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Kidical Mass Wolverhampton

On Saturday 15^th June selected pupils who regularly attend Dance or Musical Theatre Club were given the opportunity to perform at Kidical Mass Wolverhampton, which took place at East Park, representing schools from the City at the event which campaigns for safer streets to cycle on aligning with our Smestow Value of 'Equality and Respect for All.'

The Smestow girls performed as part of a celebration at the end of the main cycling event. Not only did they demonstrate commitment to the Performing Arts, by giving up their time on a Saturday to attend the performance, but they were extremely resilient and adaptable to the change in performance space and the wet conditions the ground was in, the girls took everything that was thrown their way in their stride exemplifying our Smestow Values or 'Success Achieved Together.''

Congratulations to:

M Kaseke 7G1

S Banger 7D2

O Akesuyi 7D2

H Harris 7D2

Z Sumner 8D1

B Harper 9H2.

The girls performed two contemporary dances, dazzling the audience with their lifts, tricks and partner work with the scenery of the trees behind them adding to the spectacle. Most of the girls who performed had never danced before it was introduced to the curriculum in September, so to be able to participate in a public performance shows just how much hard work they have put in both inside and outside of lessons they are truly 'Making a Difference Every Day.' The performance finished with a beautiful solo choreographed by Z Sumner 8D1, a seasoned dancer who is now demonstrating her choreography skills using what she has learned this year in lessons and being inspired to incorporate new movements she had learned from routines we have explored in clubs throughout the year.

The Creative Arts Department are unbelievably proud of the progress these pupils have made and can't wait to provide even more performance opportunities for our pupils.

General - 06/19/2024

National Archives - D Day

In preparation for the 80^th anniversary of D Day on Thursday 6^th June, year 9 have taken part in a live interactive session from the National Archives and hosted by historian Dan Snow. During this session, students were lead through some activities by Mrs Pinches to help them recall previously taught knowledge from their Second World War unit and then handed over to Dan Snow who spoke to the students about the importance of commemorating D Day and the sacrifices made by allied soldiers during this campaign.

D Day is widely considered to be the turning point of World War Two, with the Allied forces successfully invading the beaches of northern France and gaining a foothold in Europe, it was the largest naval, air and land operation in history. D-Day was an international effort and included soldiers from Great Britain, France, USA, Canada and many more. On Thursday the whole school will have the opportunity to commemorate the 80^th anniversary of D Day with a special Personal Development session scheduled in the morning.

General - 06/04/2024

Rounders

On 21^st May, Year 8 & 9 girls took part in their first rounders fixture at home against Wednesfield Academy Year 9 students. The game was made up of two, ten minute innings. Smestow won the toss and chose to field first. The team quickly adapted to new fielding formations having not played together before. The connections between back stop and 2^nd post were particularly fantastic, with accurate throws and safe catches which resulted in Wednesfield often being stuck at 1^st post, unable to score. Brilliant decisions were made by deep fielders, making the hard choice whether to throw to 2^nd or 4^th post. We covered ground well and understood the batters capabilities to change our positioning appropriately. When batting we made some good hits and ran excellently to 2^nd post, quickly adding up half rounders.

The first innings ended an exciting draw 5 ½ - 5 ½ .

During the second innings fielding was still strong. The batters were slightly more inconsistent but there was a lot more power in the shots, leading to multiple rounders scored. The running also put a lot of pressure on 2^nd post and missed catches by Wednesfield meant we kept adding ½ rounders to the scoreboard. Most impressively the students positioned themselves towards the edge of the box tactically which meant they also scored additional half rounders from no balls at the body.

The second innings ended a close 7 - 6 ½ to Smestow! The final result was 12 - 12 ½ to Smestow Academy.

Well done to the following students for representing our school and winning their first rounders fixture:

A L Steadman

T-J Smallwood

K Wunganai

Y Gaillard

H Stanley

E-M Fox

F Heath

F Zirta-Gimbien

Batter of the match – A L Steadman

Fielder of the match – K Wungunai

General - 05/22/2024

Mental Health Awareness Week

This week at Smestow we have been celebrating ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’. Ensuring our pupils are aware of how to look after their mental health and wellbeing is one of our key priorities here at school! As one of our Mental Health top tips is to ‘Be Active’ down in the performing arts department we have completed a ‘Be active at break’ challenge. This involved a variety of activities such as stretching, body combat, just dance and yoga. The pupils involved have all thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the activities this week, demonstrating our Smestow values ‘Making a difference everyday’ and ‘Striving to improve and be your best’.

Well done to all involved!

General - 05/17/2024

Personal Development Ambassadors

We are excited to launch a new pupil leadership opportunity in school! Our PD Ambassadors will champion all of the exciting events that are taking place in our school to help us develop into young people who make outstanding contributions to modern British society.

If you are interested, make sure to let your Form Tutor know - the deadline for this is Friday 24^th May 2024.

General - 05/17/2024

Scholastic Book Fair

The week after half term brings the Scholastic Book Fair to school. The Library will be open to all pupils to visit the book fair from Tuesday 4th June until Friday 7th June, before school, break time and after school.

Scholastic will be providing a fantastic selection of classic and newly released books at discounted prices for pupils to purchase and keep. And every book you purchase helps raise funds for the school library.

