On Monday, 14 YR9 students travelled to Christchurch primary school to lead on their annual sportsday. This is an event where we as an academy have been asked to lead on for the last 5 years due to our excellent leaders. The day started with a carousel of activities for the infants where they took part in 5 different stations testing their balance, co-ordination and speed. These stations were fantastically lead by our pupils who showed excellent leadership skills to explain and motivate throughout, the students and the parents were highly complimentary of the students and how helpful they were.

The day then went over to the track where all students competed in a series of running races which our students helped massively with not only the start of the races but also at the finish line by motivating and cheering on the students to do well in their race. The girls also then congratulated 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd place with stickers which was very received by the pupils.

The YR9s were a credit to Smestow academy and represented the school exceptionally well. Showcased themselves, the PE department and the school in the best light by being friendly, well mannered and very helpful. Lots of parents, staff and students were very complimentary of our students stating how helpful they were and it would not have ran as well without them.

Well done all.

K Wungunai

A Leigh Steadman

H Stanley

F Heath

T-J Smallwood

C Omorowa

H Davies

A Ehsani

H Dickens

M Hoppert

A Mowlana

B Chukwu

V Valentini

Do you enjoy taking part in physical activity?  Do you like swimming, the gym, badminton on table tennis?  Are you the next Andy Murray or Emma Radacanu???

The City of Wolverhampton is offering eligible children and young people free physical activities all year round.  In partnership with Wolves Foundation, their aim is to encourage healthier and more active people, lifelong learning skills and develop (physically and mentally) safer and stronger.

There are 50 hours of free activity sessions at a variety of locations across the city every week!  

Read the attachment to find out how to sign up and get involved!

Did you know that in 2020, Wolverhampton had the worst rate of alcohol related deaths in the UK?  

As part of our personal development programme, it is important that we educate our pupils on the risks associated with consuming alcohol as part of their health education.  In providing the local context, we can also raise the importance of tackling this serious issue within our community.

We work closely with the Local Authority to share supportive resources available in our City and these are signposted below.

Today, our pupils have taken part in an assembly with Ms Gautam (Director of Science) which focused on Alcohol Awareness Week and the importance of raising awareness of this.  

Our students are taking democracy into their own hands today with our exciting mock general election! Over the past few weeks in Personal Development, they’ve dived into pupil-friendly versions of each political party’s manifesto, engaged in spirited discussions, and watched a special assembly featuring political party broadcasts delivered by our amazing staff.

Today, students are casting their votes, using their Smestow Student IDs to mimic the new ID voting law. A huge shout out to our fantastic Year 12 students for running the polling station and assisting Mrs. Fellows with the logistics and vote counting. 🏫🗳️

Stay tuned for the results, which will be announced during tomorrow’s Personal Development session.

#MockElection #Democracy #BritishValues

Two groups of Y9 pupils took part in the Maths Picnic at Highfields School. The event was organised by the AMSP and there were seven schools competing altogether.

Each group had to complete four different maths challenges within a given time and points were awarded.  The challenges were problems requiring knowledge pupils have learned at school but they had to think very differently than they might be used too. The first and second placed teams changed after each round and unfortunately Smestow did not finish in the top two.

However, we did win the Prize for best Team work as judged by the organisers. This is the second time pupils at Smestow have been commended with the team work prize during a maths picnic highlighting the way that pupils at out school embody our school value of Success Achieved Together.

Y9 demonstrated the all of the Smestow Values throughout the morning and it was great to see this acknowledged.

Pupils that were selected to attend were A. Abdelmotaleb, A. Holloway, A. Kumar, P. Naatey, J. Oziga, U. Randhawa, V. Valentini and F. Zirta-Gimbien.

This half term, we are celebrating the fundamental British values at Smestow Academy.

Yesterday, we delved deeper into topics relating to our rights and responsibilities of living in modern Britain such as politics and parliament, law, crime and society, and the prevent agenda.

Form groups took part in a party political broadcast too, with the manifestos of the forthcoming election being read by staff. 

As part of the national curriculum, we are required to deliver citizenship topics to equip our pupils with the knowledge, skills and understanding in order to prepare them to play a full and active role in our society.

On Tuesday 11^th June L Spruce in Year 8 sat the UK Maths Trust Junior Kangaroo. He qualified for this event by scoring 102 in the UK Junior Maths challenge in April. In the junior Kangaroo he had 60 minutes to answer another 25 challenging questions and this time he was provided with a diagram sheet to answer several shape problems as well. He scored a huge 90 points in the Junior Kangaroo. Each year the top 25% of Kangaroo entrants are awarded a merit certificate – this year boundary was a very high 102. He earned a certificate of qualification and we are all very proud of all that he has achieved and the attitude he shows everyday in his maths lessons.

On Friday 21^st June, Smestow Academy embarked on their first Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition as a Matrix Academy School. 27 Year 10 & Year 11 students left school at 10 o clock to travel to Cannock Chase where they were to be pushed out of their comfort zone and achieve something outstanding.

