At the end of term Fo$S held a second hand uniform sale and raised an amazing £1025. Thank you so much for all your support. More news about upcoming Fo$s events coming soon.

At the end of term, the Visual Arts Faculty produced a fantastic video showcasing of all the beautiful artwork that students have produced during lockdown. In case you missed it, we have included the video link again which features photographs, paintings, sketches, models and even a crochet rainbow square which took over 50 hours to complete! Thank you to all of the artists who submitted the work and to Mrs Barnett and Ms Leto for producing such a lovely memory of this time.

https://drive.google.com/file/ d/1TJuZQGP_4DMV-sBQyNKx4o5Ukfv3T5V3/ view?ts=5f140b30

In the Sandprint every week we run a feature titled “Student Spotlight” where we highlight the achievements of an individual student at Sandringham School.

This can relate to success within the school (be it academic, sports, arts or music-related) or it can be something that has been achieved outside of school/ helping within the community.

If you would like your child to be featured please email Melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk including a short piece of text and a photograph if you are happy for it to be included.

This week, we feature Anneline P in Year 10.

On the 12th March, days before total lockdown, Anneline P went to the French institute to pass DELF diplome étude langue française level B1. She passed with flying colours scoring higher than 80%.

Following that, during lockdown while completing online classes, Anneline prepared for DELF B2, which she passed after a grueling 4 hours of written and oral examinations in London. Her sister, Lucile P in Y11 also passed the same exam with both girls achieving a 70% pass.

Congratulations to both girls on working so hard and such fantastic results!

A reminder to all families that students must walk or cycle to school if at all possible. If you do need to drive, HCC have requested, and we fully support this, a car exclusion zone around all schools to allow children to walk as far apart as possible and not be concerned about traffic congestion. Please DO NOT drive close to the school – but respect the clearance zone. Traffic wardens are on patrol and will issue fines. More importantly, there is the moral imperative for us to all help out in this way. Please also note that you are not permitted to park on site to collect your child.

Secondly, can we ask any parents waiting for their children not to stand directly by the front gate. This causes a log-jam where space is a premium for free-flow. Please wait away from the entrances/exits.

Thank you for your help with this matter.

In July, the English faculty announced the title for the World Class Schools, annual essay writing competition. This year’s highly topical question, set by Sarah Jayne Blakemore, Professor of Psychology, University of Cambridge is:

‘School classrooms look the same across history and across countries. But is the classroom the best way to educate future generations in the 21st century?'

What would the ideal education system look like?

A number of students took the opportunity to start writing their essay during the summer holiday and we have already received some final entries. If you have not yet started, you still have time! We invite all students currently in year 9 or 10 to write an essay of no more than 2500 words in response to the question. The Sandringham deadline for submissions is Monday 21st September. A panel of teachers will judge entries, prizes will be awarded and a number of our strongest submissions will be entered into the national competition where those shortlisted will be judged by Professor Blakemore. Successful students will be invited to attend an awards ceremony in London which will take place in December.

The picture above shows last year’s winners celebrating. This is a wonderful opportunity and we look forward to reading your essays. If you require any further information or support, please email Mrs Nicholls.

The Mathematics Faculty will be running a Puzzle of the Week starting next Monday. To get you warmed up, below is the one they sent out before we went into lockdown. Who can solve the puzzle the quickest in your house every week?

Yesterday, we welcomed our lovely year 7’s who had a very busy first day at Sandringham School. The pupils arrived wearing their new shoes and school uniform and spent most of the day in their tutor groups getting to know each other, diving into their first lesson, and throughout the day asking any pending questions they had about their journey ahead. The first year group challenge was announced as a game of Tenable. Who will be the winners? And who will be terrible at Tenable…

Pupils coped extremely well with the new set up and the one way system around school, as well as remembering to sanitise hands entering and exiting classrooms. Please remember that pupils can choose to wear a mask when walking around corridors and the school site. No consequences will be given for this but must remember to take the mask off correctly and safely store it in their bag before entering classrooms.

We hope everyone had a fantastic day! Looking forward to the next 7 years and making memories with you all.

S is for… scrutiny [noun]

Definition: The act of carefully examining something especially in a critical way

Example: The notion of traditional schooling is coming under scrutiny.

Synonyms: Analysis Review Perusal

Antonyms: Glance Cursory look

Etymology : From the Latin word ‘scrutari’ meaning to search. This originally meant to sort rubbish deriving from ‘scruta’ meaning rubbish.