Congratulations to our Year 10 students who have performed well on their end of unit exams. They have been assessed on the Media and Technology unit and many pupils scored 45 or more out of 50 on the listening and reading papers. The writing papers also showed real promise with many pupils demonstrating their opinions and using the past, present and future tenses to talk about their online activities. Bravo!

Below are photographs of exam work from Riley and Leyla in Year 10

Year 11s are about to sit their speaking exams in French. These begin on February 10^th. Please see a fantastic alphabet resources on the website. Mademoiselle Robic has carefully planned an activity for pupils to listen and check their understanding of the French alphabet. This will greatly help students with the read-aloud task and in spelling any names on the role play task. Bonne chance !

Are you curious about how scientists isolate DNA from living organisms? Well, pupils attending Science Club got to answer that question this week! The young Scientists successfully extracted Deoxyribonucleic Acid  (DNA) from green peas. They added cold water and tablespoon of salt to green peas. The mixture was then ground up using a pestle and mortar, washing-up-liquid was added at this stage and the mixture ground up further. This was then filtered through a cloth to remove any solid particles, leaving behind the liquid. Cold ethanol was then slowly added to the remaining liquid. After a few moments the DNA began to precipitate and form white, stringy clumps at the top of the test tube.

Year 8 and 9 pupils had a brilliant STEM Day with the Smallpiece Trust, taking on the challenge of designing and building a lander. 

Teams created and tested prototypes, focusing on stability, durability and cushioning to protect their payload on landing. Lots of creativity, problem-solving and teamwork on show as students tested, refined and improved their designs. Finally summarised their design in a presentation to their peers.

A fantastic hands-on introduction to real-world engineering and STEM careers. Congratulations to the winning group who successfully score 17/18 on teamwork, presentation, prototype testing and location. 

The Higher and Degree Vacancy Listings will be produced three times this academic year (October, January and April) by Amazing Apprenticeships on behalf of the Careers and Enterprise Company.

Click HERE

High School Musical auditions took place throughout this week, and we were blown away by the incredible talent on display. The standard of auditions was outstanding, making casting a very difficult decision.

We are delighted to have announced our cast list this afternoon, with 35 of our amazing pupils taking part in the production. We are incredibly excited to begin rehearsals and bring this show to life!

A huge well done to every pupil who auditioned, and congratulations— you should be very proud of yourselves!

7x1 have begun their new French topic, C’est quoi, une famille’. This topic covers family members and describing them. Well done to Kodi S and Rista S for their excellent, extended written work with Mr Famuyiwa this week. Pupils have displayed our value of ‘Strive to improve and be your best’ this week. A special mention also goes to 7x2 for their fantastic enthusiasm in French lessons since the start of term. Bravo!

We recently took Year 7 on a Religious Studies trip to experience places of worship in Smethwick. We were warmly welcomed at Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Smethwick Old Church and Smethwick Jamia Mosque. In each place of worship were given a tour and a talk about each faith and their place of worship. In the Gurdwara were able to sample Langar, the food that all Gurdwaras provide for free. Overall it was a fantastic day and we would like to thank all the places of worship and people who looked after us.

In Year 7 English this week, we have been developing active observation skills by “hunting” for outstanding work in the classroom. Using the visualiser, we live-marked exceptional responses together, modelling how high-quality answers can be refined and improved in real time.

👏 Harlee, Year 7 shared an excellent example, and this was live marked under the visualiser, allowing the class to see precise feedback in action.
🖊️ Evie, Year 7 then demonstrated brilliant learning behaviours by responding thoughtfully to this feedback, making clear and accurate improvements in green pen.

This approach encourages pupils to:
✔️ Engage with feedback actively
✔️ Learn from strong peer examples
✔️ Take ownership of improving their work

A fantastic example of reflective learning and high expectations in action - well done Year 7! 🌟

#Successachievedtogether 

Audition prep is officially underway, and we’re so excited to see what you bring to the stage!

🎭 Don’t forget: Collect your audition pack by the end of this week if you’d like to audition.
💃 Auditions:
📍 Dance Studio
🗓 Tuesday 20th & Wednesday 21st January
⏰ 3:00–4:15pm

This is your moment to shine 🌟 We can’t wait to see the incredible talent in our school—let’s get our head in the game! 🏀🎶

On Monday 12^th January 8 pupils from year 10 came to work with Mrs Butler during their lunch. It was the first of 2 lunch time sessions to help prepare them to sit the UK Intermediate Maths Challenge. Smestow Academy has never entered the Intermediate Maths Challenge before, but these pupils showed a real eagerness to challenge themselves to complete challenge that is designed for pupils in year 11 and below. Pupils have been completing practice papers at home and we came together to discuss strategies for some of the more challenging questions – particularly shape problems.

The 60 minute challenge will be undertaken by these pupils on Wednesday 28^th January and we are really excited to see what these pupils can achieve.