Academy Life
Good News 2023-24
For more Good News stories, head to our Facebook and Twitter pages.
SIXTH FORM RESULTS 2023
GCSE RESULTS 2023
Rugby win
Cricket World Cup
Faye and Libby are currently in Dubai for the Indoor Cricket World Cup as part of the English Under 17 team.
This morning 7am British time they played their final game and beat South Africa to win the shield!
Very well done girls! Making Fairfax and England proud!
Cricket Success
We are delighted to share the excellent news that one of our year 12 students, Ellie has been selected again to be on the Emerging Player Programme for the regional Central Sparks squad.
Central Sparks is a women’s cricket team that represent the West Midlands region, one of eight regional hubs in English domestic women’s cricket.
Ellie will be training with the squad this year and we wish her every success as she progresses in Women’s cricket.
Making Fairfax proud!
Netball Success
Well done to our year 9 netball team, who played brilliantly in the Sutton Schools Championships!
Rugby Success
A fantastic result for our year 8 rugby team this evening!! The squad played a round robin tournament at Bishop Vesey and came back undefeated, winning all three of their matches!
Hockey Success
A BIG well done to our U15 girls hockey squad who beat Solihull school 1-0. We are SO proud of you all, you all were amazing Also a massive thank you to Dave O’Brien for your support with our hockey squads and organising this fixture.
Olympians Visit Fairfax!
We were honoured to have Britain’s first ever Black Female Olympian Anita Neil and fellow athletes visiting Fairfax as part of Black History Month.
West Bromwich Albion Success!
CHILDREN IN NEED 2023
Amazon Voucher Prize Draw
Fairfax Staff Wellbeing - 12 Days Of Christmas
Fairfax Academy wellbeing event: It was ‘lights, cameras, action!’ at Fairfax Academy this week, when some of Hollywood’s best-known characters were spotted at the Sutton Coldfield school.
But behind the famous faces – from the Grinch to Cruella de Vil – were actually dedicated Fairfax staff members taking part in a fun range of events entitled ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’.
A wellbeing project designed to celebrate the positive impact staff have on life at the school, the events coincided with the start of the school’s famous Eisteddfod week, which this year is themed around Movies.
Each year the school’s four houses of Coventry, Kenilworth, Stratford and Warwick compete in the week-long Eisteddfod festival, which includes all kinds of artistic disciplines.
So, as youngsters rehearsed for their Eisteddfod performances, staff joined in the fun by dressing as characters from films, with fairy tale princesses taking lessons, an elf sitting on reception and the Grinch taking playground duty.
Other events in The Twelve Days of Christmas included the launch of the school’s annual Food Bank Collection, organising a lunch with the local community, and a ‘Great Christmas Bake Off’ within school to raise money for Good Hope Hospital.
Staff have also been involved in raffles, finding the golden tickets and sharing mince pies, along with the grand opening of the school’s new Staff Wellbeing Room.
Helen Williams, Assistant Principal for Inclusion and Participation, explained: “Wellbeing is a very important part of life at Fairfax, whether it’s the students or the staff, and the Twelve Days of Christmas was a great, fun way for everyone to support each other as the term comes to an end.
“The school is always full of excitement during The Eisteddfod week, and all of these events meant our staff joined in the fun, encouraging the students to give to charity, support each other, be creative and to celebrate what a positive place Fairfax is.”
Another successful Eisteddfod!
Fairfax Academy Eisteddfod 2023: It’s ‘Hooray for Hollywood’ as arts festival goes to the movies
Fairfax Academy Eisteddfod 2023: Fairfax Academy’s annual Eisteddfod brought the stars of the silver screen to Sutton Coldfield, as the legendary school arts festival went to the movies.
Films and Movies were the theme of this year’s Eisteddfod, which ha been a hotly-contested fixture on the school calendar for decades.
Each year the school’s four houses of Coventry, Kenilworth, Stratford and Warwick compete in the week-long arts festival, which includes all kinds of disciplines from music and dance to art and poetry.
