60 year 8 pupils from 8X1 and 8X2 took part in a stem day hosted by small peice trust to encourage science, technology, engineering and maths.  The day involved pupils planning, designing and building prototypes of bridges and testing these to see whether they will withstand the weight. Once trialled and tested the pupils then designed the different types of bridges using available resources but had to take costing into consideration. Pupils had team roles such as; Project manager, finance manager, designer, structural engineer, community lead and marketing executive. Pupils demonstrated brilliant teamwork, leadership, problem solving, creativity and presentation skills, which are all skills that are needed in the workplace. 

Well done to all the pupils who took part and a big congratulations to the winning team ; J. Flora, I.Fanyi, I.Kumari, A.Saharan, E.Nkfunje

Thank you to Oliver and Rachel from @smallpeicetrust for delivering the excellent workshop and for giving pupils an insight into the world of science and engineering. 

Smestow looks forward to welcoming you back for another stem day!

 

#stem #engineering #futurescientists #smallpeicetrust @smallpeicetrust 

Three classes of year 5 pupils from Uplands Primary School have had the brilliant opportunity to come to Smestow academy to experience what it is like to be a forensic scientist investigating a crime that was committed.  All pupils were well engaged and demonstrated excellent investigative skills to conclude who had done the crime. 

Mrs Neish and Mrs Robertson were really impressed with the teamwork, practicals skills and scientific knowledge shown by the pupils.

A big well done to all pupils who showed impeccable behaviour throughout the forensic workshop and a big thank you to staff from Uplands Primary School for supporting.

If you are a local primary school and would like your pupils in year 5 to experience a hands-on forensic science workshop, please get in touch!

#successachievedtogether #futurescientists #STEM #⚛🔍🔬🔭

Last Friday we celebrated "Stars in our Schools", a national initiative to celebrate all the amazing support staff that help schools to run smoothly.

Here at Smestow, we are incredibly lucky to have an amazing support team who deserve to be celebrated today for all their hard work.  Some of our support team are pupil facing and others work behind the scenes to ensure that we are able to make the wonderful progress that we are.  From our catering team to site staff, our House PAs to our LSAs, our pupil support team to our Lab technician and everybody in between, we thank you for upholding our Smestow values and making a difference everyday!

Friday 29th November saw Smestow Academy celebrate our second Culture Day. Culture Day originally came from a suggestion from our School Council and we are proud to celebrate our diversity in our school.

Over 130 pupils took part in Culture Day, which included musical and dance performances at lunchtime alongside a themed menu from our catering team too. Staff were welcome to take part and they even got involved in the dancing alongside pupils.

Culture Day is an event that our whole school looks forward to and it was wonderful to celebrate as a community.

Well done to everyone who took part, especially to those who performed.

#SmestowAcademy #SuccessAchievedTogether #EqualityandRespectforAll #WecomingandCaringEnvironment #ActiveCitizenship #CultureDay 

Our Year 7 and 8 Girls attended a dodgeball tournament with other schools in the city this week. They showed great determination to win 2 games and draw against some tough opposition after a couple of early losses. Our pupils showed great integrity and honesty by playing to the rules and being respectful to other schools. Please congratulate the following pupils if you see them: 

S Christie

I Kumari

S Al Anzi

Y Ali

S Banger

L Robinson

K Bowers

A Samuels

R Poole

Smestow Academy's advent calendar of kindness is back for 2024!  As part of our demonstration of active citizenship in school, we have an advent calendar of kindness to promote our welcoming and caring environment.  Pupils are able to access the calendar on our TV screens and on posters around our school building.  It also gives a chance to explore our mental health top tips and connect with others.  Examples of our acts of kindness include: hold the door open for others, help to make dinner, send a nice text message to a family member and donate an item of tinned goods to a food bank.

We have boxes in school for pupils to make their donations of tinned goods if they are able and our personal development ambassadors will deliver these to The Well which is a foodbank in Wolverhampton that supports the whole city before we break for the holidays.

#SmestowAcademy #SuccessAchievedTogether #AdventCalendarofKindness #PersonalDevelopment #ActiveCitizenship #WelcomingandCaring #Connect #TheWellWolverhampton

Last week, Year 9 and 6^th Form pupils undertook basic first aid training and defibrillator use with Wayne from "I can save a life!".

Wayne showed pupils how to perform basic CPR and discussed what scenarios we might find ourselves in when we have to use this life skills.

Our first aid training is a key part of our personal development programme and here at Smestow Academy, we are committed to ensuring that we equip our pupils with the knowledge to become well-rounded young people who can make outstanding contributions to British society - being able to save a life would definitely be one of those contributions!

Well done to everyone involved and a huge thank you to Wayne for battling the snow to get to us!

#SmestowAcademy #SuccessAchievedTogether #FirstAid #ICanSaveALife 

Staff at Smestow Academy have had the first of two CPD sessions this evening in support of our pursuit of the "Attachment Aware & Trauma Informed Schools Award" led by Dr Laura Kirven.

Our session this evening has looked at brain development, case studies of young people who have suffered significant trauma, triggers and two models - the window of tolerance and the self-determination theory.

Our staff are eager to be able to support all our pupils here at Smestow Academy and tonight's CPD will certainly help us when in the classroom and around school site.

Last night, we held our sixth form open evening in our newly refurbished sixth form area. 

There was a lovely buzz about the event, with pupils from Smestow Academy and beyond in attendance. Prospective students heard a talk from Mr Chamberlain (Headteacher) and Mrs Bryant (Assistant Headteacher & Head of 6th Form) and also had the opportunity to speak with staff delivering A-Level and Level 3 BTEC courses. We were also very proud to launch the Smestow Football Academy at the event and host a stand from the School Centred Teacher Training programme.

You can see a selection of our stalls here.

8X2 have started the half term in an impressive manner in both Tag Rugy and their Team Building lessons. Pupils have developed excellent tactical awareness and incorporated the team work skills developed through their Team Building lessons into their Tag Rugby work. Today, pupils have been challenged to showcase their leadership skills of creativity, planning, and communication to design and deliver fitness sessions to their peers using limited resources and space. Mr Craig was hugely impressed by the inclusion of wall sits, adapted agility testing, and speed bounce jumping into these circuits. Within the sessions, pupils provided precise and specific teaching points as well as excellent demonstrations to display their effective communication skills.