Our assemblies this week have acknowledged the International Day of Peace which takes place annually on 21^st September and started in 1981.  This year is especially poignant as it marks the 25^th anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly having adopted the declaration and programme of action on a culture of peace.  The values, as laid out by the UN General Assembly are; respect for life, human rights and fundamental freedoms; the promotion of non-violence through education, dialogue and cooperation; commitment to peaceful settlement of conflicts; and adherence to freedom, justice, democracy, tolerance, solidarity, cooperation, pluralism, cultural diversity, dialogue and understanding at all levels of society and among nations.

Here at Smestow Academy, one of our Smestow values is to provide and welcoming and caring environment which we think supports this action for a culture of peace.

#SmestowAcademy #SuccessAchievedTogether #InternationalDayofPeace #welcomingandcaringenvironment

A fantastic start to PE here at Smestow Academy with some excellent resilience, perseverance and teamwork shown in all lessons. These 3 values and skills are the focus of our lessons at the start of the academic year with all students having to show these at some stage in their lessons, whether it be working together as a team in the OAA challenges or showing resilience and perseverance when learning a new skill in Volleyball. We have been so impressed with the attitude of all students in PE lessons so far this year.

We have to do a big shoutout to all of the students who have attended clubs whether it be in the morning before school or after school, we have had over 110 different students attend clubs in the first two weeks of them being open to students. We are super proud and happy with this engagement from our students and would love to reach the 200 mark in the next two weeks, after school clubs include Football for both Boys and Girls, Badminton, Cheerleading and Volleyball. A special mention to the new before school club that Mr Holmes runs on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8am where we have had some great engagement from all year groups. They have been involved in some futsal tournaments so far this week where there has been some great skill and effort on show.

Huge well done to all of our students in all lessons and after school clubs, let’s help us reach that mark of 200 different students attending clubs in the next two weeks. #smestowpe

On Monday 16^th September we had the fantastic Autin Dance Theatre in leading a full day professional dance workshop. 24 pupils of our pupils participated, and they all worked extremely hard throughout the day consistently  demonstrating our Smestow values. The workshop day was intense, yet all pupils persevered and continued to demonstrate their amazing talent. The choreography that the pupils worked on during the day will be performed alongside the professionals on Friday 27^th September, which they are all very excited for! 

Schools across Matrix Academy Trust have been recognising the International Day of Democracy (15th September).​

International Day of Democracy began in 1997 and it is based on the principles of equality, liberty, and justice. Democracy is essential for human rights and development.​

Schools will be considering the meaning behind the international day, but also our modern British values – democracy and individual liberty.​

We practise democracy in all of our schools by electing pupils to take on various roles and responsibilities on behalf of their peers including Form Captains, School Council Representatives, Personal Development Ambassadors, Anti-Bullying Ambassadors and Careers Champions.​

We will be celebrating democracy in our schools across the week by voting for our peers and encouraging our pupils to take on these fulfilling roles for the academic year ahead.

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Our assemblies theme this week is International Day of Democracy which was celebrated on 15^th September.  The International Day of Democracy provides an opportunity to review the state of democracy in the world. Democracy is as much a process as a goal, and only with the full participation of and support by the international community, national governing bodies, civil society and individuals, can the ideal of democracy be made into a reality to be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but around the world, there are governments and those wielding power who find many ways to obstruct it.

Here at Smestow Academy, we are celebrating democracy by voting for our pupil leadership roles in school on Friday 20^th September.  We will vote for the members of our form group who we think will support us this academic year.  This could be as a form captain, as an anti-bullying ambassador, as a wellbeing ambassador or as a Careers Champion to name a few.  One of our Smestow Values is equality and respect for all, and we think that by celebrating democracy in our school, we are also able to practice individual liberty - one of our British values too.

#SmestowAcademy #SuccessAchievedTogether #InternationalDayofDemocracy #equalityandrespectforall

Our amazing sixth form students have settled into the new term well and are already underway learning new and exciting things. They've made the new sixth form area their home, adopted a plant, started a special enrichment programme involving diamond painting and practising mindfulness techniques and have experimented with mealworms in Biology. We are proud of the incredible start they have all made to the new term.

Over the Summer holiday we have been busy redecorating our Sixth form area to make it a vibrant and inspiring space for our Year 12 and 13 students. Our Sixth form students now have a cosy common room, and a separate studious work space to use during their independent study sessions to help them excel in their learning.

We will be holding a few open events this year to give all prospective Year 7 parents and pupils the chance to come and visit us. These events will give you a little insight into what it means to be a pupil at Smestow Academy and give you the chance to ask any questions you may have.

Open Evening will take place on Thursday 26th September 2024 | 4pm – 7pm

Open Mornings are by booking only. These will take place between Tuesday 1st October and Friday 4th October 2024 9am-10am - Book your place HERE.

2024 GCSE exam results rapid improvements and unlocked potential at Smestow Academy.

Smestow academy are delighted with some outstanding GCSE results for Summer 2024 as pass rates for pupils achieving a grade 5 or above in English and Maths rose 6% from 34% (Summer 2023) to 40% following the school’s first full year of being within the Matrix Academy Trust.  Initial (unvalidated) progress figures compared to National also show an incredible increase of over half a grade progress on average per pupil per subject from -0.34 to +0.17.