Two packed shows at the Fairfax Road school treated audiences to a huge variety of movie-based entertainment, from ambitious dance routines based on James Bond, to instrumentals featuring Hollywood themes and spoken word performances on the world of movies.
It was way back in 1961 that Fairfax held its first Eisteddfod – a two-day competition based on the traditional Welsh festivals that celebrate art, literature, music and performance.
More than 50 years later, Fairfax students care passionately about the annual contest, which is the biggest date on the school’s calendar and the highpoint of the inter-house competition.
Backed by committed staff, the success of the Fairfax Academy Eisteddfod 2023 was driven by the students’ dedication – they write sketches, compose and arrange music, choregraph and rehearse dance routines, often practicing out of school hours. Students also contribute to the smooth running of the shows, working backstage and acting as narrators.
Fairfax Academy Eisteddfod 2023 winners
And on Thursday, December 21, Principal Sean Castle revealed that judges had chosen Coventry as the winners of the overall title.
Principal Sean Castle said: “This year’s Eisteddfod has been simply fantastic, and yet again highlighted the talents and abilities of our amazing students.
“The theme of Movies provided all kinds of opportunities for the students to be creative, and they responded with some really memorable performances, and striking works of art.
“As always, the sheer talent and the creativity of the students meant the judges had a very difficult job is selecting winners.
“I would like to congratulate Coventry for winning, and thank all of our dedicated staff who worked so hard to help the students turn their creative ideas into reality.”
Thanks to Sutton Live for the wording.
Local Support for Food Bank
Fairfax Academy unveils defibrillator ‘at the heart of the community’
Read all about the life-saving equipment installed on Fairfax Road:
Netball stars!!
Here are our year 7 netball team who were outstanding in the Sutton schools championships over the past 2 weeks. Well done girls!
Fairfax Academy Staff Wellbeing Week – sweet treats, social support and Secret Saints
Read all about our staff wellbeing week, here at Fairfax:
“WE OFTEN SAY THAT FAIRFAX IS A SCHOOL AT THE HEART OF ITS COMMUNITY, BUT IN MANY WAYS THE SCHOOL IS ALSO A COMMUNITY
IN ITSELF TOO, WHERE COLLEAGUES SUPPORT EACH OTHER AND WORK TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE THE BEST OUTCOMES
FOR THE STUDENTS,”
– PRINCIPAL SEAN CASTLE
Year 10 Girls' Netball
Year 10 Girl’s indoor football today! Well done to Coventry house for winning the competition!
Inter Girls' Netball
Congratulations to Warwick House for winning the senior girls inter-house football competition.
Year 13 Art impresses once again!
Year 13 Art students are working hard on their large scale pieces, we look forward to seeing the final results.
Modeshift STARS Active Travel Ambassadors Programme
A new partnership has started up between students in Y7, Y8 and Y9 and Modeshift STARS an organisation which supports sustainable travel and delivering effective travel plans in education. Fairfax has also partnered with the organisation and John Willmott School to achieve the objective of reducing car use and popularity and to promote active and sustainable travel options such as walking, bus use, park and stride.
Our students will be presenting active travel ideas pertinent to Fairfax and John Willmott School to members of Birmingham Council Chamber in February towards the objective and competing against four other schools. For more information about Modeshift STARS, please see: https://modeshiftstars.org/
Financial Support
We are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our latest application to again financial support for our families throughout the school holidays. Your voucher entitles you to £20 to use at your local supermarket. These need to be redeemed during Half-term only, after which they will expire. Families entitled to this support should have received their voucher already via email. Have a lovely half-term!!
Sporting Success
Ellie, from Year 12, joined the Warwickshire County Cricket Club Academy tour to Sri Lanka last week. The team had an amazing experience and interacted with the local communities. They donated their outgrown cricket kit to a local school, where the students welcomed them warmly. The students expressed their gratitude by putting on a show with dancers and entertainers for the team. Despite the scorching heat, the team played well and enjoyed the challenge of facing different opponents.
#makingfairfaxproud
#ambition
#dedication
#excellence
Athletic Success!
Congratulations to the boys indoor athletics teams.
