We are celebrating National Apprenticeship Week next week and the theme this year is ‘Build a Future’.

Our Sixth Form team have picked out some fantastic virtual events you can access every day and these can also be found in the careers section of the school website from Monday. Aimed at Years 10, 11& 12, the week sees a mix of talks, events, and advice from key figures and a range of employers all about how to apply for and use an apprenticeship to benefit your career.  

The hashtags to use and to search for updates are: #NAW2021  #BuildTheFuture  #ASKSeries  #AskAnEmployer and #AskAnApprentice.

Today we acknowledge four students who have showed dedication at a time when they are already under enormous pressure. Mr McNally would like to celebrate his Latin students who turn up every Thursday, after school in their own time, for an hour to study the Latin language and Roman civilisation. He is so proud of their commitment and hard work and so are we. Keep up the excellent work: 

Margot K, Jamie B, Hayden W and Haydn P! 

If you would like to highlight a student or have your son/daughter featured in the Student Spotlight, please email Melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photographs that you would like included.

Big Bird Watch

Thank you to all students and families who took part in the Big Bird Watch last weekend. From the results recorded on our form, we had quite a few sighting of blue tits, great tits, robins and even collared doves. The results will feed into the nationwide survey which provides invaluable data about bird populations in the UK over time. We will ensure house points get to all students who participated.

In other sustainability news, we are currently exploring the possibility of putting in some large pots of plants around the site, perhaps incorporating some wild flower planting. Updates will be provided soon.

UK Mathematics Trust – Intermediate Mathematical Challenge

Last week over 180 students in Years 9 to 11 took part in the Intermediate Mathematical Challenge run by the UK Mathematics Trust.  The aim of the UK Mathematics Trust is to advance the education of young people in mathematics. The Intermediate Mathematical Challenge is a 60-minute, multiple-choice competition aimed at students across the UK. It is open to all students in Years 11 and below.  This is a fantastic opportunity which offers students the chance to develop their mathematical problem-solving skills. It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems.  The problems on the Intermediate Challenge are designed to make students think. Most are accessible, yet still challenge those with more experience. The highest-scoring students are invited to take part in follow-on rounds. Best of luck to all those that took part!

Sandwich Series

Please click here to watch this week’s Sandwich Series concert. Thank you to our performers this week which include Henry N from Year 12, Julia B from Year 12, Hollie S Year 10, Jack P Year 10, Zoe W Year 10 and Daniel W Year 10. Don’t forget if you would like to be included in the next concert, please send a video recording of your performance to Mrs Beaton beatone@mysandstorm.org. In particular it would be lovely to feature more students from Years 7-9. If you missed last week’s recital, you can watch it here.

Following the launch of ‘Sandringham Reads’ it’s great to see that over 200 students have already joined the Google Classroom and have been busy submitting reviews of the books that they have read. If you haven’t already joined, please do so using the class code: 5ukzdug. 

Well done to Laura (7H) who has already submitted 3 reviews, including this review of ‘I am Malala’ by Malala Yousefzai.

This book is an autobiography written by Malala Yousafzai and is a story about how she fought for rights to education. When she was 14 and living in Pakistan she was shot in the head by the Taliban (An extremist group of terrorists who had taken over Pakistan). This was because she had been fighting for education for girls because that was something the Taliban had banned. She was flown to England for treatment and safety which is where she is currently living. She was the youngest ever person to win the Nobel Peace Prize and has graduated from University.  

Remember that you will be rewarded for each book from the ‘Sandringham Reads’ list that you read, so have a look at the list and spend some time relaxing with a book!

Sandringham Reads Featured Book

This week's featured book is a classic - Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Published in 1952, it's a short heroic novel and was Hemingway's last major work of fiction. The story is about an aging fisherman who engages in an epic battle to catch a giant marlin. Read more about this book to give you hope here

Thank you to all Year 11 students who have submitted their Sixth Form applications, the deadline is today. It has been more challenging than normal undertaking the process remotely, but students and parents have been fantastic at responding to our communications and accessing the application materials. We will now work through the applications over coming weeks and will be in touch with individual students if further discussions or decisions are needed.

It has been another busy week in the PE Faculty with Yoga, aerobics and HIIT Classes for students all on the cards. They have also been putting on classes for staff to join in after a busy day working at their screens and have provided the below list of popular free online classes. Each site offers a range of videos for all age ranges and abilities and you never regret a workout so why not try a new one this weekend?!

 Joe Wicks

 Yoga with Adrienne

Move with Nicole Pilates

Workout with Davina

Popsugar- Various

Absolute Fitness

All students in Years 7-13 now have access to Unifrog, the school’s online careers platform. This allows them to access good quality information about future study options and up-to-date labour market information. Using their own personal account, which they can login to at home, they can research subjects and careers, different pathways, record and evidence key career activities and experiences, compare university courses, apprenticeships and FE courses, among other things!

