The school has remodelled its provision for the delivery of Relationships, Sex & Health Education through Personal Development lessons over the past year. There will be an online information evening on Thursday 13 January 2022 with Miss Wills and Mr Nicholls to provide some details of these changes and answer any questions that parents may have. Full details will be provided in the new year but if you would like to register your interest in attending please email mark.nicholls@sandringham.herts.sch.uk.

Forget about the Christmas number one single or who is top of the Premier League this Christmas, it is all about Miss Wills’ Hepworth. They have dominated the House Cup this term and are sitting pretty at the top of the table for the festive break. Well done to them and everyone who has contributed to such a great start this term on EPraise. A special mention to Gabby R in 7T who has achieved her Bronze milestone and leads the school in House Points on 177!

This wonderful microscope and its contents were donated to the Science department by Anne Lowe on behalf of her husband.  It has been beautifully displayed alongside some of the students' science artwork at the entrance to E-block for all to admire. Please do make sure you take a look next time you are in the Science block.

Charity is defined as giving resources like time and money without expecting anything in return. This selfless giving serves the most vulnerable in society and helps ensure that peoples’ human rights and needs are met. Charities depend on individuals who commit to giving small amounts. While donations from big groups are great, a community that cares about a charity and who they serve is essential. Unfortunately our Charity Day planned for Monday has had to be postponed until next year, but we encourage all members of the school community to consider giving money to this year’s student chosen charity, WWF, when it takes place. Enjoy the Christmas break when it arrives!

As mentioned before, we are making plans to organise a whole-school challenge to try to achieve a carbon-neutral school day, in March 2022. Net zero itself might not be possible given the need to use electricity and heat the buildings, but we certainly plan to involve the whole school community in producing as little CO2 as possible on that day. If any parents are able to offer expertise in this area or have any ideas/resources as to how we can reach our goal, then please get in touch at the admin email address, attn David Tattersall.

A massive congratulations to Nathanial (11N) and Kieran (Y12) who both qualified to swim at Swim England Winter Nationals at Sheffield’s Pond Forge from Friday Dec 3rd- Sunday 5th Dec. This is a huge achievement as the qualifying times to enter were fast. Both boys swam in 2 events each and gained PB’s, loads of experience and had fun. Well done boys we are incredibly proud of you. 

If you would like your child featured in the Sandprint in the New Year, please email in any details and/or photographs to the admin email address.

A huge thank you to our catering team and Chartwells for providing a fantastic Christmas lunch for students and staff this week. With over 1300 lunches served, this is no small task and it was lovely to be able to be back in the hall again to celebrate together. Thank you also to the Finance Team and the Caretakers for setting up the event and making the hall look all festive. The students and staff certainly looked like they were enjoying themselves.

Pictured above are the fantastic gifts brought in by our wonderful Year 12 students. The larger items are for Open Door and the stockings are for Open Door’s Winter Beds projects. This is a difficult time of year for so many, so thank you to Miss Potter and the generous students for their efforts in bringing some festive cheer to those less fortunate.

Following on from last week's Student Voice, this week we feature Jack B, in 10E, who is keen to tell us all about the physical and mental health benefits of Dance. A big thank you to Ms Staples who has been working with these students to write articles within a word limit and make sure that they fit the purpose and suit the readership for which they are intended. We hope you enjoy reading these articles and are perhaps inspired to try something new- we have lots of Dance classes here at Sandringham and of course our amazing School Show Velocity being performed next year!

My name is Jack and l am a member of Sandringham Dance Club. The Dance Club is held every Thursday at 3pm in A Block dance studio. After we get changed we do some warm ups so we don't strain our muscles. We do our dance routines to the sound of pop music. Dance is a great way to exercise because you are constantly moving your body to the music which works your muscles and tones your body. This is very good for you. Dance also makes people happy and relaxes the body and releases endorphins (which are hormones released through exercise) resulting in people feeling uplifted and happy. You should try it!

Thank you to everyone who contributed to Save the Children for our Christmas Jumper Day last Friday. We raised a fantastic £1611 which is so needed, especially in a year when fundraising has been difficult. As always, we appreciate your support in these events.

Future Creatives are running a competition, where you could win a FREE Online art course with their wonderful instructors. The deadline is 20th December and all you need to do share a photo or a video of your festive craft on Instagram and tag @ualfuturecreatives. More details of how to enter are here. Good luck! 

As mentioned before, our Into the Sixth Form evening takes place on Tuesday 11th Jan at 6.15pm. Please join us to find out what we can offer for the next steps to your future. https://sandringham.herts.sch.uk/sixth-form-admissions/

As we head into the festive season, we’d like to say thank you for continuing to play your part in the fight against COVID-19 and helping to keep yourselves and others safe. We are all looking forward to spending time with friends and family this year, there are simple steps you can take to help make this festive period as safe as possible and reduce the risk of you and your family catching and spreading COVID-19:

• Get vaccinated - Vaccination continues to offer the best protection for ourselves and others around us from becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. You can also now get your booster three months after your second dose, to book this and any COVID-19 vaccinations, visit: www.nhs.uk/covidvaccination

Young people aged 12-17 yet to receive their COVID-19 vaccination(s) can find out more and book at: https://covid.healthierfuture.org.uk/vaccine-information-for-young-people

• Test regularly – 1 in 3 people with COVID-19 don’t display symptoms. Regular rapid testing at home can help to prevent transmission. Find out all the ways to get home test kits (LFD tests) at: www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/rapidtest

From 14 December, all adults who are fully vaccinated and children aged 5 to 18 years and 6 months, identified as a contact of someone with COVID-19 by NHS Test and Trace – whether Omicron or not – should take a lateral flow device (LFD) test every day for 7 days instead of self-isolating. 

