Smestow Academy (formerly Smestow School), also known as simply Smestow (pronounced "smest-oh") is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in the

Castlecroft Castlecroft is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, located on the edge of the city, WSW of the city centre. It is situated where the Merry Hill, and Tettenhall Wightwick wards meet, and also borders South Staffordshire. History The name ...

area of

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, England.

History

The school was founded in 1964 under the authority of

Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire County Council is the top-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshir ...

. Originally it was known as Tettenhall Number 2 with the number 1 school becoming Regis (now The King's School). It is named after the

River Smestow The Smestow Brook, sometimes called the River Smestow, is a small river that plays an important part in the drainage of Wolverhampton, South Staffordshire, and parts of Dudley in the United Kingdom, and has contributed to the industrial developm ...

, to which it is very close, although the school grounds are actually bordered by the Finchfield Brook and the

Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal The Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal is a navigable narrow canal in Staffordshire and Worcestershire in the English Midlands. It is long, linking the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywoo ...

. It was incorporated within Wolverhampton by the boundary changes accompanying local government reform in 1974, which brought Castlecroft and Tettenhall into Wolverhampton.

School Badge

The school badge has its origins in the

Tettenhall Tettenhall is an historic village within the City of Wolverhampton, England. Tettenhall became part of Wolverhampton in 1966, along with Bilston, Wednesfield and parts of Willenhall, Coseley and Sedgley. History Tettenhall's name derives fro ...

coat of arms. The three

roundels A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

in the arms are of a special type, with a distinctive wavy pattern, known in

Heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch ...

as fountains. They were considered to represent the

Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

Trent Trent may refer to: Places Italy * Trento in northern Italy, site of the Council of Trent United Kingdom * Trent, Dorset, England, United Kingdom Germany * Trent, Germany, a municipality on the island of Rügen United States * Trent, California, ...

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

and the tributary rivers which originate in the area, which include the

. The original Tettenhall arms had three trees, representing the three great forests of southern Staffordshire which met at Tettenhall: the forests of Kinver, Brewood and Cannock. The school badge adapted this into a tree composed of four circles, representing the four houses of the school, which were named after the new Universities of Lancaster, Sussex, Warwick and York, founded around the same time as the school. The badge also contains allusions to other features of the Tettenhall arms: the

Windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

and the Battleaxes, reminders of the

Battle of Tettenhall The Battle of Tettenhall (sometimes called the Battle of Wednesfield or Wōdnesfeld) took place, according to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', near Tettenhall on 5 August 910. The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex met an army of Kingdom of Nort ...

which took place on 5 August 910.

Specialist school and academy status

The school became a specialist

Sports college Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education. United Kingdom Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist schools programme, Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdo ...

, and was presented with

ARTSMARK Artsmark is the creative quality standard for schools and education settings, awarded by Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is ...

(alongside the previously awarded

SPORTSMARK Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision.

) in 2004 for outstanding success in Drama & the Arts. Smestow has a wide variety of sporting facilities including a gymnasium, swimming pool, PE hall, four separate changing rooms, a fitness suite/gym, a small dance/aerobics area (also used for drama room) a set of tennis courts and two large playing fields as well as the new sports hall. In February 2014 the school converted to academy status, and became part of the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mech ...

Multi-Academy Trust. In January 2023 Smestow School was rebrokered, and was renamed Smestow Academy.

Future plans

In January 2015 a new Sixth Form Study Centre and library opened to promote and support students studying at Smestow. The school is benefiting from

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

funding and plan to build a sports hall within the next 3–4 years.

Notable former pupils

Suzi Perry Suzi Perry (born 3 May 1970) is a British television presenter, currently covering MotoGP for BT Sport. She is best known for covering MotoGP for the BBC for 13 years, ''The Gadget Show'' on Channel 5 for 8 years and the BBC's Formula One cove ...

, English television presenter, columnist and model *

Sam Winnall Sam Thomas Winnall (born 19 January 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for League One club Burton Albion Career Wolverhampton Wanderers Winnall joined the youth ranks of Wolverhampton Wanderers as a teenager, be ...

a professional footballer currently at Scunthorpe United FC *

Andy Tennant Andrew Wellman Tennant (born June 15, 1955) is an American screenwriter, film and television director, actor, and dancer. Early life Tennant was born June 15, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois and was raised in Flossmoor, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago ...

, European Track Champion Cyclist for Great Britain (2006) *

Satnam Rana Satnam Rana is a presenter for the BBC, currently presenting on BBC news programme ''Midlands Today'' and features on BBC WM. She worked at Five Live for two years then came to BBC Birmingham where she has been working since 2002. Early life and ...

BBC Midlands Today ''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza. Overview ''Midlands Today'' is produ ...

television presenter *

Rob Manuel Rob Manuel (born 5 December 1973) is the English co-founder of the website B3ta (where he is affectionately known as "the Ginger Führer"). Work Manuel is responsible for numerous quizzes and Flash animations. He has also collaborated with Joel Ve ...

, Web Media Producer *

Lisa Potts Lisa Webb GM (née Potts) is a former nursery teacher. On 8 July 1996, her class at St Luke's Primary School in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, England, was attacked by a man with severe paranoid schizophrenia wielding a machete. Potts' arm was al ...

GM, former nursery teacher * Sam Andrew Gumbley, better known by his stage name S-X, is a British record producer, singer and songwriter

References

External links

Smestow Academy Official Site
{{Coord, 52.5809, -2.1852, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Educational institutions established in 1964 Secondary schools in Wolverhampton Academies in Wolverhampton 1964 establishments in England