A second place for the year 7 team🥈 and third place for the year 8 team 🥉
Tag Rugby Competition Winners!
Year 9 House Tag Rugby Competition. Well done to Kenilworth on the win 🥇
SFE Virtual Music Festival
SFE Virtual City Music Festival is an annual online celebration of music education in Birmingham, organized by Services For Education (SFE), a charity that provides music and arts services to schools and communities. The festival showcases the talents and achievements of young musicians from different schools and groups across the city, who perform a variety of musical genres and style.
We were delighted to take part in the event! Click on the link for our performances.
Modeshift STARS Active Travel Ambassadors Programme
Our Y8 and Y9 students were exemplary this morning at Birmingham City Council Chamber giving a presentation to secure funding for safer, cleaner travel around the roads of both Fairfax and John Willmott
Our students did us proud and secured us £200 plus half of the £50 bonus, shared with John Willmott with whom we’ve collaborating with on this initiative. We were one of two schools out of six securing this £50 bonus.
Considering too, that our students were KS3 and all other schools were KS4 and above, they did so well to secure the bonus! 😊
Welcome to Erdington Academy Applicants
We were delighted to host the Year 11 students who have made applications to our sixth form.
The day was spent meeting the sixth form team that will be working with the students who may come to our sixth form in September, chatting with the current year 13 students about life at Fairfax, as well as seeing how the school operates.
Students had the chance to talk about their future plans with our careers advisor, and had a taste of A Level and BTEC lessons.
Good luck to all of our year 11 students in our Trust schools in their forthcoming exams.
Birmingham School Games
2nd place for the year 8 girls at the Birmingham Indoor Athletics finals. We are so proud of you! Well done!
Hooray, yet another final!
For the second year running (and only the 4th time in 17 years) the Fairfax Table Cricket team have reached the National finals to be held at Lords in June. Yesterday, they beat teams from as far away as Stoke and Tewkesbury in the Regional finals held at Edgbaston CC.
Equally Safe Anti-Bullying Certificate
We have recently been awarded EqualiTeach’s Equally Safe Anti-Bullying Certificate for the work we have completed in this area over the last 12 months.
EqualiTeach work with teachers, staff and students, involving the whole school and helps to develop better environments for learning.
Year 9 Visit to Keble College, Oxford
Year 10 Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition
The Year 10 Bronze Duke of Edinburgh expedition to Cannock Chase involved navigating the scenic woodlands, setting up camp, and practicing essential outdoor skills. Participants trekked through diverse terrain, fostering teamwork, resilience, and independence while experiencing the beauty of nature.
FMAT Games
Congratulations to all our athletes who competed in the FMAT games on Thursday. Fairfax came away winning all four categories!
We are so proud of our students for their ambition, dedication and respect throughout the day.
World Challenge trip to Borneo Summer 2024
Year 10 trip to Paris Summer 2024
History Trip to Salzberg Summer 2024
fft National School Attendance Award
Fairfax was delighted to receive the FFT National School Attendance Award in Spring. Awards are presented to Aspire schools in the top 10% and top 25% for pupil attendance, nationally and among similar schools.
Fairfax Academy Ofsted 2024 – Principal praises staff and students after glowing report
“
Fairfax Academy Ofsted 2024– The proud Principal of Fairfax Academy has welcomed a glowing new Ofsted report in which the school was graded Good or Outstanding across all categories – calling it a ‘credit to the staff’.
The report, which described Fairfax as an “inclusive and thriving” environment, praised staff commitments to teaching, extracurricular activities and pastoral care, and highlighted the students’ “brilliant” behaviour and attitudes.”
For more, read the full article here:
Fairfax Academy Ofsted 2024 – Principal praises staff and students (suttonschoollife.co.uk)
Grease is the Word
Another smash hit musical from Fairfax’s talented students and staff hit the stage this week and finished off this year’s good news.
“From Greased Lightning to the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies, the ambitious school production was rock’n’roll perfection.”
From Sutton Life:
Grease at Fairfax Academy raises the roof with a rock’n’roll classic (suttonschoollife.co.uk)
