World Book Day 2024 is on Thursday 7^th March

Admissions 2024

It is National Offer Day.  If you have been successful in your application for Admission into Year 7 2024, we will write to you shortly with a welcome letter and information about forthcoming key dates.   If you have changed address since you applied, please contact us via email so that we can ensure we have the most up to date information for your child.  

If you were not successful on your application, please follow the link for information about Appeals: https://smestowacademy.co.uk/admissions/

Following a £160,000 revamp funded by its new multi-academy trust, Smestow Academy’s much-loved swimming pool has had its grand reopening.

When Matrix Academy Trust took on Smestow Academy in January 2023, they found the swimming pool to be unusable. A year on, the facilities have been completely overhauled.

Smestow Academy Headteacher Mr Chamberlain said, “For many in the area, this pool holds warm associations. But there had been no investment in more than five years. Bringing the pool back to life was a top priority when our trust took on Smestow Academy.”

Wolverhampton Councillor Wendy Thompson, who had the honour of cutting the ribbon to declare the pool open, revealed that her own children had learnt to swim in the pool. Councillor Johnathan Crofts was also in attendance and shared with the audience that he had himself learned to swim here 30 years ago.

The ceremony was also attended by Councillor Ellis Turell and the headteacher of nearby Castlecroft Primary School, Andy Dyall.

The school is seeking to provide local primary schools with the opportunity to use the facility, along with opening it up for use by the wider community.

Headteacher Mr Chamberlain said: “This reopening represents a milestone for our school, demonstrating our commitment to providing exceptional facilities that promote health, well-being, and educational enrichment.  This is another landmark in the rapid and sustainable improvement in the quality of education at our school since joining Matrix Academy Trust.

“The swimming pool has been a significant part of the school’s long history and a wonderful facility for the community for decades before. The project to bring the pool back to life has involved a full refurbishment of the changing rooms, showers, communal areas and poolside. It’s also required an overhaul to the plant machinery that runs the pool to improve efficiency and to increase the longevity of the pool. An upgrade to LED lighting and the addition of a pool cover has further reduced energy consumption, ensuring it can be run sustainably, decades into the future.”

On Monday evening our YR9 & 10 Boys embarked on their first ever competitive handball competition which was held at our Lady St Chads. The tournament was a fantastic opportunity for the lads to showcase what they have learnt in PE lessons and compete against the top schools in the city. It was very competitive with our lads getting better and better as the night went on, playing some really quick and effective handball. Our YR9 team finished 3^rd in the group where they picked up a really impressive win against Wednesfield in their last game to show that they had really improved as a team across their games scoring some fantastic goals. The YR10 team went one better and they finished 2^nd in their group which meant they qualified for the knockout stages, the lads picked up convincing wins against Thomas Telford UTC and Aldersley in their group. The boys came up against Group A winners and overall champions on the night Our Lady St Chads in the semi finals where they gave a really good account of themselves narrowly missing out on a place on the final but some fantastic play was on show. They then went into the Bronze medal match against Moreton where they lost in the last seconds of the game to a fantastic goal scored by the opposition resulting in the YR10 Lads finishing the 4^th best handball team in the city, a great achievement considering they have never played the sport competitively. All of the lads were a credit to the school and performed really well with some fantastic skill on show. 

We now move onto the YR9 & 10 Girls competitive next Monday.

Today students in years 9 and 10 watched a performance from Loudmouth which focussed on real life stories of both child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation including county lines. The students were fully engaged in watching the performances and afterwards were given the chance to ask some insightful questions to the characters. Students displayed the Smestow Values of showing our guests a Welcoming and Caring Environment and we would like to remind all parents and students that we are a Telling School and staff are here to help if students find themselves in similar situations to today’s performance. 

CALLING ALL SMESTOW ACADEMY ALUMNI

If you’re a former student of Smestow Academy, we want to hear from you!

Your experiences since leaving could help to motivate and inspire our current students to feel more confident in making decisions about their future. We’d love you to join our Alumni Network and stay connected with the school.

We’ve partnered with the national education charity Future First, who specialise in helping schools like ours to stay connected with their former students. 

You can choose how and when you help – perhaps you can act as a career and education role model, provide work experience or become a mentor in person or online.

To sign up, just follow this link and fill in the online form – we promise it will only take a couple of minutes

https://www.futurefirsthub.org.uk/register/smestow-academy

We look forward to hearing from you.

To celebrate children’s mental health week this week, we are promoting positive mental health and wellbeing across the school. All pupils are invited to take part in our mindfulness challenges in return for prestigious silver commendations and they will also take part in a themed lesson, delivered by their form tutors as part of our personal development curriculum.

