This week staff at Smestow Academy have been enjoying cakes made by their colleagues  for another good cause. We have raised £97.50 for Holbeche House’s charity, Compton Care. Compton Care has been established for over forty years, offering specialist palliative and end of life care in Wolverhampton. It also offers patients specialist care in their own home, providing a valuable lifeline for those in need and their families. Holbeche House is proud to support this vital organisation. Look out for further fundraising events in the future! 

World Laughter Day was celebrated at the weekend (3rd May) and in light of this, we asked our pupils what their favourite jokes were to share with you.  We had lots of jokes submitted, but a few of our favourites were...

What did the potato wear to his date?  A jacket! 

Where does a pancake live?  In a flat!

What do you call something that has no body and no nose?  Nobody knows!

And the best joke has to be...

What do you call a blind dinosaur?  A do-you-think-he-saw-us?!?!

On Thursday 1^st May 60 pupils in year 7 and 8 took part in the UK Junior Maths challenge set by the UK Maths Trust. Every year pupils across the country sit the challenge in the hope of being awarded a bronze, silver or gold certificate.

The challenge consists of 25 multiple choice questions designed to make pupils think hard. The questions test pupils’ logic and problem solving skills and get increasingly difficult as the challenge goes on. Pupils had 60 minutes to answer as many as they can scoring 5 or 6 marks per question.

The top pupils nationally are awarded Bronze, Silver or Gold certificates and exceptional scores qualify for additional rounds of the challenge.

All pupils took the challenge seriously and worked incredibly hard throughout the given time. We are really proud of each student and look forward to seeing the results in the next few weeks.

We are thrilled to celebrate the incredible success of our very first Trust-wide Spelling Bee – a vibrant event that brought together pupils from all our schools, in a showcase of linguistic talent, nerves of steel, and community spirit.

Over 40 brilliant spellers from Key Stages 2 and 3 took to the stage, each tackling an impressive word list of more than 150 challenging entries. From phosphorescent to megalomaniac, cantankerous, chihuahua, frittata, and hieroglyphics, the competition tested not only vocabulary but also memory, focus, and composure under pressure.

The atmosphere was electric, with supporters gripped from start to finish, watching each round unfold on the edge of their seats. In an extraordinary finish, two winners were crowned – a testament to just how high the standard was. Huge congratulations to our co-champions: one from Etone College and the other from Bloxwich Academy Primary.

Both of them had to complete the tie breaker, spelling as accurately as possible a fearsome word which they had not been told in advance: ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM. Both of them spelled it correctly!

This inaugural event marks the beginning of what we expect to become a favourite in the Matrix events calendar. A huge thank you to all the pupils, staff and supporters who made this possible. We’re already looking forward to next year’s Spelling Bee!

On Thursday 10th April, a squad of Year 9 pupils took part in the National T1 Rugby series at Wolverhampton Rugby Club. Following an unbeaten group stage, Smestow progressed directly into the final of the tournament. Unfortunately, we narrowly lost out to our opposition. The squad were captained brilliantly by J. Howells who used his Rugby experience to great effect in supporting less experienced players. The squad worked incredibly hard in extremely warm conditions to counteract fatigue when playing back to back games to ensure they topped the group. The squad demonstrated the Smestow values of success achieved together as well as equality and respect for all by tidying up the playing area following the tournament, shaking the hands of every opponent, and applauding the winning school.

On Tuesday, our Year 8 cohort had an amazing day out at the Black Country Living Museum 

As part of their study of Wolverhampton and the Black Country during the Industrial Revolution, students got hands-on with local history — exploring coal mining, nail & chain making, brick making, and more! 

A brilliant day full of learning, laughter, and living history. Well done to all our pupils and staff who made it such a success! 

#SmestowAcademy #HistoryInAction #IndustrialRevolution #LocalHistory

A huge shoutout to our amazing year 9 pupils A Phelps, A Bashir, D Tojo, G Dhillon, G Singh, J Kaur, M Copeland, S King, T Jones and D Eghwere who were incredible in welcoming pupils and staff from a school in Germany this week.  The above pupils were brilliant buddies, and it was great to see these pupils making our visitors feel so comfortable and included in the Smestow community.  

All pupils took part in a harry potter workshop on Monday which involved them conducting various fun experiments, they also had a very informative presentation led by the German pupils about the education system, culture, history and food in Germany. On Tuesday pupils also had a fantastic day out visiting the University of Birmingham, taking part in a master class and also a trip to Lapworth museum where they explored wonders of geology and natural history. What an excellent week of learning and cultural connection it was !
Thank you, Year 9, for your excellent work as buddies. You have made a real difference, and we are incredibly proud of the way you embraced this opportunity and showed such brilliant Smestow values. Your welcoming and caring attitude has left a lasting positive impression on our German visitors. 

All schools across our Trust have been working collaboratively to recognise and celebrate key dates in the PSHE calendar. These are in addition to other events that will also be taking place in our individual schools. We are very proud to share our Matrix Academy Trust Personal Development Calendar which gives details of the events where our schools have come together to produce a wide range of activities for our pupils. These events will be recognised through a combination of assemblies and form time activities as well as their importance being widely publicised through our social media platforms and in schools through displays, posters and TV screens. For some events, there will be additional activities planned such as competitions to engage our learners in the real meaning of these days.

There is a wide range of days recognised to acknowledge different faiths and groups as well as promote very important themes such as equality, diversity, wellbeing and British Values. This project epitomises the real spirit of collaboration in our school as well as our commitment to ensuring that our pupils have the knowledge and skills to not only keep themselves safe but be ready and able to make a valuable contribution to society.

The Year 11 GCSE Religious Studies group recently visited Guru Nanak Gurdwara and the Old Church in Smethwick to support their studies in Christianity and Sikhism. We received a warm welcome and were given insightful talks about each faith and its place of worship. During our visit to the Gurdwara students also had the opportunity to experience Langar. We would like to express our gratitude to both for their hospitality.