B5 in the D&T Block is named after Dame Zaha Hadid, an architect famous for her radical deconstructivist designs and for being the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize. 

Hadid was born in Iraq in October 1950, and despite studying mathematics as an undergraduate, she then went on to enrol in the  Architectural Association School of Architecture in 1972 and never looked back.

She has been described as the "Queen of the curve" and "The Lady Gaga of Architecture" with her company Zaha Hadid Architects helping to design 950 projects in 44 countries. Major projects include the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, Rome's MAXXI museum and the Guangzhou Opera House. Some of her awards have been presented posthumously, including the statuette for the 2017 Brit Awards.

Hadid was made a Dame in February 2016 for services to architecture and the month preceding her death, she became the first woman to be individually awarded the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects. She was not only an inspiring example of a pioneering female role model in an industry which many people thought to be dominated by males,  she was also a powerful businesswoman,  being listed as number 69 on Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list in 2008.

‘I think that in life you don’t need too much; you need friends, you need to do what you like doing.’ 

A massive thank you for donating on behalf of your children to Red Nose Day 2021. As a school we have raised £2005.30 so far but this is still open til 31st March so may go up still. Overall, the day raised over £52million. All of the money raised by Comic Relief goes towards helping poor and disadvantaged people in the UK and the world’s poorest communities so your donations were greatly received.

Today’s league table sees Johnson remain at the top of the league and a big jump for Shakespeare from 7th to 3rd, as well as Austen back up to 2nd place. This includes 

• Total Reward Points (Rewards, consequences and attendance)
• Extra Curricular participation
• 1st House Quiz of the Spring term
• All house points

A special mention to Fawcett as well for being the house getting involved with the most clubs across the whole school.

The Summer term is always the busiest term for the House competition and hopefully events will continue with year culminating in Sports Day on 7th July, the Charity Run on the 9th July and House day on the 20th July. There are a lot of points still to play for and the competition is wide open. Will anyone knock Johnson off their top spot and can Turing rally to get themselves off the bottom of the league?

As part of our focus on considering what it means to be ‘World Class,’ this week we feature Sandringham Year 12 student Logan Hewitt. In addition to his studies, Logan also works on the Young Enterprise venture Tenacity and helps as a student assessor for the WCSQM. I spoke to Logan this week and asked him a few questions:

What do you think it means to be a World Class Student?

I think it means being aware of other people as much as yourself. It is about being able to contribute to discussions but also being able to listen to others and be a good team player.

Why do you think Sandringham is considered a World Class School?

There is a strong sense of community here. Everyone has their individual strengths but together they become a team and play off each other's strengths.

What do you hope to achieve as an ambassador for World Class Schools?

Personally, I hope to improve my communication skills within groups. I also hope to bring my logic focused mind to the assessment process.

Is there anyone that you look up to as an inspirational figure?

Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychologist has really inspired me. One of key messages is all about being the best you can be, despite any past difficulties. 

How do you think fellow students at Sandringham can show World Class attributes?

They can be World Class by listening to others but also by not being afraid to speak their own mind. My message would be that you can be World Class even if you don't always feel it. There is always room for change if you build each other up.

On Monday, Sandringham launched the Alban Teaching School Hub; a new regional teaching School Hub to the 310 schools across our designated region.  Sandringham is one of only 87 pioneering national hubs with a focus on teacher development from the start of a teacher’s career through to middle and senior leadership programmes.  We are excited at the scale of this project and the impact it will have on both teacher development across the region and subsequently the quality of experience for young people in the classroom.

Year 7 members of The Write Stuff club were busy working on their stories over lockdown and the winners of our time slip competition have now been announced! All entries had to include either a time slip or an element of time travel. The competition was run through independent publisher Everything With Words and judged by Eve McDonnell, author of Elsetime. Eve wrote to us to say ‘I enjoyed every story immensely and was truly amazed at the high quality of writing submitted. I quickly realised I was judging fellow writers who took their craft seriously, and felt excited at the prospect of seeing their early works of fiction. Bravo, everyone!’ Mikka Haugaard, publisher at Everything With Words said ‘The stories Sandringham School wrote were amazing’.

