We have another exciting year ahead for careers education at Sandringham, which includes:

Year 9 Careers Aspiration Day: Tues 9th Nov 

Year 11 “You’re Hired!” Day: Thurs 20th Jan 2022

Year 12 Work Experience: Mon 7th to Fri 11th Feb 2022

Year 10 Work Experience: Mon13th to Fri 17th June 2022

All events are currently planned to take place in person.

We are currently recruiting for volunteers to help on the day. If you, your organisation, or anyone you know are interested in participating at any of these events, please click here to complete a quick google form. We with then be in touch with further information. Thank you! 

Ms B Tang

Sahar Hussain, daughter of our D&T teacher Ms Hussain, has decided that this year for her 8th birthday she would like to do something special in memory of her brother Ayaan. 

On 17th & 24th October the family have organised two very special 3-mile family & friend charity walks in memory of their beautiful son, Ayaan. These walks will help to raise money for two very special charities; Crohn's & Colitis Foundation & AyaanJM trust. If you would like to read more about Sahar's story and support them in their fundraising, you can do so here.

What a wonderful sentiment and we wish Sahar and the family all the very best next weekend. 

 

Mrs N Hussain

A huge thank you to Kathryn Caswell and all of the Fo$S helpers on the night for making the Year 7 Sausage Sizzle on Friday such a success. Over £1600 was raised and as you can see from the picture above, it was a great chance for parents to meet and students to enjoy time together. A lot of planning goes into these events, so thank you to Mr Miller, the Finance Team and the Caretakers as well for all their hard work.

G1 in the Computing Block is named after Ada Lovelace, a British mathematician and writer who worked on Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, an early computer. She is regarded as one of the founders of modern computer science and we believe that she shows the character trait of Initiative

Born in December 1815, Ada was the only legitimate child of the famous poet Lord Byron. Her mother instilled in her an early interest in mathematics and logic and her private turor, Mary Somerville, introduced her to Charles Babbage and the English intelligentsia such as Faraday and Dickens amongst whom she furthered her education.

During her lifetime Lovelace showed curiosity in science far beyond computing, with research in neuroscience, electronics and magnetic. In her notes on her translation of Luigi
Menabrea’s article on Babbage’s Analytical Engine she published an algorithm for generating a sequence of Bernoulli numbers. This is widely regarded as the world’s first computer algorithm. She was among the first to suggest the potential of computers in solving any problem, beyond mathematics. Despite her contributions being largely ignored until the 1950s, there is now the PRACE Ada Lovelace Award which is annually awarded to a female scientist who makes an outstanding contribution to and impact on HPC in Europe and the world, and serves as a role model for women who are at the start of their scientific careers.

‘That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal, as time will show.’

We have received 306 tokens so far, thank you again to all of our collectors. If you know someone who does their shopping in Morrisons, please ask them to set up the app as they may have tokens accumulated which will be wasted if they don't set up to donate to Sandringham School This is done easily through the app, use the QR code!

We have the aspirational target of 5000 tokens which would be used on the following (in order of preference):

• Compost bins = 2000

• Class of gardening gloves = 1500 

• Meadow flower seeds = 465

• Butterfly attracting seed packs = 135

• Watering cans = 390

• Spray mister = 95

• Plant labels = 65 

• Gorilla bucket = 200

• Widger and dibber set = 110 

Ms J Malone

Preparations for the Whole School Show, The Sound of Music, are well underway and we thought we would share a few "behind the curtain" experiences and pictures of what rehearsals are like and what you can expect from the Show itself. This week we have Max McL from 9S. Thank you to Ms Hardacre and the team for all your hard work! 

"We weren’t able to put on a Whole School Show last year due to Covid so we are extremely excited to be working on this year’s production and it has been fun meeting new people from different year groups.We are rehearsing twice a week after school and everyone involved has been working hard. The cast have been having a great time running through the script and learning the songs (some of which really get stuck in your head). It is fantastic to see all the arts coming together again to create a show you won’t want to miss. We’re sure everyone will enjoy watching it as much as we will putting it on."

Thank you to everyone who has come along to do some extra practical work in the Year 8 science club. So far they have completed the elephant’s toothpaste experiment using different catalysts and this week they were working with magnets. Next week they are carrying out some paper chromatography where they will separate out the different components of ink. Do  sign up via SOCS and come along Tuesday!

