3 Days, 34 students, 3 teachers. What a fantastic time was had by all.

The Be A Baller discovery days started at Smestow on the Tuesday where Mr Webb had put on a range of different matches and activities into a Euros like tournament style, looking for teams to come out on top. We had a 9v9 full game going on, 5 a-side out on the field and then also some fun Panna football in a 1v1 situation but extra points were awarded by for a ‘megs’ so we saw lots of tricks and flicks from the students in this one. Some fantastic quality and excellent work rate was on show as the students endured on 4 hours of game situations and then finished with some penalty shootouts.

Big shoutout to Elite FC who were the winners of the YR7&8 Competition and then Project Neymar took the title for the YR9&10s.

Wednesday then came where we embarked on Aldersley Leisure Village where we were met by coaches from Wolves Foundation who led the students through a 2 hour training session looking at some different types of shooting and then some passing and possession based work. The students were absolutely fantastic and had lots of praise from all of the wolves coaches, a quote from them was; Teddy, Louis and Kurran were blown away by the stadium session this morning and the skill and standard of behaviour shown by all. The students were a credit to the school, the session finished with a team penalty shootout and the winners who received a replica Wolverhampton Wanderers first team shirt were Cristian, Danny, Svetlana and Omid.

In the afternoon, we then went for a tour round Molineux stadium which the students loved and really got chance to see what it was like behind the scenes of a professional football club. The chance to sit where some of their role models sit in the changing rooms or look out onto the pitch as they were a pundit or a commentator really topped the day off for the students. Another quote from the wolves staff was; The Stadium Tour was a pleasure to host due to their participation and engagement. An absolute credit to the School, their teachers and their parents. Please extend our thanks.

The final day of Discovery days and it was the biggest one yet for the Ballers with a 5:45am meet at school and we didn’t return until 19:30. However, this was all worth it with a breathtaking day down at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. If the students were taken back by the Molineux training and tour then this was a different level and it left some of them speechless. Once we arrived in London, the day started with a training session at the Tottenham Hotspur training ground which was led by academy coaches and the students got to see exactly what a state of the art training ground in the premier league is like. They even got chance to see a Tottenham first team player from afar. The training sessions were excellently led and our students engagement and quality on such a hot day was once again a credit to them. We had lots of compliments from the coaches and some of the quality of our players really got some plaudits; special mention to Kye and Svetlana in YR10 who were pointed out by the academy director of Tottenham as being exceptional players. Once the training was finished, we then went onto a tour of one of if not the best stadium in the world and it definitely lived up to the expectations! The students and also Mr Webb who has been to many stadiums in his time were taken away with the facilities at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. On a self guided tour, we got chance to see what it is like to be an executive member at Tottenham, what it is like to be not only a football player but also an NFL player at the stadium with a trip into the NFL locker room which nobody on the trip had ever had chance to see inside. An absolutely amazing experience for the students and something that will stay with them for a very long time.

The Be A Baller discovery days were a huge success with everyone enjoying themselves along with some once in a lifetime experiences. The behaviour was exemplary from everyone involved and all were a credit to the school. Until next year Ballers.

 A level Results Day – Thursday 15^th August 2024

Results will be available from 8am till 11am in Dining Hall

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GCSE Results Day – Thursday 22nd August 2024

Results will be available from 9am till 11am in Dining Hall

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On Saturday 13^th July, Smestow Academy celebrated 60 years with a spectacular celebration event, bringing together former and current pupils, colleagues and members of the community. 

Founded in 1964, Smestow Academy has been serving children and families in the Castlecroft area of Wolverhampton for six remarkable decades.  The school is now making excellent progress to become an educational force to be reckoned with since reopening under the Matrix Academy Trust in January 2023.    

The 60^th Celebration featured a wide range of activities and attractions, including an inflatable assault course, synchronized swimming demonstration, petting zoo, candle making workshop, a range of street food and craft stalls, live pupil performances and summer fayre activities for all ages.  All proceeds raised have been donated to the schools’ individual House charities. 

Guest of honour, the newly elected local MP for Wolverhampton West Warinder Juss, joined in the celebrations, supporting Smestow pupils by planting a silver birch tree alongside a tree that was planted to mark the schools’ 25^th anniversary, back in 1989. He also helped pupils bury a time capsule in the memorial gardens.  

Headteacher Ian Chamberlain said:  ”We are immensely proud to celebrate six decades of education, memories, community engagement, and personal stories at Smestow Academy. Our 60th Celebration epitomised the spirit and dedication of our entire school community. It was great to see so many wonderful pupil performances, including the wonderful dancers from Castlecroft Primary School who have been working with our performing arts department.  The whole event was a great opportunity for all to feel the warm and welcoming environment the school radiates.”  

On Wednesday, Smestow annual Sportsday took place and what an event it was. An amazing spectacle for the school lead by the PE department where mass participation was the aim and this is what we got with lots of students from all year groups across all the houses competed in a series of track and field events. The morning consisted of the field events where out on the field we had long jump, discuss, javelin, shot putt and then the 800M. Some fantastic athleticism and technique was on show here where we had 3 record breakers! Mr Webb has kept a school Sportsday records sheet since 2017 so there is some very long standing records on there but 3 of them were beaten this year on the morning so it is a special shoutout to;

Amelia (YR8) who broke the YR8 Girls 800M record with an outstanding time of 3.16 mins

Catalin (YR10) who threw the shot put 10.9 metres and broke the YR10 Boys Shotputt record

Rhys (YR10) broke the YR10 Boys Javelin record with a fantastic throw of 19.47 metres.

