Today students in years 9 and 10 watched a performance from Loudmouth which focussed on real life stories of both child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation including county lines. The students were fully engaged in watching the performances and afterwards were given the chance to ask some insightful questions to the characters. Students displayed the Smestow Values of showing our guests a Welcoming and Caring Environment and we would like to remind all parents and students that we are a Telling School and staff are here to help if students find themselves in similar situations to today’s performance. 

CALLING ALL SMESTOW ACADEMY ALUMNI

If you’re a former student of Smestow Academy, we want to hear from you!

Your experiences since leaving could help to motivate and inspire our current students to feel more confident in making decisions about their future. We’d love you to join our Alumni Network and stay connected with the school.

We’ve partnered with the national education charity Future First, who specialise in helping schools like ours to stay connected with their former students. 

You can choose how and when you help – perhaps you can act as a career and education role model, provide work experience or become a mentor in person or online.

To sign up, just follow this link and fill in the online form – we promise it will only take a couple of minutes

https://www.futurefirsthub.org.uk/register/smestow-academy

We look forward to hearing from you.

To celebrate children’s mental health week this week, we are promoting positive mental health and wellbeing across the school. All pupils are invited to take part in our mindfulness challenges in return for prestigious silver commendations and they will also take part in a themed lesson, delivered by their form tutors as part of our personal development curriculum.

Here are some of our year 7 pupils taking part in mindfulness colouring at lunchtime today. This activity and “time to talk” is available to our year 7 pupils every lunchtime this week.

Our promotion of children’s mental health week is another example of us upholding our Smestow values in equality and respect for all, being a telling school and providing a welcoming and caring environment.

#successachievedtogether #smestowacademy #childrensmentalhealthweek #useyourvoice 

On Tuesday 23^rd of January, 50 pupils from the Matrix Academy Trust travelled from Gatwick Airport for a trip to Rome with the Turing Scheme. The Turing Scheme is a government initiative that fully funds a range of international opportunities for young people to go abroad and experience different cultures around the globe. Pupils who participate in this scheme are selected via criteria provided by the Department for Education.

After a smooth journey and arriving at our hostel, we made a swift departure to our first activity. Our group of 55 tackled the metro for the first time and walked our way to “Aroma Ostia” where our host school met us for an Italian cooking masterclass. During this class, our Chef taught us how to make pasta from scratch, along with the art of producing “carbonara” sauce, a dish that was born in Italy.

Throughout the week our mornings consisted of a rotation between groups, some taking themselves back to ancient Rome by visiting the Colosseum, some visited Castel Sant’Angelo which was commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum, and some visiting our Italian partner school learning about various aspects of their culture including music, literature, fashion and food. One group even took part in an inclusion workshop raising awareness of disabilities.

After lunch, our pupils came back together and started their week by being trained as true gladiators at the gladiator school. This included a fitness assault course, practicing and testing a variety of fighting techniques before our Empress (Ms Callanan) would decide their fate. Pupils also opened their mind into the “museum of dreamers” experiencing an adult-size ball pit, various illusions and not to mention beating their fears (literally). Our afternoon of imagination delved deeper into Vigamus where pupils were led on journey of time on the evolution of video games. Our sightseeing continued when strolling down the Spanish Steps to the renowned Trevi Fountain before dining in a local restaurant.

Our final few days were spent zipping through the trees of Rome at Eurpark High Ropes. It was incredible to see the number of pupils who overcame their fears and pushed through their limits to reach new heights before we caught the train to the shores of Ostia, where some pupils even dipped their toes in the sea! Mount Vesuvius was our next destination, with a 20 minute hike up to the viewpoint at the top of the volcano and a further 5 minutes to the crater. Pupils were in awe of the beauty of the bay of Naples, before seeing the steam being produced out of the dormant volcano. Having learnt about the history of Vesuvius, our next stop was the Herculaneum, a UNESCO heritage site which was covered in volcanic ash and rediscovered during excavations in the mid 18^th century.

We couldn’t have left Rome before visiting the Stadio Olimpico, home to football clubs Roma and Lazio, and currently hosting the six nations! Following this, we took a trip abroad whilst abroad by visiting the Vatican City, the world’s smallest country! This tour included a visit to the Sistine Chapel, famous for papal ceremonies and used by the sacred college of cardinals.

Our week in Italy was spent experiencing various aspects of culture, encountering many new experiences and bringing more of our students together to create stronger connections.