 

 

Ms J Malone

DSPL7 are holding a free course, held over six weeks, which provides parents/carers with skills and support to help children and improve the health and wellbeing of young people who are using CAMHS Clinic, Step2 or Counselling. You can learn more about young people’s mental health and recovery, effective communication skills, family culture, problem-solving. They have mentioned that the course content is not helpful, however, for parent/carers of young people with an autistic spectrum condition

It is a free course held online over Zoom from 7pm and finish 9pm on Wednesday 13th, 20th October and 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th November.
Please contact admin@dspl7.org.uk if you would like to register.
 

Mr C Bloomfield

Wednesday marked the last of our five Open Morning Tours, where parents and prospective students were able to look around the school in action. Thank you to all of our wonderful guides for answering questions, to the staff involved in organising the tours and to the teachers for showing their fantastic lessons. Included below is some of the positive feedback from parents and we look forward to welcoming the current Year 6s next September.

"It was informative, friendly and the students were confident and seemed proud of their school."

"I enjoyed the morning experience because I was able to come with my son who fell in love with the school. He had the opportunity to see students in their various classrooms and how they were being taught."

 

Year 11 completed their work experience last week and undertook a very wide range of placements. These included the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, local shops like M&S, Rothamsted Research, the University of Leicester, T&B Contractors and local primary schools amongst many others. We are really grateful for all of the workplaces who offered their support for students, especially in the current circumstances. Wherever they were placed, students will have gained invaluable experience of workplace skills and expectations, and developed in confidence and resilience as they look towards the future. Work experience in KS4 is a vital part of our careers education at school and we are very pleased that we have been one of the very few schools to be able to organise this for the current cohort. Thank you very much to Mrs Tang and Mr Boak for putting in such a huge effort to organise the programme.

Here is some feedback from the employers who hosted our students:

“Our student was so impressive! She was highly positive and so enthusiastic about her experience. She said she was really enjoying it and had learnt loads, she wants to go back and get a part-time job there”.

“The company are majorly impressed with him and his work ethic and ability to get stuck in straight away no matter what the tasks are.”

“The work provider stated that after 15 years of taking in students, he has been the best by far! She described him as a 'breath of fresh air to the business'. She would offer him a job tomorrow! A fantastic week.”

We will finish with a quote from one of the students; “I had a great time learning new skills, I really enjoyed it, and even got offered a job!”

Mrs K Mouncey

Future Creatives provides inspiring art and design short courses for young people aged 7 to 17. Taught online and face to face across the UK - students learn from qualified teachers and experienced industry professionals. Courses are multidisciplinary across all art and design practices, covering everything from cartooning and sculpture to graphics and screen printing. They are offering the following classes over half term which are suitable for various age groups. You can sign up by contacting them at ualfuturecreatives@arts.ac.uk 

25/10/2021 – 28/10/2021 Mon to Thurs – 9.30am to 12pm 

Art and Design Workshop in St Albans for 7 to 11 Year Olds 

25/10/2021 – 28/10/2021 Mon to Thurs – 1pm to 4.30pm 

Art and Design Workshop in St Albans for 11 to 17 Year Olds 

Ms L Kelly

Henry T in Year 11 has written the below about his work experience last week.

"My name is Henry T and I am in Year 11, studying both German and Spanish. Last week, Year 11 had work experience and through my father I was able to secure placements virtually with both an excellent, innovative language website (thisislanguage.com) and a football translator who works for various football clubs and journalists. I shadowed the latter simultaneously translating the questions and responses at the recent Paris-Saint-Germain press conferences. The interviewees included Maurizio Pochettino (Argentine, spoke mostly Spanish) and Ander Herrera (Spaniard, spoke a mind-boggling mixture of spanish, french and english). The translator allocated me a Spanish article about Edinson Cavani’s future at Manchester United and a Lautaro Martinez (Argentine) post-match interview to translate, then we went through, discussed and corrected them. It was a great experience and showed me a very appealing job for a football and language enthusiast like myself. At thisislanguage I spoke with the CEO and founder, George, and several of his employees about their roles, interests and how they ended up in the job. I worked on a marketing project with them over three days and learned about the logistics of running a website and producing content for it. Overall, work experience week was an amazing linguistic experience for me and really increased my enthusiasm and my interest in taking a job in that field sometime in my future."

Mrs E Kincaid

This week our A Level Musicians performed at a lunchtime recital at St Peters Church in St Albans. This was the first opportunity as a faculty to get back out in the community and perform to a real audience. It was a lovely occasion featuring soloists and some vocal ensemble items. The students were fantastic ambassadors for the school.

Our next ‘live’ event will be the Autumn concert on Wednesday 3rd November. Tickets can now be purchased for this from the Sandpit box office.

