As mentioned in the Headlines, FoSs would like to invite you all to join them online with Mr Gray and Mr Nicholls at a Parents Forum via zoom, meeting on Thursday 19th November at  6pm. In case you have any problems with the link shared, the meeting ID is 3993227841 and password 12345.

This will be a chance to ask Mr Gray and Mr Nicholls any questions that the new restrictions and guidelines have raised and we ask that where possible, you submit your questions prior to the forum so that we can organise the time as fairly as possible and hopefully avoid repetition. Please submit questions to fosspta@email.com

Questions about specific students cannot be addressed at this forum but you can make an individual appointment with the school or address any concerns at the learning review day.

We very much look forward to seeing you on the evening

Every week the Mathematics Faculty publish a puzzle for you to try. You can find the puzzle in the Sandprint or on the screens around school. For every entry you will receive 1 housepoint, if you answer correctly you will win 2 housepoints and if you are the fastest person to answer the puzzle correctly then you will win 5 housepoints! To enter, simply scan the QR code and fill out the google form.  Good luck

Since September, Year 7 have been reading Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic: A Christmas Carol. Dickens’ timeless message of helping those in need has inspired Year 7 to take part in the Christmas Box Appeal. English classes all worked together to get boxes ready to help to spread Christmas cheer to vulnerable children across Europe. Our original aim was to donate two boxes from each English class but the students exceeded all expectations and we donated a total of 82 boxes! A big thank you to all the students, parents and staff in their generosity and enthusiasm towards this project. Some quotes from students are below:

Rosie A: "I think this project is a really good idea because we are working as a team, helping others not so lucky as us."

Adiyan S: "This relates to the Christmas Carol because Scrooge is selfish and doesn’t gives charity...but I enjoyed it by wrapping and putting stuff in the box because it was a nice thing to do and it made me feel good."

Melanie B: "I’m doing the shoebox appeal because I wanted to help others in need as I thought that if I were in their shoes I would want to be given one. Scrooge had a chance to ‘repay’ but he chose not to and let his money go to his head. Instead, we should give. I also quite liked doing the project as it got me excited for Christmas!"

Music News

A reminder that all our music activities are published on the SOCS system and we have updated this with some new ensembles so please do look at these and sign up if you are interested in taking part. In particular we have a new Year 9 orchestra which is directed by Boris Peck, one of our visiting instrumental teachers. All Year 9 instrumentalists are welcome to join this orchestra which rehearse on Friday lunchtimes at 12.30-12.50 in the Arts Hub room F5.

Winter Concert

Rehearsals are still taking place as per our schedule. We are working towards our winter concert on Monday 7th December which will be a live-streamed event with some pre-recorded items and some groups performing live on the evening from the Sandpit Theatre. The audience will of course be virtual and you will be receiving further information next week about how you can access the link to be able to watch the concert. Watch this space for more information and keep your diaries free for that evening!

Arts Award

If you are currently in Year 9 or 10 and were in the process of working on your bronze or silver arts award last year before lockdown, please click here to complete a short survey so that we can support as many of you as possible in completing these awards by the end of this term.

We are in the process of updating our student records. If your child is currently receiving support from CAMHs or any other external agency to support their emotional wellbeing, could you please let the Student Wellbeing Manager, Emma Coyne, know by emailing emma.coyne@sandringham.herts.sch.uk 

Similarly, if your child has finished with CAMHs, please could you let us know so that we can update our records.

A Message from Jess Simmons (Head Girl)

Last year, after a trip to Sandringham's partner school in Farafenni, a group of sixth formers ran a period poverty campaign for The Gambia to much success. Students in The Gambia miss up to 48 days of school a year because of lack of access to period products, so the sanitary pads donated by students from Sandringham had a huge impact! This year, we are running the campaign again and have also decided to donate half of the products we collect to a local food bank as period poverty is an issue that affects many in the UK too and has recently been exacerbated by lockdown. 

