The year 3 & 4 Boys Football team travelled away on Monday to play against Christ Church Primary. The boys were very excited to be back playing football for the school again. It was a very physical game but the boys coped extremely well and focused on playing good team football which paid off with a fantastic 7 – 1 win.

The boys went 1 – 0 down early in the game but they did not allow their heads to drop. Charley demonstrated good strength throughout the game and had a fantastic attacking run where he beat several opposition players, he also managed to bag himself a goal towards the end of the game.

Theo was consistent throughout the game and demonstrated some excellent attacking play, making it very difficult for the opposition to challenge him. He was strong in his tackles and managed to score an amazing 4 goals which is just phenomenal.

Iffy applied good pressure to the opposition which limited the options they had to go forward and attack our goal. He made an impressive save on the line by heading the ball over the bar. He was very unlucky not to score as he had some fantastic shots on goal which hit the bar and went just past the post.

Riley was solid in goal and made some excellent saves keeping the opposition’s scoring opportunities to a minimum. He demonstrated some good goal kicks which created many attacking opportunities for our strikers. Kai demonstrated good strength in his tackles and was very good at closing the opposition down and not allowing them time on the ball or much chance to go forward.

Jack linked up with his teammates well and demonstrated good decision-making skills helping Bloxwich to maintain possession. Caiden really enjoyed himself and it showed throughout the game. He got into some great positions which helped the team have good structure particularly in defence. Caiden closed down players well and was consistent in his tackles.

Corey had a fantastic game and made some brilliant attacking runs throughout the game. He linked up with teammates well while attacking and applied good pressure to the opposition when defending. Corey managed to score 2 superb goals.

Archie got himself into great positions and offered his teammates lots of support and options on the ball. He made some good attacking runs and helped in the build up play to many of the goals.

Wow! The year 3 residential was a massive success. The children participated in many activities such as axe throwing, ziplining and canoeing. The children were split into small groups accompanied by an adult and listened attentively to the Woodlands instructors throughout their three days away.

It was lovely to see the children in an outdoor environment, enjoying themselves and laughing whilst developing their confidence and resilience. They thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in the same dorm as each other and eating their breakfast, lunch and tea as a group. Many children have pushed themselves out of their comfort zones e.g. by conquering heights when completing the ziplining, entering water (even though many of them can’t swim!) to complete the canoeing or entering the underground tunnel in total darkness.

As staff, it was a delight to witness their new experiences and hear the children expressing their excitement and amazement that they had completed an activity that they never thought they would be able to do.

All our year 3 children have many memories to cherish and should be very proud of their accomplishments, friendships and unforgettable moments that they can keep with them forever.

Matrix’s first ever cross-trust pupil awards event, held at Millennium Point on 20^th April, was a fantastic success.

Pupils were recognised for exemplifying our trust values of creativity, resilience, selflessness, enthusiasm and continuous improvement. There were also awards for exemplary members of our Cadet Forces.

With more than 7000 pupils across our trust schools, it was really difficult to choose the 46 award winners. Those who did receive the awards should feel deservedly proud of their achievement.

The awards-giving was punctuated with several fantastic performances, including DJs from Barr Beacon, a piano virtuoso from Year 4 of Bloxwich Academy and Etone’s ‘Mega Band’. Before the event, we had over an hour of performances from pupils across our trust schools, all of who had been selected to perform after a trust-wide talent competition, which had more than 100 entrants.

The evening started with a video relating the story of our trust up until the end of 2022. Our CEO Ms Draycott then spoke about the two newest schools, Smestow Academy and Wednesfield Academy, who joined the Matrix family this year.

 There was also a special video explaining ‘what a makes a Matrix pupil’, starring a teacher from each of our schools.

Here is what some of our parents and carers have said about the event:

“The awards ceremony was fantastic. It was great to see pupils getting their awards and the fantastic performances from across the Matrix Academy Trust schools.”

“It meant so much to see all the pupils being awarded for life skills rather than academic achievement. The head teachers giving a little speech about each pupil was a lovely touch and really personalised it.”

“Thank you for a wonderful evening.  It was very special to see everyone receiving their awards.”

“Thank you for a special evening celebrating the achievements of pupils.  We are especially proud of our daughter!”

“Tonight was simply amazing!” 

Ms Draycott and Director of School Improvement Mr Lowbridge-Ellis introduced each of the awards and our headteachers explained who they had chosen and why. Trustee Sir Mark Aspinall bestowed the awards on the worthy winners.