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.

We are thrilled to share with you the incredible experiences and adventures that our Year 4 children had during our recent residential trip. It was a memorable and educational journey filled with new challenges, friendships, and unforgettable moments.

One of the highlights of our residential trip was the range of thrilling outdoor activities that the children got to participate in. From team-building exercises to adrenaline-pumping challenges, our Year 4 children pushed themselves to new limits and conquered their fears. They enjoyed high rope climbing, archery, zip-lining, and even tried their hand at orienteering. The children showed great determination, resilience, and teamwork skills, supporting and encouraging each other every step of the way.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated staff at Woodlands Activity Centre for their expert guidance, support and hospitality. We are also immensely proud of our Year 4 students for their exemplary behaviour, positive attitude and enthusiastic participation in all the activities.

We hope that the memories and lessons from our residential trip will stay with our Year 4 students for years to come. It was a truly unforgettable experience that has enriched their lives and contributed to their personal and social development.

WORLD BOOK DAY! Wow!!!!!

What an amazing day Bloxwich Academy have had. Thank you to all our parents and carers for buying costumes of your child’s favourite characters or sending your child/ren into school in their pyjamas. The children all looked amazing.

I am over the moon at our many potato characters which have been brought into school. We had a Mr Bump, a school scene, a family of potatoes’, Sonic, a Super Mario character and many, many more- they were amazing! KS2 have brought in their own designs of a new book cover and blurb, and I was delighted to see so many entries which will be displayed in the Accelerated Reading area for all our children to see and read- well done.

Throughout the day, all our children had the chance to take part in the World Book Day Dance Workshops- Early Years performed through dance ‘The Three Little Pigs’, KS1 performed through dance ‘Handa’s Surprise’ and KS2 performed through dance ‘Matilda’. The children have been telling me that they have really enjoyed taking part and a Year 3 child said’ I enjoyed being moody like Matilda!’ This was an amazing opportunity for the children to express themselves and it certainly helped promote the love of reading.

Throughout the day, there have been many World Book Day activities taking place- from children making their own stories using ICT, children taking part in book quizzes and competing against each other’s knowledge, children creating their own book covers and blurb and many, many more. It has been a pleasure to walk around school and see our children engaged, happy and loving all the activities that they had the opportunity to complete today.

Please find attached many photos from our amazing day. I’m sure you will agree they are fantastic, and I can’t wait to celebrate World Book Day again next year!

Do you have a special talent you wish to showcase at our next big live event.

You will have the chance to perform on stage in front of a live audience in Birmingham at Millennium Point in their state-of-the-art theatre on Thursday 20^th April 2022.  Whether it be singing, dancing, juggling, stand-up comedy or anything and everything in between, we want to see all your wonderful talents.

How to enter:

• Have one of your performing arts teachers record your performance (or film it yourself and email to your teacher). 
• A snippet of your performance can be submitted, please do not worry about submitting a performance in its entirety. 
• Your teacher will be able to submit your performance video to the Matrix judging panel.
• Finalists will have the opportunity to perform at our next big trust event and some school events this year. 
• Solo entries and group entries are welcome. 
• Submit your entry by 4pm on Wednesday 15^th March.  

This week, we received a wonderful email from a parent of one of our Reception children. Cody from our Golden Cap class has taken up a new hobby; digging for, and learning all about, discarded glass bottles from the Victorian era. Cody’s Grandad has been enjoying this past time for a number of years and he recently took Cody on one of his treasure hunts. Would you take a look at the amazing old bottles and jars they found just under the soil surface in our local area! There are some incredibly old and interesting pieces of glassware, as you can see, and the smile on Cody’s face just shows how much fun he has been having digging up the lost treasures of the past. Well done Cody – your mum is super proud of you, and we are thrilled that you have such an interesting hobby to share with your Grandad.

We think that this could be a fantastic hobby for so many young children, and is a great way to encourage them to get out and explore! If you would like to know more about how Victorian bottles and how they have come to be found in such concentrated sites, read more HERE