The collection is running from the 9th to the 20th of November and we encourage all students to bring in a donation of sanitary pads or tampons (although pads are needed more as we cannot send tampons to The Gambia). Collection points are: KS3- K block, KS4- A-block (opposite the pool), KS5- Starbucks. 

Thank you in advance for your support!

Year 8 Performing Arts Club 

Over 25 students attend the drama club on Monday's after school. The club is great fun and is a hub of creativity. Over the last few sessions our focus has been 'Fairytales' and this week we brought in our own personalised props and used these to create some interesting scenes. Well done to all the students attending so far and please contact Ms Malherbe is you would like to get involved. 

Performing Arts Club - Year 7 and 9

PAC Club is still running and it’s been fantastic to see lots of you there! Check out times/days on SOCS and get in on the action! 

GCSE Drama Rehearsals - Year 11

A massive well done to our fabulous Year 11’s who are once again, doing a brilliant job at preparing for their practical exams. Don’t forget to check the rehearsal schedule and learn your lines!

FRENCH:    Le mot de la semaine :        l’exil

SPANISH:    La palabra de la semana:   el exilio

GERMAN:    Das Wort der Woche:         Das Exil         

Thinking questions:

• All three words are very similar this week, why could this be?
• What causes languages to change/morph over time?
• All German nouns are capitalised – how might this help you in understanding/translating German?

We thought you may like to read a note from the Anna Cox (Chair of Governors) and Judith Head (Vice-Chair) sent to all staff. We know that staff and support staff are all working exceptionally hard to ensure the progress and happiness of our young people and would like to thank parents for their continued support also.

Thank you to all the teaching staff for everything you do to inspire, engage and challenge the students you see every day. This includes not only lesson time, but the pastoral care you offer and the efforts you go to in order to keep students safe and happy. Having school as a fixed point in a shifting world is particularly valued at the moment.  Thank you also for continuing to provide extracurricular opportunities so that students can try new experiences and keep going with the music, art, sport and outdoor activities that they love. 

Thank you also to all the support staff for your contributions to school life. We are very aware the work in the classroom would not be able to happen without the key roles you play in making everything run smoothly.

We will continue to work with the Leadership Group to make sure that the school is in the best possible position and that as well as looking after our students, we do our best to look after you. 

The latest initiative from Preet Cox, the organiser for the local community group St Albans Rainbow TraiI, is a socially distanced as well as virtual, district wide Diwali celebration called 'Diwali Festival of Lights Trail'. It involves inviting families to place a Diva (clay lamp) picture or Rangoli picture in their windows to create a trail of lights across our community. 

You can find templates by joining their facebook group or create your own designs. Perhaps a fun activity with younger ones during these restricted times. You can find out more information on Rainbow Trails

One of the Sports Halls is named after Sir Steve Redgrave whom we believed is inspirational for both his sporting achievements and his dedication in helping others.

Steve Redgrave was born on 23rd March 1962 in Buckinghamshire and having reached the impressive 6ft 5in at the age of 16, he took up rowing. He first represented Great Britain at the world junior championships in 1979 and went on to win his first Olympic Gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. His winning streak continued at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, and in the same year he also married Ann Callaway, another Olympic rower. They went on to have three children together and he went on to win another 4 Olympic Gold medals.

Redgave has overcome many adversities in his life including dylexia during his school years, being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 1992 and discovering that he had Type 1 Diabetes in 1997.

Despite all of these potential setbacks, he always pushed himself physically and mentally, becoming the most successful male rower in Olympic history. He is revered in his sport for both his intensity and strategic brilliance and was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2000 and given a knighthood for his charity work in 2001.

Since retiring from rowing, Redgrave has raised millions of pounds for charity by running the London Marathon and he was also was one of the ambassadors for the London 2012 Olympic Bid. 

