Yesterday, we hosted our first ever BookSparks event with the help of Children's Book Project. Every child was invited, along with their families, to come and select a free book to take home and enjoy! The purpose of the event was to encourage talk and discussions around what books different children and families enjoy reading together and why. It was lovely to see so many of our children choosing a book they wanted to read at home with their families! 

At Smith's Wood Primary, we are lucky to be a part of the Children's Book Project and this is only the first of our free book events. There will be another during the Spring and Summer Term too! 

Our overall attendance this week was 93.1%

Each week, during our Friday Achievement assembly, we celebrate our ‘Pupils of the Week’ from each year group. Pupils are recognised for this weekly award for a variety of reasons and are nominated by their class teacher. They may have excelled in a particular subject through the week; may have shown one, or more, of the school values in abundance, or they may have impressed their teacher, or other staff members with a huge amount of effort. Whatever they are nominated for, they are recognised in the whole school achievement assembly, receive a certificate to take home and get to wear one of our prestigious black and gold t-shirts. 
During the assembly, we also celebrate children who have 100% attendance for the week and have been in school every day on time. A lucky dip, of all children who are eligible takes place, and one pupil walks away with £5 to spend on whatever they want, Standards and presentation of a child’s book, chosen at random, are also reviewed and celebrated with the school and the child, whose book has been chosen, has the chance to win a dip out of the basket of goodies, as long as they have used their best handwriting every day, completed their feed forward marking and taken care in the presentation of their date and learning objective. We are extremely proud of all of the efforts of our pupils and the Friday Achievement assembly recognises this pride. 

Our weekly winners this week are:

Danny - 1RW

Scarlett - 2SWS

Vinnie - 2HS

Joy - 3JC

Jasmin-Louise - 3NW

Amelia - 4HA

Sawyer - 4PW

Presley - 4BB

Olivia - 5KG

Arianna - 5LH

T'Zyah - 6ES

Sofia - 6LM

Harper-Rae - 6ST

Book Look Winner – Roni-Mai -  3NW

Attendance Hero Winner - Laith - 1RW

Last week, our incredible Smith’s Wood Primary community came together in true fundraising spirit to support Children in Need—and we are thrilled to announce that we raised a fantastic £638!

This wonderful total was achieved through a combination of exciting activities, including the sale of Children in Need merchandise, a fun-filled non-uniform day, and—most impressively—the children designing and running their very own Pudsey Fun Fair. From creative games to colourful stalls, our pupils showed amazing imagination, teamwork, and enthusiasm.

A huge well done to all our competition winners who went above and beyond with their creativity. Your ideas helped make the week extra special!

Thank you to every pupil, parent, and staff member who helped make this event such a success. Together, we’ve made a real difference. 💛🐻

For more pictures from the day, please see our gallery.

Last night, our band of rowers braved the frigid and stormy waters of Fordbridge school for the inclusive rowing competition. This team of superhuman athletes battled hard against fierce competition to secure a well-fought and well-deserved first place, with every team member shattering their previous personal bests!

Steered by the calm, tactical mind of Mr Corbett, they delivered a scintillating display of speed, strength and rhythm on the rowing machines, powering Smith’s Wood to the top of the podium and securing a memorable victory for the rowing squad!

Huge congratulations to our brilliant pupils and their medal-winning coach! Smith’s Wood continues to shine in sport – on land, on track and now on imaginary water!

At Smith’s Wood Primary Academy, we are all really excited to be taking part in this year’s Christmas Jumper Day! This year, we will be asking children and staff to come into school wearing their Christmas jumper to raise as much money as we can for Save the Children. On Friday 12th December, we will be asking pupils to swap their normal school jumper for a Christmas jumper. To participate, please make a donation of £1.00 on Parent Pay, which will go directly to Save the Children. If your child does not wish to participate, then full school uniform is required. The best thing is the money that is raised by Smith’s Wood Primary is spent by Save the Children to help children and young people from across the UK. We really appreciate your support and hope that you’ll have lots of fun helping our school raise lots of money for Save the Children!