Using their mysandstorm email address, students can login to their account anytime here: https://www.unifrog.org/sign-in

REPORTING ABSENCES: If your child is unwell or unable to attend any of the lessons of remote learning on any particular day, please email absence@sandringham.herts.sch.uk by 9am informing us that they will not be attending lessons, giving a brief reason for their absence.  

REPORTING POSITIVE CASES: If your child needs to self-isolate due to being in contact with someone who tests COVID positive or if a student themselves tests positive please advise the school by sending an email to absence@sandringham.herts.sch.uk. Please title your email - COVID Notification; include the students full name, tutor group, dates of isolation and if they have had a positive COVID result, the test  date and when symptoms first appeared.

STUDENT SERVICES OPENING HOURS:  Student services is open for Resource Collection on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9-11am and Monday and Wednesday 9-12pm for LRC Collection. 

D7 is named after Dame Anita Roddick, a crusading British businesswoman, environmental campaigner and human rights activist. She was best known as the founder of The Body Shop, a cosmetics company which shaped ethical consumerism, but she also campaigned for debt relief for Third World nations, the rights of indigenous peoples in South America and the preservation of the rain forest, to name a few causes.

Born on 23rd October 1942 in Littlehampton, England, Roddick worked hard from an early age helping her Italian immigrant parents who ran a café. Her mother wanted Anita to be a teacher, but after a year in Paris in the library of the International Herald Tribune and another year in Geneva working for the United Nations, Roddick travelled through Europe, the South Pacific and Africa. During her journeys, she became acquainted with the rituals and customs of many Third World cultures, including their forms of health and body care.

She married Gordon Roddick in 1970 and after he decided to fulfil a long-standing personal goal to ride a horse from Buenos Aires to New York, Anita looked for ways to support herself and her daughters. She opened the first outlet of The Body Shop in 1976 with the aim to provide excellent skin care in containers that could be refilled. By 1991, the business had expanded to 700 outlets by 1991 and in the same year Roddick received the World Vision Award for Development Initiative. Her knighthood from the Queen came 1988. 

By 2004 there were nearly 2000 Body Shop stores serving more than 77 million customers all over the world and the company was ranked 28th among the world’s top most brands. The couple showed very vocal support for causes such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, saving the rainforests and banning animal testing and these core values set the company apart from its competitors and generated a loyal customer base. In 2006, The Body Shop was bought by L’Oreal for £652 million, allowing the Roddicks to still keep an eye on the business but also carry out their philanthropic work.

She established COTE (Children on the Edge) an organisation founded to protect those affected by natural disasters, HIV/AIDS and disabilities, was a member of Demos (UK Think Tank) and also authored a book called ‘Take it Personally’ which promoted equality and discouraged the mistreatment of children and workers in the underdeveloped countries.

Roddick was diagnosed with Hepatitis C in 2004 which she had while giving birth to her younger daughter. Later on she also developed liver cirrhosis and died due to brain haemorrhage on 10th September 2007, leaving her entire estate to charity. She also left behind a legacy of what one small business owner can accomplish with a simple idea, some creativity, a community based vision, a commitment to her employees and customers, and a willingness to work as hard as it took to succeed.

“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito.”

It's been a fantastic few weeks, with students working really hard on their Drama tasks. AJ in Year 7 (pictured) has impressed everyone with his fantastic multi-rolling skills, portraying a very upset colleague of Mr Robertson and then swiftly transforming into his second role through the use of costume and voice. Great work! You can check out some of the other students on the Drama website, Sandrama

Quote of the week:

"I regard theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being." Oscar Wilde

As we come to the end of Children’s Mental Health Week (1st-7th February), we hope that students have had a chance to take some downtime and reflect on things they can do to makes themselves feel better. As always, the LRC have some great books which may help. A few of these are shown below and have been added to their Accessit Web App, which you can view through MySandstorm.

Reading can be a great way to forget your troubles for a while so we hope you find a good book to escape with. 

As mentioned in Mr Gray's Headlines, Mrs Warris has created some beautiful signs for around the school highlighting the new names of our various buildings. Shown here we have:

Drama Building - Sir Laurence Olivier

Business and Economics Centre- Sir Arthur Lewis

Sixth Form Centre- Rosa Parks

Technologym Block- Isambard Kingdom Brunel

The rest will be featured in next Thursday's Sandprint. They certainly brighten the school up and we look forward to you seeing them all when you return.

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine:        malfamé/ tristement célèbre    

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana:  de mala fama/ de mala reputación/ infame

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche:        berüchtigt/ verrufen

Thinking questions:

• Sometimes there are multiple translations for one word, how do we know which one to use?
• The French and Spanish translations both rely on negative prefixes – what impact does this have on the interpretation of the word?
• What do accents on letters do? Why do they have them in many other languages but we don’t have accents in English?

