This morning, Year 4 held a parent maths workshop. The children were tasked with the very important job of relocating the Professor’s dinosaurs and working out the total cost of the park.

We are delighted to launch our themed menus for 2023/24 off the back of our very successful new menu for the academic year. 

These special days are an opportunity to celebrate events, festivals and cultures from around the world across all of the Matrix Academy Trust schools. Not only will these provide pupils with a wide range of food experiences but will also compliment our Personal Development curriculum and Theme of the Week.

Watch this space for more updates on our menus and the wonderful food that we will be offering as part of these events.

Yesterday, the children were visited by Pep the Poet who has published many books. First, we had a very exciting assembly where he read out some of his poems. Then, every year group had a workshop where they got to ask questions, hear some more and even turn some into performances.

On Thursday 28^th September Year 4 students embarked on a school trip to the Molineux football stadium, home ground of Wolverhampton Wanderers. The children had the chance to explore the world of football, learn about the history of the stadium, and even witness the inner workings of a professional football club. Children discovered all the different careers that exist within such a successful football club, hopefully inspiring them to aim for the stars in terms of their future career. It was a fantastic experience that added a real-world dimension to their learning.

Reception & KS1 children participated in their sports day on Thursday 29th June. All children took part in the egg and spoon race, the obstacle race and the running race. Children then had the chance to sign up for the jumping/sack race. It was a lovely afternoon of activities and the children really enjoyed competing and earning points for their houses.

The children participated in field events during their PE lessons. They took part in javelin, speed bounce, standing long jump and the target throw. The children worked hard to be the best they can be.

KS2 children participated in their sports day on Friday 30th June. The weather in the morning was a little wet, but we managed to complete the afternoon of events without any disruptions from the rain thankfully.

All children took part in the obstacle and running race and then children had the option to sign up for the football dribbling race, the long distance run and the mixed relay. The support for the children from family and friends was amazing! So many people came to support the children and cheer them on. The children had a wonderful time from start to finish which made the afternoon very special.

Once all the results were added together from both sports days and all the field events, the overall results were as follows:

1st – Watt

2nd – Stephenson

3rd – Brindley

4th Telford

Some of you may know that, here at Bloxwich Academy Primary, we have a very talented musician in our midst! Shankley in Year 4 has an incredible natural aptitude for playing piano. At the age of 7, during the COVID-19 lockdown, he showed a great interest in learning how to play after seeing pianist Lang Lang on the television. Shankley was initially given a keyboard and quickly demonstrated that he had an ear for music and a natural ability to play.

Since the beginning on the year, Shankley has been receiving piano lessons in school after been awarded grants from two local charities, with further funding now promised for the next academic year.

Shankley’s piano tutor explains ‘At our first meeting, I was able to assess the level he had reached through self-learning at home. He demonstrated excellent musicality, and some well-memorised advanced repertoire. A large focus in our lessons has been for Shankley to learn to be able to read music which he is now able to do at a late-intermediate/early-advanced level with very little extra prompting. I am confident that with his great drive and determination, he will successfully achieve the Grade 5 piano qualification and at least one music theory grade this year, and be well on his way to Grade 8 piano before moving to secondary school.’

His family have been a real driving force behind Shankley’s achievements, applying for the initial funding and supporting him in all aspects of his development. His mum tells us that he recently performed at the local church in memory of his grandad, who has sadly passed away, and at Harden Hall Care Home, entertaining residents during the school holiday. His mum told us ‘He has a heart of gold and loves to play for everyone. He asked me if he could perform somewhere to make others happy and that’s what he did; they loved him! We’re super proud of the kind, caring selfless boy he is!’

We, too, are so proud of you Shankley. We cannot wait to continue to follow your progress, and share your future successes with the Bloxwich Academy Primary community.

What a fantastic week we had at Bryntysilio just before the half term break. The sun was shining, and the children were in great spirits! Throughout the week, the children experienced a range of adventurous activities: rock climbing, gorge walking, archery, canoeing, scrambling and team building exercises. It was fantastic to see everyone have a go at everything, even if sometimes it may have felt out of their comfort zone. There are a few photos to remind you of some of the fun that we had!

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.