Congratulations to joint winners Laura D and Emilia H, and runners-up Emily N and Franky D.

The Judges comments on the winning stories:

The Visitor at Lommarsh Sands by Laura D – I was swept away with the promise of an intriguing story. I was particularly fond of the wonderful details entwined in the story – little snippets of daily life and observations that made it all feel so reaI. Excellent scene setting. I was captivated.

Free Like a Bird by Emilia H– The beginnings of a thrilling adventure, this is a beautifully written story with lyrical prose and wonderful sentence structure. The world building was enthralling. A very accomplished piece. It was obvious to me that this writer must be an avid reader.  

The St Albans Music School Team are running several opportunities after Easter that may be of interest to students.

St Albans Virtual Voices.  Following the success of the Sing St Albans project, a new virtual choir is being formed. Members will rehearse weekly online next term and everyone is welcome. They be singing famous songs, focusing on vocal technique and also wellbeing / supporting positive mental health. There are two free trial sessions on Thursday 15th and 22nd April, 4:30—5:15pm. To sign up please go to http://sams-voices.eventbrite.com

New Groups for Beginners:  If you think you might like to play an instrument in a face-to-face group, you can register your interest in the following groups for Year 2 and above.

• Ukulele Bandits, Tuesdays 4:50—5:20pm £26 St Albans Music School Based at Townsend School High Oaks,
• Brass Cubs Fridays 4:30—5:15pm £43 Including free instrument hire please visit our website http://www.hertsmusicservice.org.uk/st-albans-music-school, scroll down to ‘Groups for Absolute Beginners.’ 

Barracudas Activity Day Camps, the UK’s favourite school holiday provider for children aged 4½ to 14 years, will once again be open at Sandringham School this Easter and Summer. 80+ exciting activities are on offer including archery, swimming, football, dance and much more! Ofsted registered, high staff to child ratios and COVID-19 Secure Camps will be open Easter 29th March – 9th April and summer 26th July – 27th August. Book now at www.barracudas.co.uk or call 01480 467 567. They are offering £10 off for parents with the discount code HCSH21.

This month, students in Years 11 and 12 have been taking part in the Physics Challenge competitions. These are run by the British Physics Olympiad group at Oxford University, and they involve solving fun and challenging problems that are designed to stretch students beyond their GCSE and A-level courses. The results are as follows:

The Senior Physics Challenge (Year 12):

Gold – Yukta Chegu.

Silver - Astrid Koppe, Justus Badu, Zakariah Mohammedbhai

Bronze - Tyler Hop, Harry Nsubuga, Chris Kapetanakis

The Intermediate Physics Challenge (Year 11)

Gold – Ralph Whitworth, Henry Oldroyd, Samuel Posner

Silver – Joe Lailey, George Angel

Congratulations to all who took part, and particularly to the Gold award winners – this places them in the top thousand students in their age group in the country! Year 10 will have the chance to get their teeth in to the Junior Physics Challenge next term.

Given the national census, we felt it was an apt opportunity to conduct a Sandringham census of where students were born, or which nationality they identify with. This is in keeping with the whole-school assembly last week on ‘Unlocking world class’. As part of this focus, we feel that we need to celebrate our individual heritages, and consider the impact that this collection of origins has on our community. The data gathered form this short Google Form is anonymous (we don’t gather the name or email address) and will be used to create a map of the world indicating where people come from to be displayed around the school. If your son/daughter has not already completed the below form, we would appreciate if you could encourage them to do so. 

https://forms.gle/4FFQCFJDEG8w1cxx6

Summer Term Tutoring Programmes

We have been working hard to respond to DfE funding opportunities to support students following school closures. There will be more opportunities presented to students in the next academic year following identification by Directors of Learning.

Brilliant Club Tutoring

All students involved in this programme should now have their logins and information packs.  Please sign up on the tutoring platform before the start of next term and remember to return the consent form to Student Services. All sessions start in the first week of next term.