"Self belief is probably the most crucial factor in success" 

The MFL department challenges you to create a foreign Christmas card. This is a National Competition for all Schools in the UK (Years 1-9) We would like you to design a card which shows the Christmas traditions of another country. You should research and design your card using a variety of materials. Entries can be submitted in any foreign language – N.B. entries containing English language will not be accepted.

ENTRY DEADLINE: 30TH NOVEMBER

Submit to the MFL Office - C Block First Floor (C6-8) OR to your French/German/Spanish teacher. Entries must be completed by hand (not online) and must be no larger than A4 size. Both accuracy of language and design will be judged.

We are so incredibly proud of our finalists and group winner for the Maltings Art Prize 2020. The art competition, which was based on the theme of ‘History St Albans’, saw 300 entries from school pupils aged four to 18 with 13 local schools competing. Penny K, Lily B and Olivia L were all awarded medals from Maltings Art Prize and Lily B was also awarded a trophy for her achievement as an overall group winner. As additional recognition, we have awarded them our very special Young Visual Arts Leader badges which are given to students of Visual Arts who make an outstanding contribution beyond the core curriculum.

We would like to thank Mrs Owens for organising this wonderful opportunity for our students during the period of national lockdown. This competition runs annually so we do hope Penny, Lily and Olivia’s success inspires further entries in the future.

Individual school photographs for Years 8-10 will be taken on Wednesday 18th November. If your child has PE on this day, please can you ensure that they come to school in full school uniform (ie shirts, blazers etc) and bring their PE kit with them to change in to later.

We have a small list of Year 7 and Year 11 students whom we believe missed their photograph at the last session but feel free to contact melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk if you would like to check that your child is on the list. 

Generation Stevenage is taking place on Tuesday 1st December from 6-7.35pm. It is an online event aimed at Years 10-13 to gain a better understanding of future STEM opportunities available in Stevenage and surrounding areas, providing students with meaningful encounters with an employer/employee.

Registration is now open:

https://www.hopinto.co.uk/generation-stevenage

The Write Stuff Year 7 Creative Writing club got off to a flying start last Wednesday lunchtime with seventeen students all working on creating a story beginning, aiming to hook readers and set the scene. Well done to Dennis C in 7H for sharing his work with the group, an imaginative piece of writing featuring space and cyborgs. 

The Write Stuff club, run by Miss Critchley, takes place on Wednesday lunch times 12:20 to 1:55pm in the Learning Resource Centre. There will be weekly writing exercises, fun writing tips and the chance to enter national competitions, plus House Points. If any students from other year groups are interested in receiving notifications about writing competitions, please let Miss Critchley know by visiting the LRC or emailing critchleye@mysandstorm.org so you can be added to The Write Stuff’s “Virtual“ club mailing list.   

There is a first this week in the House Cup race, with Fawcett and Austen both sharing the top spot. Edgar and Johnson are not far behind so well done to everyone on your hard work. But more importantly well done to Mr Cracknell, who has produced this fancy graph of the results since September. 

Tutor (Group) of the week =  9N Mr Reynolds Well done to 9N on their superb performance in both the Interhouse Netball (3rd) and Football (2nd) competitions with the highest mean place in the year group! 

Year group of the week = Year 7 Well done to the Y7s on another 100% completion on the House quiz and the highest total score with 61, closely followed by Y11 with 60.

House of the week = Newton Well done to Newton who had the biggest points increase since last week and the most success on the last weekly House Quiz!

FUTURE HOUSE EVENTS

House Maths will be taking part next week for most year groups, with thanks in advance to Mr Clarke and the Maths faculty in advance

Please check our website for more details about the Part time Teacher of Music role.

Please contact the school Catering Manager on u61709@compass-group.co.uk regarding the Supervisor Chef role.

It was lovely to see all the students in non-school uniform or fancy dress on Friday 13th November. If you feel able to, please don't forget to make your donation via ParentPay or if you wish to add Gift Aid, you can use the following link.

Parent Pay Children in Need

We have had an increasing numbers of students who are losing their lunch cards. Please could you encourage students to keep them in a safe place and let them know that if they require a new card, they can go Network Support in I Block and purchase a replacement for £1.