The weather did not disappoint with soaring temperatures making it even more demanding for the students on their 11 mile walk through the chase on Friday. Mr Webb, Miss Cox and Mr Heywood were on hand at each checkpoint to aid the students with water and snacks to keep their motivation and energy levels high. The students were split into their 4 teams on Friday morning which they stayed with for the walk that day and on the Saturday morning, they showed fantastic teamwork and resilience to get through each stage of the walk using their map and navigation skills. The whole group met for lunch halfway through the walk where everyone re-energised and there was lots of motivational speeches by individuals to keep their group motivated and willing to complete the second half of the walk with the finish (campsite) in sight. Special mention to Nathan YR11 here who was put with a group of YR10s but received massive applause and gratitude from them as he led his group round the walk and kept spirits high in his group when it got tough. They were first back on the Saturday which they were very pleased with as I know all students were treating this like a competition even though that wasn’t the main aim of the expedition.

After lunch, the students carried on their pursuit towards campsite where everyone arrived at around 19:00 and it was camp erecting time. With the training that has been complete at school prior to the expedition, the students completed this with great speed and teamwork … probably because they were so hungry and they knew that was the next bit.

The cooking started and there was an array of pasta, rice and noodles being cooked up by the whole group but a big shoutout has to go to Riley YR11 who brought 30 chicken marinated chicken breasts with him to feed the whole group and then also started frying some dough to make flatbread. An absolute fantastic effort from Riley who got a big congratulations from our colleague at BarrBeacon who said that was the best meal she had saw across her 10 years of DofE.

Cooking was complete and it was then time for the students to wash up their cutlery and dishes to have more of a chilled night at campsite before toasting some marshmallows on the campfire whilst sharing some highlights of the day – the views of Cannock chase, Ruby falling in the stream on the walk or groups having to double back on themselves throughout the navigation.

With the night drawing in and students exhausted from the exertion and heat of the day it was time to call it a night where the some students were about to experience their first outdoor sleeping night. This meant that many did not lie in like they would at home and were awake at the crack of dawn getting themselves sorted and tents down. This was all complete at 7:30am and it was over to Riley again to improve the mood in the camp by making everyone a hot chocolate to kick start their day.

8:30 came and it was time for the second walk of the expedition and the final straight to completing the Bronze expedition. The students were not walking as far Saturday morning and with the thought of an ice cream at go ape as the end goal, motivation was high and the students did excellently well.

Through learning from their mistakes on the Friday, the students were able to read the map and navigate themselves through the route even better on the Saturday with all teams completing their walk in under 5 hours which was a fantastic achievement. The students passed through a number of checkpoints again disembarking back through Cannock chase where lots of the public were walking or cycling and a special congratulations came from a member of public to Mr Webb who stated that our students were very polite when they came across them on the chase, and we should be very proud.

The students were brilliant for the whole of the weekend and definitely deserved their ice creams at the end. A fantastic achievement by all completing the Bronze DofE Expedition and something that will look fantastic on their CVs for future endeavours. We hope to see these students going on to complete their silver and gold awards.

On Thursday 13^th and Friday 14^th June pupils had the opportunity to audition their best talents for our upcoming talent show on Saturday 13^th July which will be part of the 60^th Celebrations summer festival. All pupils who auditioned were fantastic, Miss Field and Miss Harvey were so proud of the ‘welcoming and caring environment’ that all pupils contributed towards during the audition process to ensure everyone felt supported. On Wednesday 19^th June we shared the wonderful news to pupils that their auditions were successful and will be performing in our Talent Show. All pupils were delighted with the result, we are so excited to share our wonderful talent here at Smestow Academy on Saturday 13^th July! 

On Saturday 15^th June selected pupils who regularly attend Dance or Musical Theatre Club were given the opportunity to perform at Kidical Mass Wolverhampton, which took place at East Park, representing schools from the City at the event which campaigns for safer streets to cycle on aligning with our Smestow Value of ‘Equality and Respect for All.’

The Smestow girls performed as part of a celebration at the end of the main cycling event. Not only did they demonstrate commitment to the Performing Arts, by giving up their time on a Saturday to attend the performance, but they were extremely resilient and adaptable to the change in performance space and the wet conditions the ground was in, the girls took everything that was thrown their way in their stride exemplifying our Smestow Values or ‘Success Achieved Together.” 

Congratulations to:

M Kaseke 7G1

S Banger 7D2

O Akesuyi 7D2 

H Harris 7D2

Z Sumner 8D1

B Harper 9H2.

The girls performed two contemporary dances, dazzling the audience with their lifts, tricks and partner work with the scenery of the trees behind them adding to the spectacle. Most of the girls who performed had never danced before it was introduced to the curriculum in September, so to be able to participate in a public performance shows just how much hard work they have put in both inside and outside of lessons they are truly ‘Making a Difference Every Day.’ The performance finished with a beautiful solo choreographed by Z Sumner 8D1, a seasoned dancer who is now demonstrating her choreography skills using what she has learned this year in lessons and being inspired to incorporate new movements she had learned from routines we have explored in clubs throughout the year. 

The Creative Arts Department are unbelievably proud of the progress these pupils have made and can’t wait to provide even more performance opportunities for our pupils.