Christmas Assembly - 21st December 2023

Staff and pupils were invited to a whole school assembly today, spreading festive cheer and celebrating a successful term.

Special guests included Father Christmas and Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, a Christmas Elf, presents and crackers.

We all took part in Christmas games and performances, sing a longs and rewards were also given to pupils who have been nominated by form tutors and Heads of House.

We hope that everybody enjoyed the assembly as much as we did and wish you and your families and restful break.

Parents and Carers of Key Stage 3 pupils were invited into school this morning to share some festive cheer.  We had performances from the newly created musical theatre group, with an excerpt from "Elf the Musical" and also our Dance group who performed to "Step into Christmas", followed by a Christmas carol sing along!

It was lovely to be able to invite parents and carers into school and share some of the work that our pupils have been doing.  Donations for the refreshments that were available to our guests totaled £107.91, and this will to be split across the 4 local charities that we are supporting this year:

Wings & Paws - Dawley House

Acorns Childrens Hospice - Graisely House

Compton Care - Holbeche House

The Haven - 6^th Form

Thank you to everybody who joined us and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

On 20^th December, staff and pupils at Smestow Academy were invited to wear their Christmas jumpers alongside their uniform to raise money for Save the Children.  

The Save the Children charity works tirelessly to support education facilities, and mental health support and safe spaces for young people.  They work towards a world where every child has a chance at the future and we are proud to have raised £164 for this very worthy cause.

On Tuesday 12th December, 50 students across the Matrix Schools met at Barr Beacon to find out more about their “Far From Home” Italian adventure as part of the Turing Scheme. The day consisted of meeting their staff, team building activities and learning more about where they are going. This of course would not have been complete without a “surviving Italy” language taster session from a native Italian, as well as tasting some authentic Italian dishes such as ‘Melanzane alla Parmigiana’ ‘Patate, Gorgonzola e Chorizo’ and a choice of ‘Antipasti’ to awaken their taste buds. The day was finished off by writing a Christmas card back to their pen pal in our partner school in Rome, we cannot wait to visit and meet them in person! 

The Library is well on its way to being organised, but sadly we have lots of books unaccounted for, therefore I would like to invite the entire school to join in a book amnesty. We are hoping many of the missing books are at home, therefore we would like to encourage as many pupils, parents and carers to return any books they may have to the school, either to the box by side of the desk in the library or school reception.

You can also donate books that are not from the library at all, but you no longer want at home, if they can’t be used in school, we can offer them out for pupils to keep or sell them to raise funds for new books or donate them to charity.

Our Annual Careers Fayre was the biggest and best yet!

All students from Year 7-13 amazed our array of exhibitors with their conduct.

Tracey Brace, an NHS sonographer stated “They are very polite and well-mannered but their questions are really insightful and articulate”.

Dr Thomas Prewitt-Wex, Outreach Manager from Oxford Brooks University added “I am amazed by their confidence and ambition, even the youngest pupils seem to have a really good grasp of Career paths and their options”

The students enjoyed a range of discussions and activities included targeted questioning, careers bingo and pathway proformas. In attendance were a range of local and larger Universities including Birmingham, Bath and Cardiff.

Other exhibitors allowed the students to access valuable information about the Local Labour markets including the mighty Wolves FC, Nationwide’s Local Branch Manager and Mrs Webb (Fun fact: Mr Webb’s Mum!) and also Lead Coach for Soccer 2000. The back-to-back interview questions were a great deal of fun!

Students were also able to access information on T Qualifications and Apprentice ships from OFSTED Outstanding and Globally ranked Company Incomm.

In addition to Colleges and Further Education providers students with more vocational plans were able to access local SEND training providers Juniper and Nova. The electricity test is always highly popular!

The Star of the Show was Millie Betteridge, a former Smestow Student who secured a fantastic Degree Apprenticeship with Eon. We could not be prouder!

Read our Careers Newsletter

Smestow Academy is hosting our first Culture Day today, with pupils in all year groups having been invited to participate in wearing traditional dress and taking part in cultural performances.  Mrs Lampitt, our Chef has also created a special culture day menu in the cafe.  

Culture Day was organised as a result of pupil voice, with our children wanting to celebrate how diverse we are as a school.  Did you know that we have children from 33 different countries?!?!  

Staff and pupils are demonstrating our mutual respect and tolerance of other faiths and beliefs, which is one of the fundamental British values, but our Smestow values also shine through with making a difference every day, equality and respect for all and providing a welcoming and caring environment.

Over 130 pupils have arrived to school today in cultural dress and performances will take place at lunchtime in the dining hall.  Take a look at the photos to see what a great day we are having!