Mrs E Beaton

It is Dyslexia Awareness Week this week and here at Sandringham we encourage students to gain a greater understanding and show empathy for those who have additional educational needs. We have plenty of dyslexia-friendly books in the LRC (some of which are pictured below) so please do ask any of the staff if you wish to see these.

Keep reading!

 

Ms J Kirby

A huge well done to the following students who have been selected for the Hertfordshire County Football teams:

Eda P U14 Girls Herts

Charlie B U15 Boys Herts

Vicente L U15 Boys Herts

Joe W U16 Boys Herts

The trials are a gruelling process with three knock-out phases and a huge number of students applying- so it really is a fantastic achievement to be offered a place. Well done Eda, Charlie, Vicente and Joe- we wish you all the success in the upcoming season.

We have three things to mention this week!

Our cake-baking staff donated their creations to our annual coffee morning and helped to raise an impressive £300 for Macmillan. Thank you to everyone who donated. 

Ms Casby completed her September challenge beating both her physical target (running over 100km) and her total raised for Cancer Research (£1000!) A great achievement- well done! 

Ms Barnett also completed the London Marathon last weekend. Awesome work Jane- a phenomenal effort. "I am so grateful to have raised over £2,250 so far for my charity, Hospice UK. Sunday was the most amazing experience and the atmosphere around the 26.2 mile course was phenomenal. Apart from a few niggles and a little bit of hobbling at the end, I was happy to complete the course and wear my medal with pride!"

On Friday 15th October between 10am and midday, Herts Mind Network will be delivering their first Spot the Signs – Youth Suicide Prevention Training for Parents, Carers and Family Members. The aim of this training is to help parents, carers and family members to recognise when their young people are experiencing suicidal thoughts and provide next steps support, along with practical advice, information and signposting.

If you are a parent, carer or family member over 18 and living or working in Hertfordshire, please visit the following links for more information and to sign-up for your FREE space here or here

 

Your son/daughter will receive an envelope of how to order the Whole School and Sixth Form photographs in the next few days. You can also view and order via the following weblink by entering your email address and child's name. The Whole School photograph is taken every two years and there are various options for mounts or different frames. 

The Year 8-11 individual photographs will take place on Monday 1st November.

 

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!

Miss H Fryer

To celebrate the European Day of Languages this year we collated a video of our students and staff introducing themselves in a foreign language. Some of these are languages they speak at home and others they are learning in school. Thank you to everyone who submitted a video. What a wonderful way to celebrate the many languages of Sandringham! You can watch it here and see if you can work out all of the different languages. Thank you so much to everyone involved and to Ms Baikie for co-ordinating such a fantastic showcase of the variety of languages we speak here.

 

 

Miss F Baikie

This week’s whole school theme recognises Black History Month. October sees the launch of hundreds of events across the country to celebrate British black history. Now in its 34th year, this Black History Month has a renewed focus on black British resistance to racism – inspired in part by last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests – and celebrates key figures who have made substantial contributions to the country. This year, part of the campaign involves encouraging people of all ages to share what they are proud to be on social media. The students had an excellent whole school assembly led by the SLT Equality and Diversity Group which got them to reflect on the work of a range of inspirational black people and consider how they could show pride in their identity. 

Miss K Wills

A polite notice to parents dropping off students to school in the morning. Please could you avoid coming in to the staff car parks or parking across the entrances as this makes it difficult for staff entering the school by car and students entering the school on foot. Many thanks

This week sees Austen edge Turing out of the lead by 48 points. As we near half term there will be a flurry of House Points to come in from various upcoming competitions. The first of these being our Last Choir Standing for our Year 7s on Monday lunchtime in the Sandpit. Students are encouraged to go along and support their fellow housemates!

Mr A Cracknell

This week is Libraries Week. We hope you can all visit the Learning Resource Centre and find a book to enjoy. Readers for pleasure report fewer feelings of stress and depression than non-readers, and we have lots of new books to excite our readers.

Keep reading,

Ms J Kirby

From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl, Woman, Other follows a cast of twelve characters on their personal journeys through this country and the last hundred years. They're each looking for something - a shared past, an unexpected future, a place to call home, somewhere to fit in, a lover, a missed mother, a lost father, even just a touch of hope. This is Britain as you've never read it. This is Britain as it has never been told. This is one of my favourites of the Sandringham Reads books, and is aimed at students in Years 11 and above.

Ms K Bulbeck

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine- Du système/systémique

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche- systemisch

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana- Sistémico

Thinking Questions

• An interlanguage is when people speak a mixture of two languages – how do these come about? How do these affect the development of the two original languages that have become mixed?