Covid-Catch Up Tutoring Programme

We are still waiting for details of timings from our external tutoring provider.  We will communicate all information to students involved in the first week of term ahead of tutorials in the week beginning April 19th.

Year 10 1-2-1 tutoring with Year 12 students

Tutoring for some students will commence in the first week of term.  Students involved have been communicated directly and must ensure they attend all sessions.  Please notify the relevant Director of Learning if a session is going to be missed.

This Easter, you can join StAlbansPottery with their latest Bee Wild! project : Make your own SEED GRENADES filled with Wildflower seeds. The projects are home-based – with easy-to-follow videos and local clay&seed kit delivery.

Once dry, creations can be left across St Albans in gardens, verges and wild spaces – thus encouraging wildflowers and their pollinators.

Bee Wild! is a community initiative which combines creativity and ecology by boosting the number of wildflower pollinators across the district through a series of clay & Wildflower seed projects. For more information, please visit:-

https://www.stalbanspottery.co.uk/bee-wild

We have now added some quick links onto the homepage of our website to make reporting student’s Lateral Flow Test results quicker and easier, please go to www.sandringham.herts.sch.uk   And follow the easy steps.   

During the Easter holidays please can we ask you to inform the school if a student needs to self-isolate due to being in contact with someone who tests COVID positive or if a student themselves tests COVID positive. You can advise the school by emailing – absence@sandringham.herts.sch.uk

Title your email -  COVID Notification; include the students full name,  tutor group and dates of isolation.  If they have had a positive COVID result please include the date of the test and the date when symptoms first appeared. This email address will be checked on a daily basis throughout the holidays.  

A reminder that if your child does receive a positive result from taking a Lateral Flow Test they, and anyone who lives with them, should self-isolate immediately and they should get a PCR test to confirm the result. They should continue to self-isolate until they get the result of the PCR test and then follow the advice given when they get the result. Full guidance can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing-and-tracing/what-your-test-result-means/

For the whole school theme this week, we celebrate Easter and look forward to two weeks away from school enjoying the spring sunshine. For a large number of families in our community, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus and the end of Lent, meaning a time of hope, new beginnings and tasty treats! During form times this week, students were asked to reflect on the true meaning of Easter and how they plan to celebrate over the break. Even if you don’t follow Christianity, we hope that Easter represents a new beginning for us all as we will once again be allowed to meet with others outdoors - either as two households or to play organised team sport. Fingers crossed that we see lockdown continue to ease and this Easter really does mark the start of better times. Happy Easter! 

A huge thank you to Mrs Warris for the beautiful new board displays around A Block. The Geography features details of the KS5 Iceland Trip in Easter 2022 with highlights including visits to:

• Reykyanes Peninsula (where the recent eruption of Fagradalsfjall is ongoing)
• Waterfalls – Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss
• Sólheimajökull Glacier Walk
• Golden Circle – Secret Lagoon, Geysir, Gullfoss, Thingvellir National Park
• Reykyavik City

The Carnegie Shortlist is out with eight books for KS3 and KS4 children to read. Also the British Book Awards Shortlists have also been released and you can find out more here. You can reserve books from the Chidlren's List on Accessit or in the LRC.

Princes to Kings (a band made up Sandringham brothers Zac, Finn and Josh) have a live virtual fundraiser coming up on Sat 27th March via their Instagram and Facebook pages. 

They are fundraising for The Epilepsy Society and will be talking about growing up with a family member who has severe and complex epilepsy. The band will also be performing a live show on their social media. You can read more and donate using the link below. Every donation helps so they are really grateful for your support. Thank you!

Princes to Kings

We have the above vacancies at the Alban Academies Trust. For more details please go to 

https://sandringham.herts.sch.uk/vacancies/

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine – somptueux/euse
GERMAN: Die Wort der Woche – opulent/luxuriös
SPANISH: La palabra de la semana – suntuouso/a o lujoso/a

Thinking Questions :

• How do languages evolve? French, German and Spanish are spoken in Europe but also across the world. The language changes slightly in different countries – how does this happen?
• There are often multiple translations for one word – how do we know which one to use?

