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.

 A level Results Day – Thursday 15^th August 2024

Results will be available from 8am till 11am in Dining Hall

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GCSE Results Day – Thursday 22nd August 2024

Results will be available from 9am till 11am in Dining Hall

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On Saturday 13^th July, Smestow Academy celebrated 60 years with a spectacular celebration event, bringing together former and current pupils, colleagues and members of the community. 

Founded in 1964, Smestow Academy has been serving children and families in the Castlecroft area of Wolverhampton for six remarkable decades.  The school is now making excellent progress to become an educational force to be reckoned with since reopening under the Matrix Academy Trust in January 2023.    

The 60^th Celebration featured a wide range of activities and attractions, including an inflatable assault course, synchronized swimming demonstration, petting zoo, candle making workshop, a range of street food and craft stalls, live pupil performances and summer fayre activities for all ages.  All proceeds raised have been donated to the schools’ individual House charities. 

Guest of honour, the newly elected local MP for Wolverhampton West Warinder Juss, joined in the celebrations, supporting Smestow pupils by planting a silver birch tree alongside a tree that was planted to mark the schools’ 25^th anniversary, back in 1989. He also helped pupils bury a time capsule in the memorial gardens.  

Headteacher Ian Chamberlain said:  ”We are immensely proud to celebrate six decades of education, memories, community engagement, and personal stories at Smestow Academy. Our 60th Celebration epitomised the spirit and dedication of our entire school community. It was great to see so many wonderful pupil performances, including the wonderful dancers from Castlecroft Primary School who have been working with our performing arts department.  The whole event was a great opportunity for all to feel the warm and welcoming environment the school radiates.”  

On Wednesday, Smestow annual Sportsday took place and what an event it was. An amazing spectacle for the school lead by the PE department where mass participation was the aim and this is what we got with lots of students from all year groups across all the houses competed in a series of track and field events. The morning consisted of the field events where out on the field we had long jump, discuss, javelin, shot putt and then the 800M. Some fantastic athleticism and technique was on show here where we had 3 record breakers! Mr Webb has kept a school Sportsday records sheet since 2017 so there is some very long standing records on there but 3 of them were beaten this year on the morning so it is a special shoutout to;

Amelia (YR8) who broke the YR8 Girls 800M record with an outstanding time of 3.16 mins

Catalin (YR10) who threw the shot put 10.9 metres and broke the YR10 Boys Shotputt record

Rhys (YR10) broke the YR10 Boys Javelin record with a fantastic throw of 19.47 metres.

All of these students should be extremely proud of their achievement and they will hope that these records stand for the next couple of years.

Throughout the afternoon it was the turn of the track events and did we have some exciting races! All year groups competed in 400M, 300M, 200M, 100M and then finished the day off with a mixed relay. Outstanding participation, outstanding pace and an outstanding atmosphere from the side cheering their peers on throughout all races. It was so great to see everyone on their feet making a positive atmosphere for the runners which gave them that bit of an extra push as they tried to earn as many points as possible for their house. There was one record broken in the afternoon on the track and that was in arguably the most exciting race of the day; YR10 Boys 100M. There was a favourite in this one with Gary being crowned the quickest boy in the city last year for the 100M but he had some mighty challengers. It was neck and neck all the way to the last 10 metres where Kye found that extra bit of something and accelerating to the line smashing a 7 year long record with a fantastic time of 12.36 seconds. Well done Kye you are now the YR10 Boys 100M record holder.

Students were awarded with Bronze, Silver and Gold medals throughout the day with a number of different medal ceremonies but every position was worth house points on the day and it was great to see such mass participation from everyone.

It was an amazing day for the academy where all staff and students came together to have a fantastic day. There was even a chance for staff to show the students what they could do in a relay race which the Holbeche form tutors took the bragging rights this year.

The results are in and it was a very close one between all 3 houses, staff and students will have to wait till the end of year assembly to find out the winners but what a day we had!

Shoutout to all of the competitors on the day, you did yourselves proud.