Our pupils share their thoughts:

“The trip to italy was really great. I am very happy to have had the chance to go on a trip like this for free and have made so many friends in the process. I liked the rooms at the hostel, and how stress-free you guys made everything by everything being so organised and how there was a diverse range of things to do. The metro and bus rides were good, and got less busy due to good planning. Some things that we did that I thought I wouldn’t enjoy I turned out liking such as the school visit. The children there were lovely and despite the struggle communicating with some words, it was fun talking to them about what their life is like and comparing ours together. The museum of dreamers was my favourite because it was unlike anything I have ever done before. It was a unique experience which helped me with insight and keeping an open mind. I liked seeing the sights such as the colosseum, the Herculaneum and museums like the Vatican, gaming and the dream one. I liked the Vatican and the castle a lot because it was nice to see religious artefacts and art that I have always wanted to see. Thank you for the opportunity and choosing a great city like Rome.” – Alfie

“This trip to Italy was amazing, I’m so thankful I’ve had the opportunity to go to such a great place and it being free! Thanks to Ms Callanan, Mr Kendall, Mr Aspinall, Ms Thomson, and Ms Thompson. This week has been really fun and I haven’t felt this happy in ages! 10/10″ – Dylan

Former Olympic athlete, World Champion (400m) and European Champion (4x400m relay) Daniel Caines visited Smestow Academy today to deliver a series of inspirational assemblies to pupils in Years 7-11.  Daniel shared his stories of growing up in the world of sport, the setbacks he encountered and the achievements he has accomplished.  His key messages are shared with our Smestow values – success achieved together, making a difference every day and striving to improve and be your best.

Thank you to Daniel for sharing your story with us!

With the second round of Year 11 mock exams just round the corner, we understand that you may want further information and guidance on how best to support your child at such a crucial time in their studies. 

With this in mind, we would like to invite all parents/carers of Year 11 pupils to our ‘Help your Child Revise’ morning that will take place in school on Thursday, 8th February at 9:00am. If this time is unsuitable, I can also offer a meeting over TEAMs on the same date, at 4:00pm. Please click on the link below and complete the Microsoft form to indicate your preference: https://forms.office.com/e/4Wazw4hba7 

The aim of this session is to share top revision tips, and guidance to ensure your child is prepared for their mocks in February, the summer exam series and beyond. 

Do you have a special talent you wish to showcase at our next big live event. You will have the chance to perform on stage Infront of a live audience in Birmingham in a state-of-the-art theatre Millennium Point on Thursday 18^th April 2024. Whether it be singing, juggling, stand-up comedy or anything in between, we want to see all your wonderful talents. Unfortunately, we cannot accept Dance entries this year due to the size of the stage. 

How to enter:

• Have one of your performing arts teachers record your performance (or film it yourself and email to your teacher). 
• A snippet of your performance can be submitted, please do not worry about submitting a performance in its entirety. 
• Your teacher will be able to submit your performance video to the Matrix judging panel.
• Finalists will have the opportunity to perform at our next big trust event and some school events this year.
• Solo entries and group entries are welcome.
• Submit your entry by 4pm on Friday 23^rd February 2024.

Our chair of trustees Sir Mark Aspinall has been invited to have his photograph taken to be placed in the Victoria Law court in Birmingham. Sir Mark has over 20 years’ experience in Law across banking, financial, media, NHS, Government and FTSE corporate sector and is currently a Judge and a Governor of a local authority Primary School.

We would like to take this opportunity to see your very best photography work and give you the opportunity to have your work hung in the law court for years to come. See below details on how to get involved with our Matrix photography competition.

Submission Criteria. You can submit up to three portrait style images, each image can be of the same or a different subject. Your images should be saved in jpeg format. Images should not be altered or edited, we want to see your original photograph. Cropping is allowed. Images should be sent with your full name, form group, school name and a short write up to explain your style of image. Submit your images to photography@matrixacademytrust.co.uk

Submission Deadline: Sunday 18th February 2024. Speak to your media/creative arts teacher for help and guidance.

What is Portrait Photography? Portrait photography is best defined as a genre of photography that involves capturing the identity, personality, facial expression, soul, emotions, essence, and the overall inherent character of a subject within a photograph.

Prize. The winning submission will be chosen by Sir Mark Aspinall and Mrs Draycott. The winner will receive £150 and the opportunity to take the commissioned image in Victoria Law Court in Birmingham. The winners photograph of Sir Mark Aspinall will be proudly hung in the court. The oldest image currently hanging in the court currently is over 180 year olds. This is a chance to take a photograph that will be seen in court for many years to come.

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.