The following virtual work experience opportunities are now available for students to apply for:

• East West Railway Company - Building a New Railway
• Dates: 6th – 9th April 2021
• Eligibility: 16 – 19 year olds interested in Tech, Engineering, and Customer Services.
• Application Deadline: 28th February 2021

• International Women`s Day #ChooseToChallenge
• Dates: 8th March 2021.
• Eligibility: 14 – 19 year olds interested in the construction industry.
• Application Deadline: 26th February 2021

• Haworth Tompkins Architecture Insight Evening
• Dates: 2nd  March 2021.
• Eligibility: 14 – 19 year olds keen to find out more about a career in architecture.
• Application Deadline: 15th February 2021

• Green Skills in the Construction and Engineering Industry
• Dates: 6th April 2021.
• Eligibility: 14 – 19 year olds keen to find out more about a career in Contruction and Engineering
• Application Deadline: 7th March 2021

Next Tuesday is Safer Internet Day and as such the whole school theme for this week has been a focus on reliability online. The Internet has an amazing range of information and opportunities, but how do we separate fact from fiction? In a world where the amount of information we are faced with online is ever increasing, it is important that we encourage students to be critical thinkers about what they see. The students received an excellent whole school assembly from Assistant Headteacher, Mr Allday about the danger that false online information poses to society. lockdown means that social media is essential for communication between students so it is more important than ever that we ensure that students know how to safeguard themselves in the online world. There are more details on how to help your children be safer on the internet featured elsewhere in this Sandprint.

Every week the Mathematics Faculty publish a puzzle for you to try.  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!

This week is Children's Mental Health Week, and now more than ever it is more important to keep an eye on your emotional wellbeing. One of the ways you can do this is through the use of the Mindfulness App pictured above, which is free and can help to calm feelings of anxiety. If you are a student at Sandringham there are lots of people to support you even when you are not physically at school: the Student Wellbeing Manager emma.coyne@sandringham.herts.sch.uk or you can email your form tutors or heads of year. There is always someone ready to listen so please never feel like you have to struggle in silence.

Following the success of the young people’s COVID-19 webinar last year, Public Health Hertfordshire have arranged another follow up session. Hertfordshire’s 11-19 year olds are encouraged to take part in this free event on Wednesday 17 February, 11:30am-12:30pm.

This is an ideal opportunity for young people to listen to reliable information from the panel members below, who will be talking about some of the anxieties many people are experiencing and answering questions and concerns raised by young people living in Hertfordshire: 

Councillor Tim Hutchings: Cabinet Member for Public Health & Prevention 

Councillor Terry Douris: Cabinet Member for Education, Libraries and Localism

Dr Alison Frater: Public Health Consultant

Liz Shapland: Deputy Education Services Director (Secondary) Herts for Learning

Tania Rawle: Head of School Standards and Accountability, Education, Children’s Services  

Young people can submit questions ahead of the time, by sending into JustTalk@hertfordshire.gov.uk. There will also be a chat function, so questions can be submitted live during the webinar. There is no need to book or pre-register, simply visit www.justtalkherts.org/coronaviruswebinar on the day.

There is also a host of free wellbeing and mental health information and support for primary and secondary aged children, young people and  parents/carers including the Five Ways to Wellbeing e-learning sessions.

With lockdown restrictions continuing, it is likely that students (and adults!) will continue to spend more time online. The best way to help keep your children safe online is to continue having conversations around online safety, regularly check phone and app settings together, and manage time online. It's a challenging time for everyone so we would also encourage you to be kind to yourselves if your usual rules and routines around online safety have stopped or changed. It might be that they just don’t work during lockdown so it's ok to adapt and make the right changes for you family. You can read more details of the NHS campaign by clicking on the link below.

Keeping Safe Online

To celebrate what should have been VELOCITY show week this week, Sandringham Dance Faculty & The SandPit Theatre have released the back catalogue of VELOCITY 2016 through to 2020 for ONE WEEK ONLY! 

These shows include the amazing Day of the Dead performance by Tuxedo and a journey around the world (2017), SYCD's Survivor and the amazing Princes to Kings and Carla Coyne at V-Festival (2019), the incredible adaptation of Narnia through dance (2018), a trip through the movies and musicals (2016) and a vision of the future of AI (2020)!

Rental of each show is £5 for 7 days or you can rent all 5 for £20 at a discounted price! 

Choose your favourite or watch them all and relive the incredible productions over the years! If you want to tweet-a-long, then tag @SandringhamDanc & @SandPitTheatre with the #VELOCITY or @sand_artsteam on Instagram!

Get your exclusive access now at https://thesandpittheatre.ticketco.events/velocity for ONE WEEK ONLY!

N is for… notorious [adjective]

Definition: Well-known or famous especially for something bad.

Example: The coach is notorious for his violent outbursts.

Synonyms: Flagrant, Infamous, Prominent

Antonyms: Inconspicuous, Moral, Unknown

Etymology: From the Latin root ‘notus’ meaning known.