Staff and pupils at Smestow Academy have been raising funds for Children in Need today, with a staff and 6th form fancy dress, a cake sale and a basketball shootout at breaktime. A total of £227.22 has been raised.

All monies raised will be for BBC Children in Need, a charity which supports underprivileged children in the UK.

A huge thank you to everybody who has taken part and donated money to this worthwhile cause, and in turn, demonstrated our Smestow values of success achieved together, making a difference every day, equality and respect for all and providing a welcoming a caring environment.

This week, Miss Davey (Head of Dawley House) and the Anti-Bullying Reps have delivered assemblies to year groups that shared theme for this year which is “Make a Noise about Bullying”.  Our reps spoke confidently about what bullying is, the different perceptions of bullying which includes face-to-face, banter and online abuse.

Smestow Academy has a zero-tolerance to bullying and is a “telling school” – it is one of our smestow values.  If you are worried about yourself or somebody you know, please report this to a member of staff so that we can help.

Miss Whitehouse launched a psychological thriller of a House Competition which required pupils to Build a Brain using any materials! There were some extremely creative entries from pupils with some GCSE Psychology pupils using the knowledge learnt in lesson to produce well-written explanations of what each part of the Brain does. Pictured is runner up E. Wilkinson (10G1) with her entry and a selection of other wonderful entries.

Maths Week England began today and pupils have already been getting involved. Pupils completed a selection of Futoshiki puzzles during form time this morning and they will be completing a different puzzle during lunch time each day this week.

Today’s puzzle was all about socks. Look out for tomorrow’s puzzle all about the zoo.

Anti Bullying week takes part each year in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the Anti Bullying Alliance. This year’s theme is ‘Make A Noise About Bullying.’  This event will take place from Monday 13^th to Friday 17^th of November. All pupils will have an assembly on our theme ‘Make a Noise About Bullying’ from Miss Davey and the Anti Bulling reps. Collectively the school will acknowledge with Odd Socks Day on Thursday 16^th November, where staff and pupils wear odd socks and in form time pupils will create their own ‘odd socks’ to celebrate all what makes us unique. Drama lessons will focus scenarios on the difference between ‘banter’ and ‘bullying’, the roles of perpetrators, victims and bystanders to raise awareness of bulling around them. 

This Anti Bulling Week, Smestow will come together to discuss what bullying means to us, how banter can turn into something more hurtful, and what we can do to stop bullying. In the words of the Anti Bullying Alliance ‘From the playground to Parliament, and from our phones to our homes, let’s make a noise about bullying.’

Maths Week England was set up in 2019 with the goal of ensuring that no children miss out on the opportunities that being a confident competent mathematician can give them. Set up by Andrew Jeffrey, Maths Week England aims to show pupils that maths is fun, relevant and, more importantly, available to everyone. This year the theme is “Three is the magic number” and will run throughout the activities from Monday 13^th – Friday 18^th November. Throughout the week there will be a variety of maths activities, problems and competitions to bring a little bit of fun to your lessons. You will be able to work alone and as a group to tackle problems you might not normally see in the classroom. 

Nrich, the specialists in rich mathematics, will be releasing video problems on Monday 13^th November. Details will be shared via the school website and Smestow social media. You may submit solutions to Mrs Butler by the end of Tuesday. Nrich will publish some of the best solutions on their website!

What will we be doing to celebrate?

1. Form time puzzles – Monday

2. Puzzle competition in the maths corridor – see your maths teacher for an entry sheet

3. Puzzles and activities in maths lessons

4. A3 Art competition in Art lessons – Deadline Tuesday 14^th November

5. Nrich video problems available on Smestow social media and the school website

6. MWE23 Date challenge – A tangram puzzle available from your form tutor

At Smestow Academy, we are celebrating Transgender Awareness week, in the week beginning 20^th November.  Pupils are invited to wear their rainbow laces as part of their Dance and PE kit that week.  The rainbow laces are a visual symbol to celebrate, uplift and honour our trans community.

There is no cost to pupils taking part in this event and we would encourage as many of you to get involved in upholding our smestow values of making a difference everyday and providing a welcoming and caring environment.  It is also another way in which we can celebrate our fundamental british value of individual liberty.

17^th November 2023

Fundraising for BBC Children in Need will take place in school on 17^th November.  Pupils are asked to donate what spare change that they can in donation buckets around school.  There will be a cake sale at breaktime, along with a basketball shootout on the tennis courts at break too!  Staff and 6^th Form are invited to take part in Fancy Dress to raise money for this fantastic charity, which supports disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

Please note – all collection buckets are sealed, so no change will be given at this event.  Please ensure to bring spare change if you wish to take part in activities or donate.  Thank you.

16^th November 2023

Anti-bullying week is taking place week beginning 13^th November 2023.  We are raising awareness of this though house assemblies led by Ms Davey (Head of Dawley House) and our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors.  To show our support, staff and pupils are invited to wear odd socks on 16^th November, a symbol to all to celebrate how unique we all are!

There is no cost to pupils taking part in this event and we would encourage as many of you to get involved in upholding our smestow values of making a difference everyday and providing a welcoming and caring environment.

Following the success of the “restart a heart” campaign and raising awareness in school, we are pleased to share that we have had a new defibrillator installed in school.

The device is in a locked box by Mr Murphy’s office. Hopefully, we will never need to use it, but we are lucky to be able to have the resource in school to help save a life should somebody be in danger.