We have been very excited this week because our tree saplings have arrived from The Woodland Trust! We have 420 trees, including Oak, Silver Birch, Rowan, Hazel, Hawthorn and Blackthorn. They will be planted along the perimeter fence to form a hedge line, increasing available habitats on site, as well as some other smaller areas on site. We are drawing up plans now and there will be more details next week. We are hoping that all Year 7 students will plant one or more of the trees.

Thank you to the families who have completed the Climate Change pledge, we have had some great ideas, including: Never buy plastic toothbrushes again and use bamboo ones instead,  swap around half of the dairy milk we use to oat milk, only eat meat 3 times a week, buy refills to reduce plastic waste,  eat no beef, make eco-bricks, use a  milkman, reducing chemical use, buy toiletries from Lush. 

I have also received some separate messages about ideas and actions from other families. We are going to work on setting up an area about sustainability on the school website, so we can collect and record ideas in a central and accessible place.

This week, we have been holding mock interviews for Oxbridge applicants. All of these have been held online to enable participation by experts from outside of school, and to replicate the process which will be in place in real interviews this year. Thank you to all of the teachers, governors, parents and other volunteers from outside school who have supported this process. We have also held individual practice interviews for students who are interested in applying for apprenticeships with our regular volunteer, Claire Combes. Students have prepared their CV and are interviewed, with full feedback provided for points to work on. They found this really useful and have improved their confidence and knowledge through the process.

We have also issued the Year 12 and 13 reports this week, so that parents and students can view progress since the start of the year and we are looking forward to the first online Parent Teacher Consultation on Tuesday with Year 13.

Thomas Williamson

This week marks a year since Thomas’ passing and in the Sixth Form we would like to share some words as we remember him. 

Thomas was a friend to all in Sixth Form; joining in Year 12 he quickly established himself as a kind and popular student, who was respected by his peers and teachers alike. His sense of humour will be fondly remembered, I know many students have stories about Thomas which they will always hold dear. He was an incredibly passionate young man who loved his subjects and really enjoyed reading about issues far beyond the courses. 

Thomas was an enthusiastic student, always ready to take on characters in English Literature and thoroughly enjoyed debates in Politics and Economics. In March, we will be presenting the Thomas Williamson Cup in the Year 13 Awards Ceremony to honour his love of debate and discussion. We will be holding a time of reflection today in Year 13 tutor groups and Thomas will always be remembered by us in the Sixth Form. 

For this week’s whole school theme, we celebrated Remembrance Day 2020. Like most things in school this year, the annual Remembrance service had to be adapted to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions, however the importance of the event was no less keenly felt. On Wednesday, all students had an assembly led by the Director of Learning for History, Mr Leat, encouragng them to remember those who have given their lives in conflict to protect others. The Last Post was played by Year 11 student, James C, before students and staff alike observed a two minute silence to honour the fallen. More than ever, we are grateful to unite as a school community to remember the service and sacrifice of the Armed Forces community.

Thank you so much to all of our KS3 artists who contributed to our beautiful Remembrance artwork which is now exhibited in reception. A special thank you to Mrs Button and Mrs Leto for organising this activity for our artists and curating the piece for exhibition. We would also like to thank one of our Young Visual Arts Leaders, Jone, who created a beautiful wreath to mark the whole school reflections this year.

Oliver G (7N) is part of a choir called Harmonies of Hope who have been rehearsing virtually for a performance that has been put together to be shown on Children in Need as part of the appeal programme from 7PM on Friday 13th November.

The choir is made up of patients who have had a transplant from GOSH and Evelina Hospital and set up by Mr Chandak and his team. The songs they have recorded are 'This is Me' from The Greatest Showman and 'Fix You' by Coldplay and we know that Oliver has been working really hard on the rehearsals so hope that you can spot him in the performance.

