This week pupils have had assemblies about Holocaust Memorial Day: they have been reminded of the events of the holocaust and genocide of the Jewish people in World War Two. However, sadly that is not the last genocide that the world has seen. The assembly touched on genocides since then in Rawanda, Darfur and Cambodia, amongst others.

These messages were explored in terms of this year’s theme: the fragility of freedom. Pupils considered the seriousness of how our Beacon Values link to protection of our fragile freedoms every day. That living in a world where everyone is equal to others and never discriminates is essential to ensure such atrocities never happen again.

Episode 1: Express Yourself

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 in a state-of-the-art theatre Millennium Point on Thursday 18^th April 2024. Whether it be singing, juggling, stand-up comedy or anything in between, we want to see all your wonderful talents. Unfortunately, we cannot accept Dance entries this year due to the size of the stage. 

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 Friday 23^rd February 2024. 

World Braille Day falls in January each year. This year, to raise awareness, we had an assembly from our SENDCO, Mrs Walker to explore what braille is and how it was created. Pupils commented that they hadn’t known about braille beforehand!  

The SEND team has also offered two fantastic opportunities to sign up for: pupils have been challenged to sign up to either learn how to read braille or how to do sign language. Our pupils were excited to be able to learn about supporting those in our school community who may need differing forms of communication to support them.  

Our chair of trustees Sir Mark Aspinall has been invited to have his photograph taken to be placed in the Victoria Law court in Birmingham. Sir Mark has over 20 years’ experience in Law across banking, financial, media, NHS, Government and FTSE corporate sector and is currently a Judge and a Governor of a local authority Primary School.

We would like to take this opportunity to see your very best photography work and give you the opportunity to have your work hung in the law court for years to come. See below details on how to get involved with our Matrix photography competition.

Submission Criteria. You can submit up to three portrait style images, each image can be of the same or a different subject. Your images should be saved in jpeg format. Images should not be altered or edited, we want to see your original photograph. Cropping is allowed. Images should be sent with your full name, form group, school name and a short write up to explain your style of image. Submit your images to photography@matrixacademytrust.co.uk

Submission Deadline: Sunday 18th February 2024. Speak to your media/creative arts teacher for help and guidance.

What is Portrait Photography? Portrait photography is best defined as a genre of photography that involves capturing the identity, personality, facial expression, soul, emotions, essence, and the overall inherent character of a subject within a photograph.

Prize. The winning submission will be chosen by Sir Mark Aspinall and Mrs Draycott. The winner will receive £150 and the opportunity to take the commissioned image in Victoria Law Court in Birmingham. The winners photograph of Sir Mark Aspinall will be proudly hung in the court. The oldest image currently hanging in the court currently is over 180 year olds. This is a chance to take a photograph that will be seen in court for many years to come.

Over the last 2 weeks, we have been collecting donations for Bethany Food Bank based in Great Barr.

To ensure that we collected a range of items, each House was assigned a food group and the Sixth Form were responsible for donating toiletries and sanitary items.

We are grateful for the generosity and kindness shown as we do our bit to help others.  

Thank you to everyone who donated as well as to the Year 13 students who packed it all up ready for collection.

The donations have been collected by a representative from the Food Bank and will be used to support local families over the coming weeks.

On Tuesday 12th December, 50 students across the Matrix Schools met at Barr Beacon to find out more about their “Far From Home” Italian adventure as part of the Turing Scheme. The day consisted of meeting their staff, team building activities and learning more about where they are going. This of course would not have been complete without a “surviving Italy” language taster session from a native Italian, as well as tasting some authentic Italian dishes such as ‘Melanzane alla Parmigiana’ ‘Patate, Gorgonzola e Chorizo’ and a choice of ‘Antipasti’ to awaken their taste buds. The day was finished off by writing a Christmas card back to their pen pal in our partner school in Rome, we cannot wait to visit and meet them in person! 

Congratulations to 9 of our current Year 13 students who have clocked up 100% attendance for 6 consecutive years.  

This fantastic achievement was recognised and celebrated at our Annual Awards Evening last month.

We are pleased to now be able to present them with their iPads. Well done to them all!

Thank you to everyone who supported our Christmas raffle. We have been running 2 raffles side by side – one for a chocolate hamper and the other for a cuddly toy.

Congratulations to our two winners:  G.Hands 7M2 and I.Patel 11M2.  We hope you enjoy your prizes.

We have raised £140.00, taking our grand total this term to £1,152.81!  This is an impressive amount and we are grateful to all pupils, parents/carers and staff who support our charity events.   £305.90 of this total has gone to Children in Need and the rest will be split, at the end of the year, between our chosen charities:  Humanity First and Birmingham Children’s Hospital.   

Well done to our Year 13 Ambassadors for all their hard work in organising and running the charity events.  They are already busy planning the next one and looking forward to your support once again!