This Wednesday is National Numeracy Day - a celebration of everyday maths and the confidence it gives us in daily life. From managing money and cooking meals to understanding data and making informed decisions, numeracy is a skill we all use more than we realise.

National Numeracy Day encourages people of all ages to build confidence with numbers, challenge the idea that “some people just aren’t maths people,” and recognise that improving numeracy can open doors in work, education, and everyday wellbeing.

Whether it’s through games, puzzles, conversations, or practical activities, today is a great opportunity to make numbers feel more approachable, useful, and even enjoyable.

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Day 1 National Numeracy challenge

Today is the first day in our numeracy week. Research shows that good numeracy is the best protection against unemployment, low wages and poor health. This week we challenge you to improve your numeracy by visiting the link below and start a conversation about numeracy with your child by completing the 3 activities during the week. Ask your child to bring the answer to their maths teacher to be entered into a prize draw.

Join the Challenge

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Day 2: Ratio challenge

Today we challenge you and your child to work with this delicious recipe for lemon and yoghurt chicken flatbreads. The recipe is for 4 people. How much chicken is needed if you want to cook this recipe for 10 people? Watch the video on how this business uses maths to help them and then bring your answer to your maths teacher.

KS3 / GCSE Maths: Ratio and Proportion

Recipe

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Day 3: Increasing your savings

Today’s challenge is brought to by financial journalist Iona Bain. Watch the video on how you could improve your savings. Work with your child to discuss how you could save for the items in the challenge or how you could save for something more personal to your family.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/zgdxs82#zdy4jfr

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Day 4 Percentage challenge

Percentages are all around us in our lives. Watch the video on using percentages. With your child have a go at today’s shopping challenge. Which shop should you buy the diamond ring in?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/articles/z7f76v4

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Day 5

Today’s video is all about how you can help your child with maths homework. At Smestow we ask pupils to complete their Sparx maths homework to 100% each week. In addition to your support your child can access Sparx maths club every Wednesday after school and they can use our school library.

We are pleased to be working with Children North East - an organisation that looks to identify barriers affecting young people and work alongside schools and communities to try to overcome these.

All pupils have been sent a link to have their voice heard to their school email address.  Parents and Carers will also be sent a letter via WeDuc which contains a link to a parent/carer survey.

Please can we ask that we gather as many responses as possible so that we can identify further support that our young people need and look to see what we can do to help overcome this.

Thank you for your help!

We’re proud to share The Parents Guide to Green Careers – 2025 Edition, a FREE and practical guide for parents and carers who want to help their teens explore future careers that make a difference.

From sustainability and renewable energy to eco-design and green innovation, this guide helps families:

✅ Understand what “green careers” really mean

✅ Discover routes into sustainable jobs – after GCSEs, sixth form or university

✅ Start meaningful conversations about the future

✅ Access resources, quizzes and work experience ideas

👉 View HERE

Let’s empower the next generation to shape a greener, more sustainable future from 3rd - 8th November 2025.

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 Wednesday 1st October 2025 | 4pm – 7pm

Open Mornings are by booking only. These will take place on:

• Thursday 2nd October 9am-10am

• Friday 3rd October 9am-10am

• Wednesday 7th October 9am-10am

• Thursday 8th October 9am-10am

Book your Open Morning HERE

The Young Animator of the Year Awards is the biggest animation competition for young creatives in the UK. It's free to enter and is a great opportunity to showcase creative skills. 

Students aged 11-22 can submit their work, get noticed by industry professionals and have their film screened at Manchester Animation Festival - the biggest animation festival in the UK. There are also top prizes up for grabs, including a tour of Aardman (the studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep!).  

2D, 3D and stop-motion films are accepted, and all films need to be under 3 minutes in length. The competition is open for film submissions until Monday 1st September 2025. The shortlisted films will be announced on the YAY website on Wednesday 1st October 2025, with the winners announced at Manchester Animation Festival on Sunday 9th November. 

It's free to enter so the perfect summer holiday creative activity to get stuck into. Time to get doodling, sketching, modelling and making! 

Find out more at >> https://younganimator.uk/   Should you have any questions please contact Sarah Leech sarah@graft.works

11 of our YR10 Sport Leaders had a huge impact on Christchurch primary school Sportsday on Thursday 19^th June. With have helped lead this day from a number of years now and to keep being invited back shows how well our pupils do. Thursday was an extremely hot day so difficult conditions for everyone involved but for our students to keep the primary school children motivated and engaged throughout the day is a huge credit to them, their enthusiasm was noted by all of the staff and congratulated.

It was split into two separate competitions with the younger year groups in the morning and older ones in the afternoon but with the same format of a number of different stations first of all that looked at many different skills that our pupils demonstrated and then managed, these included football shooting, hockey dribbling and a series of sprints over hurdles and through an obstacle course. The primary school children then went onto competitive races on the track which our pupils managed fantastically well with quick transitions to keep the day moving but also congratulating and rewarding the students as they finished their participation with stickers and kind words.

A note from the Christchurch headteacher who addressed our pupils at the end of the day; “This day wouldn’t run without you, the way you are with our children and engaging them throughout is appreciated. You are fantastic pupils and Smestow should be very proud!”

The pupils withheld many of our Smestow values throughout the day and were a credit to themselves and the academy. Well done all.

We have read over 25 million words so far on Accelerated Reader at Smestow Academy #successachievedtogether 🙂

Our word millionaires so far this year are D.Mobolaji, M.Wright, A. Sulthan Ilyes & A. Oseghale of Year 7, I. Abiodun & K. Singh Kaur in Year 8.

In Year 9 we have two pupils who have nearly achieved their 1 million words - so keep up the good work and well done to F. Mohammadzai and K. Thind.

Our Year 7 students have been putting their amazing Textiles skills to the test, transforming ordinary socks into incredible sock monsters! From stitching to stuffing, cutting to customising, they’ve shown creativity, patience, and fantastic craftsmanship in bringing their unique creatures to life!

#Textiles #CreativeLearning #SockMonsters #Year7 #Handmade #SewMuchFun #CraftingSkills