On Friday 8^th March, eight year 7 girls participated in the ‘Biggest Ever Football Session’ in Wolverhampton. As part of the Let Girls Play campaign, the FA and Barclays’ invited Smestow Academy to be a part of 5000 schools that competed all on the same day across England. Significantly, sharing the day with International Womens Day, the girls showed heaps of enthusiasm and passion for the sport they love to play for a whole afternoon at Aldersley Leisure Village. 

It was a great opportunity for the girls to compete against local school teams the same age to themselves and experience a fun tournament environment. Although nervous, the girls were excited to get going and desperate to play the whole afternoon! The afternoon consisted of six games in the group stages of four minutes each. Unfortunately we lost to WGS, UTT, ALdersley and Moseley but the last two games were 1-0 which showed a tremendous effort from our defence, in particular Jassica for her blocks to goal and shout out to every girl who volunteered for having a game in goal. This showed great team work and sportsmanship. Alot of progress and learning was had and although narrowly losing each of the group stage games, mainly due to last second goals, the girls finished the afternoon on a 2-0 win against St Chads with Shardae scoring two brilliant goals that were perfectly aimed into the bottom corners and had the power no keeper would want to be in the way of!

Well done to Shahad, Jassica, Shardae, Nicole, Madison, Khiea, Angel & Angel in Year 7.

On Monday evening the YR8 Boys took part in the city handball competition at our Lady and St Chads. In tough conditions the lads did really well and showed excellent teamwork, work rate and resilience throughout their 4 games of the tournament. Considering they have never played in a handball competition before, the skill and tactics on show from all of them was excellent and developed game on game. The boys came up against some strong opposition in Moreton and St Chads which meant that they finished 3^rd in their group and didn’t qualify for the knockout stages but scored some excellent goals on their way; the pick of the bunch coming from Dorian with a solo drive right from defence all the way past their team before firing a shot into the top corner of the goal. The lads really developed their handball skills and learnt more about the specific rules involved in a competitive handball game, some vital experience that they can take away and prepare for next year. They were a credit to themselves and the school showing true resilience and sportsmanship throughout. Well done to Inoke, Jevan, Aleksander, Joshua, Harjot, Aarush, Dorian and Kai all of YR8.

To celebrate British science week and international women’s day on Friday 8th March 60 year 9 pupils had a fantastic opportunity to take part in a STEM day which was delivered by small piece trust

Students worked brilliantly as a team and planned, designed and constructed an aircraft

It was an amazing day where students showcased their leadership and problem-solving skills to deliver this project.  

Well done to all the students involved for showing so much dedication and for being impeccably behaved. A big thank you to Judy Lin, Caroline George for delivering this event and all of the staff who got involved.

Today we welcomed Dr Eve Griffiths and Antonia Thomas from Outreach, who delivered training to Matrix staff on understanding the effects ACES and trauma can have on our pupils’ mental health, behaviour and understanding, as well as how we can facilitate restorative conversations in school.  We learnt innovative new ways to support our pupils in building and maintaining positive, healthy relationships, resolving difficulties and repairing harm when there has been conflict. Thank you Outreach!

A huge congratulations our staff who attended the annual Matrix Academy Trust long service celebration meal last Friday. They joined colleagues from across the trust at the wonderful BANK.  Racking up over 700 years’ service collectively across the trust.  Another huge thank you to you all for your continued dedication to our community. 

On 27th February, Mrs Fellows along with three sixth form students had the opportunity to take part in the Lessons from Auschwitz project which included a one-day visit to Auschwitz One and Auschwitz Birkenau. On the day we took part in a guided tour of both camps and had a brief visit to Oświęcim to visit the site of the Great Synagogue which was destroyed during the war. In addition on Sunday 3rd March, the students also took part in a live Zoom call with Holocaust survivor Janine Webber who told her story of survival during Nazi occupied Poland.

World Book Day 2024 is on Thursday 7^th March

Admissions 2024

It is National Offer Day.  If you have been successful in your application for Admission into Year 7 2024, we will write to you shortly with a welcome letter and information about forthcoming key dates.   If you have changed address since you applied, please contact us via email so that we can ensure we have the most up to date information for your child.  

If you were not successful on your application, please follow the link for information about Appeals: https://smestowacademy.co.uk/admissions/

Following a £160,000 revamp funded by its new multi-academy trust, Smestow Academy’s much-loved swimming pool has had its grand reopening.

When Matrix Academy Trust took on Smestow Academy in January 2023, they found the swimming pool to be unusable. A year on, the facilities have been completely overhauled.

Smestow Academy Headteacher Mr Chamberlain said, “For many in the area, this pool holds warm associations. But there had been no investment in more than five years. Bringing the pool back to life was a top priority when our trust took on Smestow Academy.”

Wolverhampton Councillor Wendy Thompson, who had the honour of cutting the ribbon to declare the pool open, revealed that her own children had learnt to swim in the pool. Councillor Johnathan Crofts was also in attendance and shared with the audience that he had himself learned to swim here 30 years ago.

The ceremony was also attended by Councillor Ellis Turell and the headteacher of nearby Castlecroft Primary School, Andy Dyall.

The school is seeking to provide local primary schools with the opportunity to use the facility, along with opening it up for use by the wider community.

Headteacher Mr Chamberlain said: “This reopening represents a milestone for our school, demonstrating our commitment to providing exceptional facilities that promote health, well-being, and educational enrichment.  This is another landmark in the rapid and sustainable improvement in the quality of education at our school since joining Matrix Academy Trust.

“The swimming pool has been a significant part of the school’s long history and a wonderful facility for the community for decades before. The project to bring the pool back to life has involved a full refurbishment of the changing rooms, showers, communal areas and poolside. It’s also required an overhaul to the plant machinery that runs the pool to improve efficiency and to increase the longevity of the pool. An upgrade to LED lighting and the addition of a pool cover has further reduced energy consumption, ensuring it can be run sustainably, decades into the future.”

On Monday evening our YR9 & 10 Boys embarked on their first ever competitive handball competition which was held at our Lady St Chads. The tournament was a fantastic opportunity for the lads to showcase what they have learnt in PE lessons and compete against the top schools in the city. It was very competitive with our lads getting better and better as the night went on, playing some really quick and effective handball. Our YR9 team finished 3^rd in the group where they picked up a really impressive win against Wednesfield in their last game to show that they had really improved as a team across their games scoring some fantastic goals. The YR10 team went one better and they finished 2^nd in their group which meant they qualified for the knockout stages, the lads picked up convincing wins against Thomas Telford UTC and Aldersley in their group. The boys came up against Group A winners and overall champions on the night Our Lady St Chads in the semi finals where they gave a really good account of themselves narrowly missing out on a place on the final but some fantastic play was on show. They then went into the Bronze medal match against Moreton where they lost in the last seconds of the game to a fantastic goal scored by the opposition resulting in the YR10 Lads finishing the 4^th best handball team in the city, a great achievement considering they have never played the sport competitively. All of the lads were a credit to the school and performed really well with some fantastic skill on show. 

We now move onto the YR9 & 10 Girls competitive next Monday.