If you would like your child included in the Sandprint, please email melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk 

Tickets for the Christmas Lunch, being held on Tuesday 15th December (Y7, Y9, Y10 & Y12) and Wednesday 16th December (Y8, Y11 & Y13) are available to purchase via Parentpay at a cost of £3.65.

Please buy tickets via ParentPay by Monday 30th November. Tickets will not be issued after this time. If you need a login reminder for your ParentPay account please contact Finance.

There will be no other food available from the canteen at lunchtime on both these days so please ensure students bring their own lunch on the days they are not having Christmas Lunch.

E is for… Exile (noun)

Definition: A situation in which you are forced to leave your country or home and go to live in a foreign country

Example: They hoped that her exile would be temporary

Synonyms: Banishment, Exclusion, Displacement

Antonyms: Inclusion, Welcoming

Etymology: From the Latin word ‘exilium’ meaning banishment

This week has seen another superb week of extra curricular sport at school. In a time when physical activity is needed more than ever to ensure the physical, mental and social health of our students the provision at Sandringham has been superb. We’ve had over 20 clubs running this week after the DFE’s announcement and school’s decision to maintain extra curricular clubs in school. The highlight this week has to have been the Y9 Interhouse sport on Monday afternoon. We had both football and netball taking place with over 150 students involved from across the year group. It was great to see so many involved safely in each activity and enjoying their time outside after school. In the football Hepworth beat Newton in a closely contested final with some superb team efforts from Hepworth throughout the tournament. Down on the netball courts Fawcett took the victory with Newton taking the runners up spot. Thank you to all who were involved and the tutors who came out to support their form groups. We look forward to our next year group involved which will be Y10 in the next two weeks.

For more news, fixtures, team sheets and results don’t forget to follow us @SandringhamPE on Twitter and at www.sandringhamsport.co.uk

Welcome to the Dream Shop!  You are invited to discover the mysteries of Dream Making and to share the secrets of mixing the perfect dream.  It’s important work – thousands of dreams are dreamt every single night, and they all have to be made just right. So, join PaddleBoat Theatre Company in this magical story and discover the joy of being a Dream Maker. Dream Maker is a perfect return to the theatre for families aged 3+ and for anyone who would enjoy a relaxed, inclusive experience. Tickets £40 (Sits up to 6)

Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella is a thrilling and evocative love story set in London during the Second World War.  The internationally acclaimed choreographer’s interpretation of the classic fairy tale has, at its heart, a true war-time romance. A chance meeting results in a magical night for Cinderella and her dashing young RAF pilot, together for just long enough to fall in love before being parted by the horrors of the Blitz.  Matthew Bourne’s vivid story telling has never been more heart-stopping and touching and will take the audience into the heart of Prokofiev’s magnificent score. Tickets £13.50/£10

Filmed over the course of four years award-winning director Phil Grabsky follows leading concert pianist Leif Ove Andsnes’ attempt to understand and interpret one of the greatest sets of works for piano ever written: Beethoven’s five piano concertos. Against the wonderful background of Leif Ove playing these 5 pieces, we also show how these works offer a new fresh way of examining Beethoven’s life and work.Tickets £10

We hope everyone is keeping well. Through December, and January we have lots of exciting screenings coming to The SandPit. Including, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, A Beethoven Journey and Dream Maker! 

The box office is open from 11.30am – 3.30pm Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can call us on 01727 799565 or visit www.sandpittheatre.co.uk

We look forward to opening our doors again safely and to see you all again.                                                                                   

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake comes to cinemas with a fresh look for the 21st century.  This thrilling, audacious and witty production is perhaps still best known for replacing the female corps-de-ballet with a menacing male ensemble, which shattered convention, turned tradition upside down and took the dance world by storm.  Collecting over thirty international accolades including an Oliver Award and three Tonys on Broadway, Matthew Bourne’s powerful interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s beloved tale is still original and still unmissable, a passionate and contemporary Swan Lake for our times. Tickets £13.50/10