We have 5 £5 vouchers to give away to spend at the book fair, all pupils that complete an Accelerated Reader Quiz or submit a book review to the library will be entered into a draw to win a voucher, the more quizzes you take or reviews you submit, the more chancres you get to win a voucher!

Pop into the library to find out more.

General - 05/16/2024

Pi Day

We are very proud of M Harris Year 7 who won the trust wide Pi Day competition. Pi day is the 14^th March (3.14) and is celebrated worldwide to make maths more fun and relatable. This year Matrix Academy Trust asked it’s pupils to “bring pi to life”. M Harris created a beautiful poster based around the popular you tube video helping pupils memorise the digits of pi. She was awarded a £30 voucher for being the best entry across the whole trust!

General - 05/14/2024

DofE prep has started!

Our year 10 and 11 Duke of Edinburgh students have began their preparation for the expedition coming up in June, working towards their bronze award. We will be venturing into the wilds of Cannock Chase for a walking and camping expedition, and have been working on map skills, cooking and putting up tents in preparation. A great spirit of teamwork and togetherness was demonstrated and we look forward to a successful bronze expedition.

General - 05/09/2024

Exam Season

The exam season has begun and all pupils have been given a copy of the Year 11 collapsed timetable showing the exams and exam preparation sessions.

All pupils should use the following exam tips to help them prepare for their exams:

Pupils need to be in school at 8.30am at the latest, the canteen is open from 8am.
A free breakfast on exam days will be available from 8.30am.
Breakfast exam preparation sessions begin at 8.45am.
Morning exams begin at 9.30am.
Afternoon exams begin at 1.30pm.
After the breakfast exam preparation session pupils need to make sure they go to the toilet.
Make sure pupils know their seat number for each exam.
Before the exam line up in the canteen in the correct row their seat is in.
Remove everything from their pockets and put it in their bag – all they need are two black pens, a pencil, ruler and a calculator.
Make sure their mobile phone is turned off and inside their bag.
Enter the exam hall in silence, place their bag at the side of the hall and take their seat.
Take a deep breath, relax and do your best!

We wish all of our pupils the very best of luck!

General - 05/09/2024

Turing Stockholm, Sweden

Embarking on a journey beyond borders can be a transformative experience for students, offering them a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in different cultures, languages, and traditions. Recently, a group of 35 adventurous pupils from across Matrix Academy Trust had the incredible opportunity to explore the city of Stockholm, Sweden through the Turing Scheme. This government-funded scheme enables pupils to experience other cultures.

Our first activity was a visit to the Paradox Musuem, which offers an engaging exploration of optical illusions. Visitors are invited to pose for some great pictures as part of these illusions, before walking to the Avicii Experience, where our pupils enjoyed DJing alongside the groundbreaking DJ and producer, experiencing his music in a unique and immersive setting.

Later that afternoon, our students had the opportunity to visit Gamla Stan, Stockholm's charming Old Town, exploring landmarks such as the Royal Armouries. They also delved into the world of Nobel laureates at the Nobel Prize Museum, learning about the importance of science, literature, and peace in shaping our world.

On our second day, we visited the Vasa Museum in Stockholm. As you step into the museum, you're greeted by the Vasa ship, a preserved warship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1628 and was salvaged centuries later. Our pupils also enjoyed exploring Lego versions of the world's most famous shipwrecks.

Following this, our students had the pleasure of exploring the iconic music of Sweden. At the ABBA museum, they were immersed in ABBA's iconic costumes and memorabilia, exploring interactive exhibits and singing and dancing along to timeless hits.

On day three, we paid a visit to the Tekniska Museum of science, technology, and innovation. Here the pupils enjoyed interactive exhibits, followed by lunch at Max Burgers – Sweden's (significantly better) answer to McDonalds.

In the afternoon, we took a scenic boat tour around Stockholm's archipelago, where we got to see the city's iconic landmarks from a unique perspective. And in the afternoon, the competitive natures of staff and pupils kicked in with an outdoor escape room adventure around the historic town. Divided into teams, pupils navigated their teams and their teacher through the narrow cobblestone streets, solving clues and unravelling mysteries, where only one of our groups solved the clues to find the final code!

On day four, our pupils had the opportunity to visit Töjnaskolan, a Swedish school located in the suburbs of Stockholm. Stepping into the classrooms of Töjnaskolan, our pupils were struck by the differences between British and Swedish educational systems. Aside from being instant celebrities, they noticed smaller class sizes, a longer lunchtime and no school uniform. The visit sparked discussions between both sets of pupils about the different educational models, encouraging our students to reflect on their own learning experiences and cultural perspectives.

On day 5 was a visit to Skansen, the world's first open-air museum, showcasing Swedish life from centuries past to the present day. Our students were delighted to explore the native animals of Sweden, with the highlight of the visit being the opportunity to hand-feed some of the friendly birds that call Skansen home.

On our final day, our pupils experienced an adrenaline rush at Skypark Vaxholm, an exhilarating outdoor adventure park. They navigated treetop obstacle courses, zip-lined across forests, and conquered thrilling challenges, pushing their limits and building confidence.

As our pupils bid farewell to Stockholm and boarded their flight back to London Heathrow, they carried with them memories that will last a lifetime. The trip embodied Matrix Academy Trust’s ethos of Education without Exception. Through experiences like the Stockholm trip, we empower our students to open their minds to endless possibilities and shape them into compassionate, informed global citizens.