Last week the maths teachers wore maths tshirts to celebrate the end of Maths Week and Children in Need. The pupils engaged in fun puzzles throughout the week and there were some stunning entries for the art competition. The quality was so high that 3 winners were chosen: J Kaur Year 8, T Jones Year 8 and K Bailey Year 8. Well done to all pupils that entered and handed in futoshiki booklets and puzzles throughout the week.

A lovely article about the ongoing transformation at Smestow Academy🎉

"I visited 'inadequate' secondary school and it wasn't what I was expecting at all

Smestow School in Wolverhampton is one of only a handful of secondary schools in the West Midlands with an 'inadequate' rating

"It feels like the grown ups are running the place again." That's the frank assessment of one long-serving teacher at Smestow Academy in Wolverhampton after a troubled few years which left it rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted and in special measures.

In short, the school had hit rock bottom in 2022. "As soon as I got here, I wanted to leave," one of the prefects revealed, so unpleasant was his experience. But what a difference a year makes.

Drafted in to 'save' the school were headteacher Ian Chamberlain and director of school improvement David Lowbridge-Ellis, a sort of education super team with a proven track record of turning around failing schools. They are part of the Matrix Academy Trust which now runs Smestow and it's clear they have already delivered changes in a short space of time after what Mr Lowbridge-Ellis labelled a "disastrous" inspection report.

As I walked through the corridors, stuck my head into classrooms and spoke with polite and smiling pupils, it certainly didn't feel like I was in what is, or at least was last time Ofsted was here, one of the worst schools in the West Midlands. Classes were quiet, children appeared to be listening, engaged and respectful of their teachers.

Gone was the "chaos" I'd been told previously went on here on a daily basis, when unruly and disrespectful kids disrupted lessons, caused trouble and strolled along corridors on their phones. None of this change, however, is visible to those outside.

Smestow, in the Castlecroft area of the city, is still rated as inadequate and will be until the next Ofsted inspection, likely to be up to three years away. It's a source of frustration for teachers that the school will be stuck with a reputation they say doesn't chime with what they see and do every day. They insist Smestow is no longer a bad school.

Safeguarding, behaviour and attendance were all major problems here before Mr Chamberlain's arrival. Pupils and teachers I spoke to during my visit were open about how bad things used to be.

Prefect Riley Shayler says: "When I came here I wanted to leave. People were disrupting lessons all the time." Fellow pupil Isabelle added: "People were on their phones, being antisocial to each other."

Teachers also cited a lack of leadership and discipline as big problems under the previous regime. There had previously been nine headteachers in just five years, illustrating how the school had suffered a long period of instability and drift.

History teacher Helen Pinches says: "Year 11 pupils have had nine headteachers. When you see people coming and going and it's a revolving door you don't feel cared about. Five years ago I was ripping pages out of exercise books because they didn't have any paper to write on."

Staff say a big change has been the visibility of senior staff around the school. "At break times, lunch time and during lesson changes they are there and their presence is felt", says teaching assistant Angela Flavell.

She's been at Smestow for 20 years so can speak from experience of the changes that have been made. She adds: "We did go through rough times but I feel like we have gone back 20 years (to when things were better). We can feel that change."

Simple changes include zero tolerance around misbehaving and disrupting lessons and introducing a culture of respect so that "the adult in the room is the boss". Leaders say a small number of pupils had to be permanently removed because their persistent poor behaviour risked impacting the learning of others.

There is also a policy of no support or agency staff as leaders say some pupils are unlikely to behave for them, with familiar faces much more effective. Doors have been removed from entrances to toilets as a safeguarding measure following reports pupils would previously vape or mess around where they couldn't be seen.

Staff and children I spoke to both said the same thing in that they now feel supported and part of one community, rather than a fractured society that previously existed. PE teacher and head of house Matthew Craig admits: "When the last trust went we were relieved." So it's frustrating for staff that the inadequate rating remains for now, at least until the next time Ofsted visit.

They feel it's no longer an accurate reflection of their school. "It was a snapshot of what went on over two or three days three weeks into term," says science teacher Sam Neish, who told how was about to leave before Mr Chamberlain's arrival convinced her to ask for her resignation to be withdrawn. "We've got exceptional kids," she asserts.

Mr Craig says: "Now we're stuck with that rating." Ms Pinches adds: "All the issues were not anything teachers on the ground had control over. There was not anything we could do about it. We had skeleton staff and classes of 34."

"The problem was the management," Mr Craig adds. Head of English Dawn Detton says: "I have worked in special measures schools throughout my career. This doesn't feel like a special measures school.

"In special measures schools, it's no exaggeration to say you are working in hell. It's not like that here.

"The report does the children a disservice," says assistant head of sixth form Chris Davies. The staff know it could be a while before Ofsted inspectors return and say until that point, the school is stuck with a rating it doesn't deserve.

Head of French Purven Jandu concludes: "Everything is in place. We want that label to prove it."

Read it on Birmingham Live

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.