Miss F Baikie

S is for systemic [adjective]

Definition: Something that is deeply rooted in a system or society.

Example: The death of George Floyd has highlighted systemic discrimination. 

Synonyms: Fundamental, Intrinsic, Integral

Antonyms: Secondary, Unnecessary

Etymology: From the Late Latin ‘systema’ meaning an arrangement or system.

Ms K Bulbeck

Well done to Daniel and George in the Senior Cross Country race, and Luke C in Year 8 who led the way in the junior boys District Cross Country championship this week

A busy week of football!

On Monday, in some very tough conditions, our Y9 boys team travelled to Onslow in their first round of the County Football Cup. An early mistake and a slow start gave Onslow the lead, however a quick refocus us saw us assert our dominance and run away with the match and a place in the second round. Well done for the eventual 11-2 victory, with goals coming from; Philpot(2), Everitt, Telford, Riddell(3), Scales, Uzus(3)

On Tuesday, in a repeat of 2019’s County Cup semi-final, our Y10 Boys Football team went to Beaumont in a bid to exact revenge. After an early Thomas B-M effort was ruled out for offside we found ourselves in an attritional battle for dominance in the game. Noah B managed to break the Beaumont back line halfway through the second half and finish in the roof of the net to put us in front. A tight and nervous last 15 minutes saw us defend resolutely to seal the 1-0 win and put us into the 2nd round. Well done boys.

After an excellent first round Natwest Vase victory over Roundwood Park, our 1st XV also went to Hitchin Boys for their 2nd round match. It was a baptism of fire for the boys.The team were not helped with the early concussions of Max H and Elliot D, two key players, however a solid display saw us show why we should be playing at this level all for Hitchin to steal the win and dump us out of the cup for this year. We look forward to our County Cup run and hopefully another shot at silverware for the team.

Wednesday was another very busy day of football for us with 3 games at home and one away in both the County and National Cup. Results were:

Y7 Football V Goffs (H) Won 4-2

Y8 Football V UCL Academy (H) Won 6-2

Y9 Girls Football V City of London Academy (H) Won 11-0

Y11 Girls Football V Barclay (A) Won 6-0

On Thursday, another match for our Y10 football team saw us play host to Stockwood Park Academy on Thursday in the 2nd round of the ESFA National Cup. Another slow start saw us go 1-0 down early on, however the team showed their superiority and after a George Small equaliser and then a Charlie Bolding penalty to put us into the break up, we knew that we could controlthe game. Further goals from Tomer C (2), Vicente L and Harry G meant that we were out of sight and could think about our next round match with Enfield Grammar.

Mr A Cracknell

Friday 8th October

Regional Girls Swimming Gala @ Woodside, Watford

Saturday 9th October

County Netball Tournament @ Stanborough School

Monday 11th October

Senior Football V Reach Free (H)

Y7A/B Hockey V DA Owens (A)

Y9 Netball V Berkhamsted (H)

Tuesday 12th October

Y11 Football V Cedars (H)

Y10 Rugby V St. Columba’s College (A)

Wednesday 13th October

Senior Girls Football V Beaumont

Y9 Hockey V Royal Masonic (A)

Senior Netball V St. Columba’s College (H)

ESAA XC @ DA Owens (A)

Thursday 14th October

Y9 Football V Sir Henry Flloyd (A)

Y7 Football V Linslade (A)

Senior Rugby V Beaumont (H)

Friday 15th October

Y11 Football V Bushey Meads (A)

Saturday 16th October

Y7 and 8 A/B/C Football V Berkhamsted

Mr A Cracknell

Well done to the Y10 boys basketball team who hosted Roundwood Park in their District League basketball match on Monday. A very close first half saw us give hope to our guests, however a solid second half display led by Vicente L saw us pull away to seal the win and give the boys their first win of the season.

The Y8 Netball team also played St. Edmunds in a very tight game away on Monday. After some intense exchanges at both ends the team eventually narrowly lost the game 16-15. A great start and fantastic team effort against the horrific weather. Player of the Match: Mia O’H

Mr A Cracknell

Monday saw the annual District badminton tournament at Verulam school. We travelled with both an U14 and U16 boys team who all played superbly. The U14 team of Henry T, Rory L, Harrison H and Sean S all demonstrated their high performance levels with some solid wins in a number of matches. The team eventually took the bronze medal and 3rd place in the District. The U16s of Daniel W, Matthew H, Josh B and Aarav S were excellent and after 2 early wins over Sir John Lawes and Samuel Ryder and a loss to Verulam it all came down to a very close match up with St. Albans. In what was a very tight finale the match went St. Albans' way who took the win and pushed us down into 3rd position, with both teams missing out on the County round by one place.

