both camps and had a brief visit to Oświęcim to visit the site of the Great Synagogue which was destroyed during the war. In addition on Sunday 3rd March, the students also took part in a live Zoom call with Holocaust survivor Janine Webber who told her story of survival during Nazi occupied Poland.