Extra-curricular timetable

We are pleased to announce that we will be restarting our extracurricular offer in the Summer term. Although due to restrictions around rehearsing in year group bubbles some of our larger groups are not able to be up and running just yet, we are excited to be able to offer instrumental, vocal and music technology clubs and hope to see lots of you next term! 

National Youth Music Theatre Easter Course 6th-9th April

Open to participants aged 11-21 and no audition required. Apply online at https://nymt.org.uk/workshops/

National Youth Jazz Collective Summer School

Applications to book an audition slot are now open. We have had a number of students attend this course and have recommended it, so if you are interested in jazz then take a look! More information at https://nationalyouthjazz.co.uk/summer-school/

Have a lovely Easter break and we look forward to seeing you in the Summer term.

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!

In Design Technology we have been busy judging the submission for the STEM week competition. Students in Year 7 and 8 were asked to choose from one of three briefs. We had over 400 entries. Below are the winners and runners up. Each student will receive a HTC after Easter and the three winners have their work displayed online.

Brief 1: Design a product that keeps camera operators hidden and safe/dry when they try to photograph animals in the wild. You should explain your specific animal type and habitat and how your product has been designed with it in mind. 

WINNERS

1. Harry Parker 8S
2. Leah Gauci 7F
3. Luke Carlin 7E

Brief 2: Design a toy that can be used by small children to observe insects and beetles without harming the creatures while encouraging the children to become interested in biodiversity and helping them to learn.

1. Soraya Enayatollah 8A

2. Tiana Ward 7T

3. Max Hayes  8T

Brief 3: Design a product that will enhance the lives of pollinators and/or make it easy to keep bees.

1. Lilah Flemming 8E

2. Poppy Robinson 8J

3. Selina Jimenez 8S

This week's book is ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ by Stephen Chbosky,  a coming of age classic that tells the story of Charlie. Shy and intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that explores the roller-coaster experience of growing up. On our Sandringham Reads list for Year 9 and above, this is a moving account of Charlie’s journey to self discovery. https://www.booktrust.org.uk/book/t/the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower/

S is for… sumptuous [adjective]

Definition: Very expensive, rich, or impressive.

Example: The Queen hosted a sumptuous banquet.

Synonyms: Extravagant, Luxurious, Opulent

Antonyms: Economical, Inferior, Unimpressive

Etymology: From the Latin root ‘sumptus’ meaning expenditure.

We hope everyone is keeping well. Through May, June, and July we have lots of exciting screenings coming to The SandPit. Including, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet, Sunflowers, and Akram Khan’s Giselle. We look forward to opening our doors soon and welcoming you all back for some well-deserved theatre.

Following Government guidelines, you must wear a face covering while attending The SandPit Theatre unless you are exempt as stated in these guidelines. If you do not wear mask you will be refused entry and your ticket will be forfeited. Our café will be during these screenings for drinks and snacks but please note we will only be accepting card payments. Alcohol is available for sale 30 minutes before the shows begin. The box office is open from 11.30am – 3.30pm Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can call us on 01727 799565 or visit http://www.sandpittheatre.co.uk

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet is a passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic story of love and conflict is set in the not-too-distant future in the ‘Verona Institute’. Here ‘difficult’ young people are mysteriously confined by a society that seeks to divide and crush their youthful spirit. Our two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together. Tickets £13.50/£10

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake comes to cinemas with a fresh look for the 21st century and is as bold and beautiful as ever. 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. Tickets £13.50/£10

Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers are among his most famous works and are some of the most iconic paintings in the world. In an extraordinary exhibition, the Van Gogh Museum took a new revealing look at the five publicly owned versions of sunflowers in a vase. And once again, the Van Gogh Museum opened its doors exclusively to Exhibition on Screen. Tickets £7/5

Hailed as a masterpiece of 21st century dance, Akram Khan’s Giselle comes to cinemas for the first time, giving ballet fans the opportunity to see this award-winning production on the big screen.  One of the greatest romantic ballets, Giselle has been re-imagined by celebrated choreographer Akram Khan and English National Ballet. Tickets £13.50/£10