Wednesfield Academy pupils and staff are celebrating the school's improved GCSE results. More top grades, more progress and more children getting the qualifications they need for their next steps.

‘There’s nothing wrong with being a nerd’ - Top university success at Wednesfield Academy

Students and staff at Wednesfield Academy are celebrating amazing A level results, with one particularly high flier off to read Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford.

Archie Wilkinson, 18, from Willenhall, said this about his Oxford success: “Some people might think they are held back by where they're from and who they are but I kept thinking 'How cool would it be if I did go?'. You've got to live your life based on what you find cool, not what's cool to everyone else. There's nothing wrong with being a nerd - embrace it! Be unafraid to be you and put yourself out there.”

Headteacher Joe Phillips said: “We could not be happier for Archie and all of our students who are off to the destinations of their dreams. We always say it’s vital to follow your interests and Wednesfield students have done that. Our young people are progressing to such an amazing array of degree courses, including Engineering, Pharmacy, Law, Forensic Investigation, Film-making, Fashion Marketing and Palaeontology. For students who have worked hard, the effort has really paid off. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank their families for everything they have done, including working with us to remove barriers to their children’s success.”

Archie achieved A*AB in his A levels and he wasn’t the only one to secure the highest grades. Havi Patel, 18, is progressing to the University of Manchester to study Computer Science having achieved A*AA. He said: “I’m absolutely thrilled with my results and that I’m now off to study Computer Science at Manchester. It’s the course I’ve always wanted to do."

Wednesfield Academy’s overall A level results are, on average, more than a grade higher than last year’s. Wednesfield Academy was rated ‘Requires Improvement’ by Ofsted in November 2022. It joined Matrix Academy Trust soon afterwards. Since then, it has improved rapidly with Ofsted reporting from their June 2024 visit that “it is like a different school”.

We are pleased to announce that Wednesfield Academy has six pupils who have qualified for membership with the Mensa Society. Mensa is the world’s largest high IQ society. To qualify for a place, pupils had to take a Mensa-approved intelligence test and attain a score that places them within the upper 2% of the general population.

Congratulations to G Grewal (9K1), J Lay (9K1), C Jones (9K1), R Barrett (8D2), L Swinbourne (8D1) and I Toye-Akingbola (7W2) who have been successful. There will be further opportunities for more of our pupils to join the society in the near future.

This week the pupils who have received no negatives in the Summer term and have hit attendance of over 97% were given the opportunity to attend trips paintballing and go karting. All of the pupils (and staff!) thoroughly enjoyed the trips with another trip lined up to Alton Towers to come next week for the remaining pupils.

We were very excited to welcome Year 6 pupils, who will be joining Wednesfield Academy ins September 2024, to our Year 6 Transition Day.

Pupils were greeted by our house mascots and were thrilled to see them in real life!

All pupils received English. Maths, Science and History lessons during the day, supported by Year 7 pupils and a Learning Support Assistant. 

They enjoyed a free lunch and the opportunity to experience how we operate our family lunchtime. 

The behaviour and attitude of all Year 6 pupils was exemplary, and teachers found them to be delightful and very enthusiastic in lessons.

After a busy day, pupils participated in question and answer sessions delivered by members of the leadership team. To top the day off, we provided every pupils with:

•  a personalised copy of 'Go Big -  The secondary school survival guide'
• A Wednesfield Academy transition booklet with key information about what they will study in Year 7, information about the different houses and a series of subject challenges they can complete over the summer holiday.

We wish all Year 6 pupils an enjoyable summer break and we can't wait to see you all again in September!

Our Year 10 pupils are undergoing a series of workshops this week looking at different playwrights, styles and scripts in preparation for their next exam, performing from a text. They have developed their skills and knowledge since the beginning of Year 10 and are looking forward to putting them on show. Well done Year 10 Drama keep it up!

On Tuesday, a group of Year 12 pupils had the opportunity to take part in an Apprenticeship Taster Day at GTG in Wolverhampton.  Pupils were given a tour of the fantastic facilities as well as learning more about the different types of apprenticeship.  Pupils were positive about their experience and we look forward to working with GTG in the future.

Mr David visited Fibbersley Park Academy to deliver an ICT lesson to a class of their Year 4 pupils. The focus was developing their ICT skills and the use of PowerPoint specifically. Mr David was very impressed with how well pupils engaged with the session, thoroughly enjoying teaching the class.

Miss Clarke and Miss Farmer visited Perry Hall Primary School today to deliver Geography lessons to their Year 6 pupils. The lesson focus was a study of the local area. Both teachers were very impressed with how well the Year 6 pupils engaged with their learning and valued the opportunity to visit and work with Perry Hall Primary School.

A team of talented Year 8 French pupils who are excellent footballers were selected to represent the academy at the trust's inter-school language event. Pupils were compelled by the Futbol Lingo app's co-founder Pierce Kiembi's engaging account of how learning languages has helped him in his career as a semi-professional footballer turned academy coach. They were also inspired to learn about just how many languages star professional footballers, coaches and a host of others involved in the industry can speak and how communication in a multi-international world is key to success.

With the aim of gaining points for participation throughout the day, in competition with our fellow matrix academies, our pupils showed excellent teamwork in preparing and delivering a presentation on why their Francophone countries (France and Algeria) should host a football tournament. Presenting to a group of French teachers, entirely in French, did not daunt our pupils, who spoke confidently about their countries' food, transport links, stadia and star players.

Out on the pitch, our pupils collaborated with their peers from other Matrix academies, demonstrating their football skills whilst picking up some coaching tips from Pierre and brushing up on their languages as they competed.

Our pupils participated fully, interacting both with the visiting speaker from Futbol Lingo and with French speaking footballers from across the trust. They were so inspired by Pierre that the journey home was peppered with Spanish and Italian words and phrases as the pupils used Duolingo to get a head start on becoming increasingly multilingual, a necessity for future career success.