There were some magnificent performances as T Austins achieved 1 grade 9, 6 grade 8s, 1 grade 7 and a Distinction; S Shrestha achieved 1 grade 9, 5 grade 8s, 2 grade 7s and a Distinction *; A Skitt achieved 1 grade 9, 5 grade 8s, 2 grade 7s and a Distinction and J Thandi achieved 1 grade 9, 5 grade 8s, 1 grade 6 and a Distinction.

Headteacher Ian Chamberlain said ‘we are immensely proud of the achievements of our Year 11 pupils with these superb results.  The results are a credit to the hard work of pupils and staff, and with the magnificent support of parents showing how success can be achieved together.  These results also give a clear marker on our school’s rapid improvements since joining the Matrix Academy Trust on the journey to restore our school to its former glories.’

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Congratulations to A Skitt for an amazing set of results!
Grade 9 in History
5 Grade 8s in Biology, Chemistry, English Language, Maths and Religious Studies
2 Grade 7s in English Literature and Physics

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Congratulations to R Shayler for achieving grade 7s in Biology, Chemistry and Maths!

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Congratulations to F Akram Chaudhary for achieving grade 7s in Chemistry and Maths! Well done!

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Congratulations to C Kobia-Amanfi for her grade 8 in English Language!  Fantastic!!!

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Huge congratulations to S Shrestha for an outstanding set of results today! 
A grade 9 in Chemistry
5 grade 8s in Biology, Geography, Maths, Physics and Religious Studies
2 grade 7s in English Literature and English Language
Well done!

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We are all extremely proud of our Year 13 students as their hard work has paid off achieving some wonderful results.  The school was filled with lots of smiles as celebtration as 93% of them off to university and 100% with positive destinations on apprenticeships or alternative courses.

Some of our many successes include:

M Dhaliwal who will study Pharmacy at University of Birmingham, I Kaur who will study Biomedical sciences at Aston University, S Khan who will study Law at the University of Aston and A Azam who will study Physiotherapy at University of Worcester.

3 Days, 34 students, 3 teachers. What a fantastic time was had by all.

The Be A Baller discovery days started at Smestow on the Tuesday where Mr Webb had put on a range of different matches and activities into a Euros like tournament style, looking for teams to come out on top. We had a 9v9 full game going on, 5 a-side out on the field and then also some fun Panna football in a 1v1 situation but extra points were awarded by for a ‘megs’ so we saw lots of tricks and flicks from the students in this one. Some fantastic quality and excellent work rate was on show as the students endured on 4 hours of game situations and then finished with some penalty shootouts.

Big shoutout to Elite FC who were the winners of the YR7&8 Competition and then Project Neymar took the title for the YR9&10s.

Wednesday then came where we embarked on Aldersley Leisure Village where we were met by coaches from Wolves Foundation who led the students through a 2 hour training session looking at some different types of shooting and then some passing and possession based work. The students were absolutely fantastic and had lots of praise from all of the wolves coaches, a quote from them was; Teddy, Louis and Kurran were blown away by the stadium session this morning and the skill and standard of behaviour shown by all. The students were a credit to the school, the session finished with a team penalty shootout and the winners who received a replica Wolverhampton Wanderers first team shirt were Cristian, Danny, Svetlana and Omid.

In the afternoon, we then went for a tour round Molineux stadium which the students loved and really got chance to see what it was like behind the scenes of a professional football club. The chance to sit where some of their role models sit in the changing rooms or look out onto the pitch as they were a pundit or a commentator really topped the day off for the students. Another quote from the wolves staff was; The Stadium Tour was a pleasure to host due to their participation and engagement. An absolute credit to the School, their teachers and their parents. Please extend our thanks.

The final day of Discovery days and it was the biggest one yet for the Ballers with a 5:45am meet at school and we didn’t return until 19:30. However, this was all worth it with a breathtaking day down at Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. If the students were taken back by the Molineux training and tour then this was a different level and it left some of them speechless. Once we arrived in London, the day started with a training session at the Tottenham Hotspur training ground which was led by academy coaches and the students got to see exactly what a state of the art training ground in the premier league is like. They even got chance to see a Tottenham first team player from afar. The training sessions were excellently led and our students engagement and quality on such a hot day was once again a credit to them. We had lots of compliments from the coaches and some of the quality of our players really got some plaudits; special mention to Kye and Svetlana in YR10 who were pointed out by the academy director of Tottenham as being exceptional players. Once the training was finished, we then went onto a tour of one of if not the best stadium in the world and it definitely lived up to the expectations! The students and also Mr Webb who has been to many stadiums in his time were taken away with the facilities at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. On a self guided tour, we got chance to see what it is like to be an executive member at Tottenham, what it is like to be not only a football player but also an NFL player at the stadium with a trip into the NFL locker room which nobody on the trip had ever had chance to see inside. An absolutely amazing experience for the students and something that will stay with them for a very long time.

The Be A Baller discovery days were a huge success with everyone enjoying themselves along with some once in a lifetime experiences. The behaviour was exemplary from everyone involved and all were a credit to the school. Until next year Ballers.