This week, pupils have attended assemblies on World Mental Health Day which takes place annually on 10^th October.  Some of our Wellbeing Ambassadors have been brave enough to lead these assemblies with Ms Heilbronn to talk about the 5 top tips for promoting positive mental health and what these can look like for us.  We've also have a mental health marketplace at lunchtimes, where pupils have been able to speak with members of our Mental Health team about any worries that they may have.  Well done to our Ambassadors for demonstrating confidence in public speaking this week - we are very proud of you!  

This week we launched The Secret Bookshop as a rewards scheme for great reading and competition prizes!

This morning Mrs Birtwistle and Mr Dangerfield presented the writers of the best stories entered into our Short Story Writing Competition, Sienna, Clara, Ireoluwa, Amber and Etta and Summer Challenge winner Ianis, with their vouchers and they became the first pupils in school to open The Secret Bookshop and choose their prizes.

The winners of the short story writing competition will be announced in school next week, but all the stories entered were fantastic, showing what wonderful imaginations our pupils have!

Each week the pupil top of the leaderboard for their Sparx Homework will receive a token for a goody from the prize shelf of The Secret Bookshop, and each Month the pupil with the most SRP points will receive a voucher for a brand new book from The Secret Bookshop.

#SmestowAcademyLibrary #TheSecretBookshop

What an incredible achievement for our pupils at the Matrix Spelling Bee, held at Aston Villa Stadium! 

We are absolutely delighted to celebrate our pupils who took 1st place 🥇 and 2nd place 🥈 in the competition! Their hard work, determination and fantastic spelling skills truly paid off.

A huge congratulations to our brilliant spellers Paul 9D1 and Lyra 9G1  — what an amazing accomplishment! 🎉👏

We are so proud of you! 

Smestow Academy is a proud member of Matrix Academy Trust and we are proud to launch our applications for the Turing Scheme visits for 2027!

Matrix bid for funding from the Turing Scheme which offers young people the opportunity to visit other countries, learn new cultures and experience different ways of life.  Visits are fully funded for pupils in receipt of pupil premium funding - we even pay for your passport if you don't have one!

Where are we off to this year?

Year 8 are going to Spain in January

Year 9 are going to Poland in May

Year 10 are going to Japan in February

Year 12 are going to China in April

Applications are now open! Please write your letter of application (no longer than one side of A4) and submit to Ms Heilbronn no later than Monday 5^th October.  Good Luck!

A fantastic first netball fixture for our Year 7 and Year 8 teams! Both teams showed great enthusiasm, determination and, most importantly, excellent sportsmanship throughout the whole game, they never dropped their heads.

Although the results didn’t go their way, the players never gave up. They encouraged one another, celebrated each other’s successes and showed wonderful team spirit from start to finish. They represented the school brilliantly and should be incredibly proud of themselves.

Our Year 9 and Year 10 students had the opportunity to attend the Heath Town Construction Careers Trade Day, hosted by United Infrastructure.

Students took part in a range of hands-on activities, gaining practical experience and learning more about the many different careers available within the construction industry. They also had the chance to speak with industry professionals and find out more about future training, work experience and apprenticeship opportunities.

It was a really valuable experience, helping students to develop their understanding of the world of work and consider the different pathways that may be available to them in the future.

Need advice, support, or have a health concern?

Examples include weight management, healthy eating, vaping, smoking, emotional wellbeing, relationships, and sexual health.

Come and see the School Nursing Team for a confidential chat.

📍 Medical Room
📅 Every Wednesday
🕧 12:30pm - 2:00pm

We can help with:

✅ Health and wellbeing advice
✅ Emotional health and wellbeing support
✅ Healthy lifestyle advice
✅ C-Card Scheme registration and condom distribution (Year 9 and above)
✅ Signposting to other services
✅ Any questions or concerns you may have

School Nurses: Keren & Kim

No appointment needed - just drop in during lunchtime.

Confidential service. (Information will only be shared if there are concerns about your safety or the safety of others.)

ChatHealth

📱 Text a School Nurse confidentially: 07507 332631

Our Year 8 and 9 pupils have made a brilliant start, creating some incredibly detailed Day of the Dead mind maps exploring the traditions, symbolism and cultural significance of the celebration. These ideas will help inspire their exciting upcoming Day of the Dead projects.

Our Year 9 pupils have also been developing their skills in tone and value, creating impressive skull studies and demonstrating excellent understanding of how light and shade can bring their artwork to life. 

We are celebrating another massive improvement to GCSE results, building on our Ofsted success earlier in the academic year.

This year, nearly half of the Year 11 children at Smestow achieved grades 5s (‘strong passes’) in both English and maths (47%) with our Attainment 8 score increases hugely from 42.5 (in 2025) to 48.4 this year!  This are our best ever Attainment results and would put us as one of the higher achieving schools across the city.

In this round of GCSE results, particular congratulations go to Rowan who has excelled with 7 grade 9s and 2 grade 8s, Jessica with 2 grade 9s, 5 grade 8s and 1 grade 7, Arin with 5 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s and a Level 2 Distinction and Afeef with 3 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s and 2 grade 7s.

Headteacher Mr Chamberlain said “We are thoroughly delighted with the outcomes for our Year 11 pupils.  The results are a credit to the magnificent hard work of the pupils and superb scholarly culture within the cohort.  We are extremely grateful for the commitment of our staff and the support of families.   Our results really do exemplify our school motto of “success achieved together” – this really is a shared success!’

Smestow Academy is celebrating another significant rise in A Level results, with the average grade achieved by our students increasing by a whole grade over the past two years.

This continued improvement is a fantastic achievement for our Year 13 cohort and reflects the hard work, determination and resilience of our students, alongside the commitment of our dedicated staff and the support of parents and families.

There were some outstanding individual performances, with particular congratulations to Jacob, who achieved Distinction, Distinction, Distinction*; Zara, who achieved Distinction, Distinction*, B; and Taran, who achieved Distinction, Distinction, Distinction*.

We are equally proud to see so many of our students progressing to exciting destinations across the UK, with the next steps for our young people including courses ranging from Cyber Security to Law and from Real Estate to Nursing. These destinations reflect the breadth of ambition and opportunity within our sixth form.

Headteacher Mr Chamberlain said: “We are all immensely proud of the achievements of our Year 13 students and delighted to see them progressing to such a wide range of exciting destinations. Their success is a credit to their hard work, resilience and determination, as well as to the wonderful culture we have within our student body. I would also like to thank our magnificent staff for the guidance and support they have provided throughout their time at Smestow, and our parents and families for the encouragement they have given along the way. We wish this wonderful cohort of young people every success and happiness as they take their next steps. They should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved.”