Mr A Cracknell

Well done to the 60+ boys who were all involved in Rugby on Saturday morning V Samuel Ryder. We hosted SRA in the Y10 match up and it was a comfortable victory in a slightly shorter match with us running out 42-19. In the Y9 game at SRA, we comfortably took the win 11-1 with another solid display to boost the confidence. The Y8s also had a comfortable win with a 10-2 victory to seal a clean sweep on Saturday morning. Well done to all of the boys involved.

Mr A Cracknell

We now sell and accept Theatre Tokens! You can use these tokens to purchase tickets for any of our shows or buy them as gifts to be used at over 260 venues nationwide and in the West End all while supporting theatres including us!

Following Government guidelines, you must wear a face covering while attending The SandPit Theatre and must present a valid NHS COVID Pass or proof of a Negative Lateral Flow Test if aged over 18, unless you are exempt as stated in these guidelines. If you do not wear a mask or do not have a valid NHS Covid Pass/Lateral Flow Test result, you will be refused entry and your ticket will be forfeited.

Our Bar will be open during these performances 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, Wednesday & Friday. Alternatively, you can call us on 01727 799565 or visit www.sandpittheatre.co.uk

Miss A Carter-Downing

Marking the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, the greatest exhibition ever held of his works took place in Rome. Exhibition on Screen was granted exclusive access to this once-in-a-lifetime show.  With over two hundred masterpieces, including paintings and drawings – over a hundred of which have been brought together for the first time – this major exhibition celebrates the life and work of Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino.

More than just a painter, Raphael was one of the most extraordinary artists of the Renaissance but is often misunderstood or mythologised.  On the basis of this extraordinary exhibition in Rome, this film allows Raphael, for the first time, to be truly revealed.

Tickets £7/5

Miss A Carter-Downing

The V&A presents Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser, an exclusive private view of the ‘hugely enjoyable and thought-provoking exhibition’ (★★★★★The Guardian) at the V&A in London, filmed especially for the big screen.

Take a guided tour ‘down the rabbit hole’ with the V&A Curator Kate Bailey and presenter Andi Oliver as the documentary explores how Alice has become an enduring icon, influencing successive generations and inspiring creativity in fashion, film, photography and on the stage.

Tickets: £16 / £13

Miss A Carter-Downing

‘Old McDonald and the Three Pigs Plus…’ weaves the well-known story of the Three Pigs with the easy to learn rhyme Old McDonald Had A Farm.  Featuring a 5m wide book with 2m pop ups, bright colourful pages, and lots of silly animal props.

The Three Pigs are fed up with singing “Eee aye eee aye oh!” every day and bravely decide to move away from Old McDonald’s farm.  Join the kind farmer and all their animal friends in helping the little pigs build homes of their own, but beware, the big bad Wolf is on the prowl.  Can you help save the day and stop the wolf blowing all the pigs hard work away?

A colourful and fun interactive show, full of props, pop ups and audience participation!  The children help identify farm produce, sing, and take part as the animals on the farm. Tickets £7/£5  or Family ticket (4) £20

Miss A Carter-Downing

The inspirational story, based on the memoir of Maria Augusta Trapp, follows an ebullient postulate who serves as governess to the seven children of the imperious Captain von Trapp, bringing music and joy to the household. But as the forces of Nazism take hold of Austria, Maria and the entire von Trapp family must make a moral decision.

This amateur production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. 

www.concordtheatricals.co.uk

Tickets £10 & £7

Miss A Carter-Downing

Welcome to our 20th anniversary year as we celebrate The SandPit Theatre turning 20 years old this December!

We can’t wait to see you back through our doors and we have some exciting shows and films coming up for you this season!

All the latest performances are on our website, www.sandpittheatre.co.uk, and you can keep up to date with what’s going on by giving us a follow either on Instagram & Twitter or give us a like on Facebook, just search for The SandPit Theatre!

Miss A Carter-Downing

Grab your wands, don your house robes, and apparate yourselves to the box office! A very magical improv show awaits...

The smash hit Spontaneous Potter is an entirely improvised Harry Potter comedy play, based on an audience suggestion of a fanfiction title. Hilarity ensues as an entirely new Potter adventure is magically improvised on the spot - with live musical accompaniment!

Running Time: 60 minutes

Tickets: 2:30pm - £12 / £10 or 7:30pm - £16 / £14

Miss A Carter-Downing