• Stay at home – if you have symptoms stay at home and book or order a PCR test online at: www.nhs.uk/get-tested

If you test positive you must self-isolate for the required period and not have people visit you at home. There is support available to help people who need it to self-isolate, call HertsHelp on 0300 123 4044, email info@hertshelp.net or visit www.hertshelp.net

9S have spent December taking part a reverse advent calendar for the St Albans and District Foodbank. They have brought in items in every day and this will go to the foodbank shortly so that people using the service can have a more enjoyable Christmas. What a lovely thing to do 9S and thank you so much to Ms Harding for co-ordinating. 

The KS3 Enterprise Club has been running since September and the students are now beginning to see rewards for their efforts. They really do demonstrate on a weekly basis  the key skills of teamwork, resilience,  initiative and problem solving and should be very proud of themselves 

ReLeaf, a Year 9 group have been selling succulents as Christmas gifts. They are using this as a way of earning cash, to invest into their main idea, which is to make and sell planted terrariums after Christmas. 

Two Year 7 groups have been equally  successful. Cuties, run by Alessia, Emilea, Sky, Olivia and Daisy have been selling hot chocolate at lunchtimes and now have enough cash to buy their stock of beauty products to sell after Christmas, so watch this space!

MaskT, another Year 7 group, run by Amelie, Aoife, Ani and Bethan have been busy making and selling masks. They have been especially busy trying to meet the demand for their Christmas designs.

We are hopeful that after Christmas, these  Year 7 groups will enter a nationwide Enterprise competition, run by Peter Jones from The Dragon’s Den, called Tycoon in Schools. 

A huge thank you to Judith Head, our Vice Chair of Governors, for sharing a wonderful community project with us called "Sending Love to Care Homes This Christmas." The aim of the project was to deliver a message of love to each care home resident in St Albans with 500 star decorations. Mrs Owens in our Arts Faculty brilliantly co-ordinated the Sandringham contribution with our Young Artists in KS3 Art Club and we have heard that they ended up at Lyndon Care Home in Sandridge. The students thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to create their own stars (which are among the others pictured above) and we are sure they spread some festive cheer at Lyndon.

We have the vacancies listed above currently available- please click here for more details.

The Sandringham Inclusion Team have produced a new Pupil Premium Newsletter with information regarding opportunities for PP students and who to contact if needed. Here is the first edition which we hope you find a valuable source of information and updates.

Well done to Thibaut W in Year 8 and John-Paul S and Bryony R in Year 9 who were the winners of our Christmas Card competition from last year. In line with our Sustainability efforts, their designs have been sent out digitally to staff across the school and to our external contacts. We are sure you'll agree that they are fantastic. Thanks to all the students for taking part but particularly well done to Thibaut, John-Paul and Bryony for their beautiful winning creations.

The U13 team had a fantastic game of rugby on Saturday against a very strong SJL team. Sandringham boys maintained their undefeated streak this season with a hard fought victory. A superb achievement, well done boys. The U12 team had a tougher prospect on their hands and lost, although the team continue to show signs of improvement. On Monday the U14s hosted St. Clement Danes. In what was a good game, without a couple of key Sandringham players our guests got the better of us in a very physical game.

A fantastic debut performance for the U12 basketball team, beating SCC in a well contested game. Well done all!

Well done to every student who has participated in our sporting program this term. It really has been an impressive term. We have had regional and national success with two teams reaching National finals and a number doing the same on a regional level, not to forget the County and District success, which is becoming habitual. There have been an impressive 34 clubs on offer to our students with over 800 students taking up a sporting opportunity, which is staggering and a record for a term since our tracking started. We have had almost 200 inter school fixtures, with a win percentage of over 60%, as well as a number of inter-house opportunities in school. It really has been great to see so many students back involved in sport after a long absence, let’s hope that with an increase in cases that things can return safely after Christmas.

A great win on the road for the boys 1st XI beating Forest School in the ESFA National Cup 2-1 to see us through to the last 16. Goals from Liam W and Elliot P saw us overcome our hosts in a tough game. The U16 girls had their County Cup last 16 game V Samuel Ryder on Tuesday and ended up going out of the competition to a strong side. The U14 girls, however have matched our Senior boys and earned a well deserved win in the last 32 of the National Cup to put them into the top 16 in the country also. The team won 8-1 against Lealands Academy, with Rachel K impressing. This now leaves us with 5 teams left in National competitions at Christmas, which is a first in my tenure at the school and possibly ever for Sandringham. 

A fantastic win for the U12A Netball Team this week, who have finished 2021 unbeaten, after they won 14-2 against SJL. OPM - Katie J and CPM - Olivia S

Well done also to the U13B netball team for their game against NBS this afternoon, narrowly missing the win 7-6! Well done to Becca B for POM

The U13A netball team also had a fantastic match this week, winning 18-14 win against SJL in the district plate and through to the semi-finals OP - Pearl, CP - Daria!

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

Chuckle. In association with The Sandpit Theatre bring you the very best in live standup comedy.

Enjoy some of the biggest names in comedy along with our favourite handpicked artists.

Tonight’s lineup includes Sandringham School alumni Nick Helm (Live at the Apollo, 8 Out of 10 Cats) / Esther Manito (Live at the Apollo) / Ben Norris (Mock the Week, “. unbelievably brilliant” - Jason Manford) / Mark Row (A1: The Long Road to Edinburgh on Amazon Prime)

Please note the lineup maybe subject to change.

Tickets are on sale now for just £16.50 each

It’s back!  Sandringham Dance Faculty bring you the ever-growing Velocity Dance Show.  Sure to be an absolute showstopper of a show it is not one you want to miss.

Tickets (VIP) £10/£7

Other seating - £8/£6

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!

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