Here are some of our year 7 pupils taking part in mindfulness colouring at lunchtime today. This activity and “time to talk” is available to our year 7 pupils every lunchtime this week.

Our promotion of children’s mental health week is another example of us upholding our Smestow values in equality and respect for all, being a telling school and providing a welcoming and caring environment.

#successachievedtogether #smestowacademy #childrensmentalhealthweek #useyourvoice 

On Tuesday 23^rd of January, 50 pupils from the Matrix Academy Trust travelled from Gatwick Airport for a trip to Rome with the Turing Scheme. The Turing Scheme is a government initiative that fully funds a range of international opportunities for young people to go abroad and experience different cultures around the globe. Pupils who participate in this scheme are selected via criteria provided by the Department for Education.

After a smooth journey and arriving at our hostel, we made a swift departure to our first activity. Our group of 55 tackled the metro for the first time and walked our way to “Aroma Ostia” where our host school met us for an Italian cooking masterclass. During this class, our Chef taught us how to make pasta from scratch, along with the art of producing “carbonara” sauce, a dish that was born in Italy.

Throughout the week our mornings consisted of a rotation between groups, some taking themselves back to ancient Rome by visiting the Colosseum, some visited Castel Sant’Angelo which was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum, and some visiting our Italian partner school learning about various aspects of their culture including music, literature, fashion and food. One group even took part in an inclusion workshop raising awareness of disabilities.

After lunch, our pupils came back together and started their week by being trained as true gladiators at the gladiator school. This included a fitness assault course, practicing and testing a variety of fighting techniques before our Empress (Ms Callanan) would decide their fate. Pupils also opened their mind into the “museum of dreamers” experiencing an adult-size ball pit, various illusions and not to mention beating their fears (literally). Our afternoon of imagination delved deeper into Vigamus where pupils were led on journey of time on the evolution of video games. Our sightseeing continued when strolling down the Spanish Steps to the renowned Trevi Fountain before dining in a local restaurant.

Our final few days were spent zipping through the trees of Rome at Eurpark High Ropes. It was incredible to see the number of pupils who overcame their fears and pushed through their limits to reach new heights before we caught the train to the shores of Ostia, where some pupils even dipped their toes in the sea! Mount Vesuvius was our next destination, with a 20 minute hike up to the viewpoint at the top of the volcano and a further 5 minutes to the crater. Pupils were in awe of the beauty of the bay of Naples, before seeing the steam being produced out of the dormant volcano. Having learnt about the history of Vesuvius, our next stop was the Herculaneum, a UNESCO heritage site which was covered in volcanic ash and rediscovered during excavations in the mid 18^th century.

We couldn’t have left Rome before visiting the Stadio Olimpico, home to football clubs Roma and Lazio, and currently hosting the six nations! Following this, we took a trip abroad whilst abroad by visiting the Vatican City, the world’s smallest country! This tour included a visit to the Sistine Chapel, famous for papal ceremonies and used by the sacred college of cardinals.

Our week in Italy was spent experiencing various aspects of culture, encountering many new experiences and bringing more of our students together to create stronger connections.

Our pupils share their thoughts:

“The trip to italy was really great. I am very happy to have had the chance to go on a trip like this for free and have made so many friends in the process. I liked the rooms at the hostel, and how stress-free you guys made everything by everything being so organised and how there was a diverse range of things to do. The metro and bus rides were good, and got less busy due to good planning. Some things that we did that I thought I wouldn’t enjoy I turned out liking such as the school visit. The children there were lovely and despite the struggle communicating with some words, it was fun talking to them about what their life is like and comparing ours together. The museum of dreamers was my favourite because it was unlike anything I have ever done before. It was a unique experience which helped me with insight and keeping an open mind. I liked seeing the sights such as the colosseum, the Herculaneum and museums like the Vatican, gaming and the dream one. I liked the Vatican and the castle a lot because it was nice to see religious artefacts and art that I have always wanted to see. Thank you for the opportunity and choosing a great city like Rome.” – Alfie

“This trip to Italy was amazing, I’m so thankful I’ve had the opportunity to go to such a great place and it being free! Thanks to Ms Callanan, Mr Kendall, Mr Aspinall, Ms Thomson, and Ms Thompson. This week has been really fun and I haven’t felt this happy in ages! 10/10″ – Dylan

Former Olympic athlete, World Champion (400m) and European Champion (4x400m relay) Daniel Caines visited Smestow Academy today to deliver a series of inspirational assemblies to pupils in Years 7-11.  Daniel shared his stories of growing up in the world of sport, the setbacks he encountered and the achievements he has accomplished.  His key messages are shared with our Smestow values – success achieved together, making a difference every day and striving to improve and be your best.

Thank you to Daniel for sharing your story with us!