All of these students should be extremely proud of their achievement and they will hope that these records stand for the next couple of years.

Throughout the afternoon it was the turn of the track events and did we have some exciting races! All year groups competed in 400M, 300M, 200M, 100M and then finished the day off with a mixed relay. Outstanding participation, outstanding pace and an outstanding atmosphere from the side cheering their peers on throughout all races. It was so great to see everyone on their feet making a positive atmosphere for the runners which gave them that bit of an extra push as they tried to earn as many points as possible for their house. There was one record broken in the afternoon on the track and that was in arguably the most exciting race of the day; YR10 Boys 100M. There was a favourite in this one with Gary being crowned the quickest boy in the city last year for the 100M but he had some mighty challengers. It was neck and neck all the way to the last 10 metres where Kye found that extra bit of something and accelerating to the line smashing a 7 year long record with a fantastic time of 12.36 seconds. Well done Kye you are now the YR10 Boys 100M record holder.

Students were awarded with Bronze, Silver and Gold medals throughout the day with a number of different medal ceremonies but every position was worth house points on the day and it was great to see such mass participation from everyone.

It was an amazing day for the academy where all staff and students came together to have a fantastic day. There was even a chance for staff to show the students what they could do in a relay race which the Holbeche form tutors took the bragging rights this year.

The results are in and it was a very close one between all 3 houses, staff and students will have to wait till the end of year assembly to find out the winners but what a day we had!

Shoutout to all of the competitors on the day, you did yourselves proud.

On Monday, 14 YR9 students travelled to Christchurch primary school to lead on their annual sportsday. This is an event where we as an academy have been asked to lead on for the last 5 years due to our excellent leaders. The day started with a carousel of activities for the infants where they took part in 5 different stations testing their balance, co-ordination and speed. These stations were fantastically lead by our pupils who showed excellent leadership skills to explain and motivate throughout, the students and the parents were highly complimentary of the students and how helpful they were.

The day then went over to the track where all students competed in a series of running races which our students helped massively with not only the start of the races but also at the finish line by motivating and cheering on the students to do well in their race. The girls also then congratulated 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd place with stickers which was very received by the pupils.

The YR9s were a credit to Smestow academy and represented the school exceptionally well. Showcased themselves, the PE department and the school in the best light by being friendly, well mannered and very helpful. Lots of parents, staff and students were very complimentary of our students stating how helpful they were and it would not have ran as well without them.

Well done all.

K Wungunai

A Leigh Steadman

H Stanley

F Heath

T-J Smallwood

C Omorowa

H Davies

A Ehsani

H Dickens

M Hoppert

A Mowlana

B Chukwu

V Valentini

Do you enjoy taking part in physical activity?  Do you like swimming, the gym, badminton on table tennis?  Are you the next Andy Murray or Emma Radacanu???

The City of Wolverhampton is offering eligible children and young people free physical activities all year round.  In partnership with Wolves Foundation, their aim is to encourage healthier and more active people, lifelong learning skills and develop (physically and mentally) safer and stronger.

There are 50 hours of free activity sessions at a variety of locations across the city every week!  

Read the attachment to find out how to sign up and get involved!

Did you know that in 2020, Wolverhampton had the worst rate of alcohol related deaths in the UK?  

As part of our personal development programme, it is important that we educate our pupils on the risks associated with consuming alcohol as part of their health education.  In providing the local context, we can also raise the importance of tackling this serious issue within our community.

We work closely with the Local Authority to share supportive resources available in our City and these are signposted below.

Today, our pupils have taken part in an assembly with Ms Gautam (Director of Science) which focused on Alcohol Awareness Week and the importance of raising awareness of this.  

Our students are taking democracy into their own hands today with our exciting mock general election! Over the past few weeks in Personal Development, they’ve dived into pupil-friendly versions of each political party’s manifesto, engaged in spirited discussions, and watched a special assembly featuring political party broadcasts delivered by our amazing staff.

Today, students are casting their votes, using their Smestow Student IDs to mimic the new ID voting law. A huge shout out to our fantastic Year 12 students for running the polling station and assisting Mrs. Fellows with the logistics and vote counting. 🏫🗳️

Stay tuned for the results, which will be announced during tomorrow’s Personal Development session.

#MockElection #Democracy #BritishValues

Two groups of Y9 pupils took part in the Maths Picnic at Highfields School. The event was organised by the AMSP and there were seven schools competing altogether.

Each group had to complete four different maths challenges within a given time and points were awarded.  The challenges were problems requiring knowledge pupils have learned at school but they had to think very differently than they might be used too. The first and second placed teams changed after each round and unfortunately Smestow did not finish in the top two.

However, we did win the Prize for best Team work as judged by the organisers. This is the second time pupils at Smestow have been commended with the team work prize during a maths picnic highlighting the way that pupils at out school embody our school value of Success Achieved Together.

Y9 demonstrated the all of the Smestow Values throughout the morning and it was great to see this acknowledged.

Pupils that were selected to attend were A. Abdelmotaleb, A. Holloway, A. Kumar, P. Naatey, J. Oziga, U. Randhawa, V. Valentini and F. Zirta-Gimbien.

This half term, we are celebrating the fundamental British values at Smestow Academy.

Yesterday, we delved deeper into topics relating to our rights and responsibilities of living in modern Britain such as politics and parliament, law, crime and society, and the prevent agenda.

Form groups took part in a party political broadcast too, with the manifestos of the forthcoming election being read by staff. 

As part of the national curriculum, we are required to deliver citizenship topics to equip our pupils with the knowledge, skills and understanding in order to prepare them to play a full and active role in our society.