Year 7 had a great day working on problem solving for their ELD Mathematics challenge. Their task was to find a suitable property for a family based on various criteria and budgets. Some of the students were quite surprised at just how expensive the cost of living can be! The day involved working on their own and also in pairs and finally presenting their findings to all larger group. All of these are important life skills, and of course it was an opportunity to test their Maths knowledge at the same time. Thank you to the Mathematics Faculty for all your hard work- we are sure the students learnt a lot from the day.

It was great to see a group of Year 12 students spending a very industrious ELD planning their their routes for their practice expedition in the Brecon Beacons and assessed expedition in the Lake District. The students have written detailed route cards, gained a greater appreciation of interpreting maps and worked extremely well as a team to complete the work. They are now looking forward to actually doing their expedition, as well as very busy completing the other sections of the Award. Speaking to various students about their Duke of Edinburgh experience they commented on "a real sense of achievement getting to your destination", "learning new skills helping out with volunteering such as Brownies, baby ballet or rugby coaching" , "switching off for a few days with nature" and "being with friends supporting each other." As well as "getting to go to Buckingham Palace to collect your award!" The Duke of Edinburgh Award is a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and work hard towards a goal. If you would like to find out more, you can speak to Ms Cuneen and Ms Borman and thank you to both of them and the DofE Team as always for all of their efforts supporting students. 

As we mentioned in previous editions, the Christmas Fair run by Fo$S made a fantastic £5,000 profit which will is currently being bid for by staff to spend in the various faculties to enhance students' learning. Thank you as always to the team and the parents for supporting these events. 

The next Event, the return of Quiz Night, is being planned for Friday 18th March at 7.30pm so please do make a note of the date in your Diaries and come and join us for a fun night of quiz, prizes, food and drinks. Ticket prices will include a fish and chip supper (sausage and vegetarian options available). Details on how to buy tickets to follow shortly.

A reminder please that if a student is going to be late for school due to traffic, having overslept, or has not left home in time to arrive at school for registration at 8.30- Student Services must have a call, note or email from a parent/carer before they arrive in school. This call can be directly to Student Services or to the Absence line 01727 799564. Thank you

Herts Music Service – Invoicing update

• Customers (HMS ONLY!)should expect to receive their invoice for Spring term instrumental lessons in January 2022.  Adjustments to invoices, as a result of lessons invoiced but not scheduled, will be processed at the end of the academic year, once all scheduled lessons have been delivered. 
• Customers wishing to change (e.g. increasing the duration of a lesson) or withdraw from a music lesson from the summer term (effective from Tuesday 19 April 2022) must let us know in writing by Monday 31st January 2022. If the required notice is not given, they will be liable for a late notice administration fee equivalent to the cost of five lessons. 

Written notice for withdrawals and/or changes to lessons must be requested via the online withdrawal form, not via Sandringham or the music faculty at school.  If you have any queries regarding this, please email schoolsdirectinvoicing@hertfordshire.gov.uk

We received the following feedback from a parent involved in the Year 11 ELD on Thursday. It is always lovely to hear about other people's experience of our school so please do get in touch at the admin email address if you have any feedback that you would like to share.

"I enjoyed today and wanted to say how impressed I was with the 8 students I interviewed. Whilst all clearly very different with varying interests and skills. Without exception, they were polite, engaged and keen to do well. Qualities Sandringham has supported in my own children who attend/attended, but it was great to see evidence of this on a much broader level. Well done Sandringham you should be very proud of what you continue to achieve. Thank you for what you’ve done for my children and the wider community. "

This week we feature two of our amazing Year 12 students mentioned by Mr Gray in his Headlines- Emma and Maddie- who run a fantastic Sign Language club at lunchtime on a Wednesday. It is great to see such a wonderful turnout each week and such enthusiastic students. The club is a chance for students of all ages to learn a bit about deaf awareness as well going through the basics of BSL and playing lots of sign language games. This week they were learning sign language for various animals and the students were all enjoying themself. What a valuable and fun life skill that enables students to communicate with the deaf community, whilst also connecting with other year groups across the school. If you would like to sign up you can do so on SOCS or contact Emma (15afarie@mysandstorm.org) or Maddie (15byem@mysandstorm.org). 

On the 27th January, it is Holocaust Memorial Day. This was one of the topics for our ELD yesterday and we know that many students want to read stories about the Holocaust to gain greater understanding. Here is just a sample of our fiction stock and we have non-fiction books on this subject too.

On ELD last week, Year 11 took part in a ‘You’re Hired’ day which helped them to gain information about future choices as well as gaining experience in how to apply for jobs. Over 40 volunteers, including local employers, parents and governors took part to support the day, so that every student could undertake a one-to-one mock interview as well as a debrief about their experience. In addition, students took part in workshops about CV writing, universities and other aspects of future choices and applications. All students met one-to-one with the Sixth Form team to discuss their options post 16 and local colleges came in to present and run workshops about their offer for students after Year 11. It was a really positive and useful day and all students took part with great focus and enthusiasm. Thank you to all of our volunteers and staff who made the day possible, and especially to Mrs Tang for her great work in organising it all! The next few weeks will be a key time for Year 11 as they make decisions about their futures and we encourage to talk to their teachers, form teachers, Mr Boak, Mr Allday and the Sixth Form team if they would like further support.

After a flurry of house points from ELD this week, we see Hepworth retain their lead at the top. Anything can change in a week however, so keep trying to get those house points to take your house into the top spot.

House Maths, originally scheduled for 25th January has been postponed until Wednesday 2nd February. Students can sign up via SOCS or speak to House Captains about the event. A big thank you to Dom C and Kevin M for organising in advance. 

Our annual online safety event for parents/carers to held virtually on Monday 31st January at 6:30pm is now fast approaching. The ‘Supporting your child online’ workshop will explore risks that young people face online such as communication with strangers, sharing personal information and photos, and exposure to inappropriate adult content. Gareth Cort, an online safety specialist, will provide information to help you understand these issues, and practical advice to help you protect your child and support them to enjoy positive online experiences. Advice about parental controls and settings will also be provided, alongside the importance of having regular discussions with your child about how to stay safe online. Information on where to get help and support will also be provided and there will be opportunity to ask questions.

We hope that you will be able to join us for what will be an insightful event. A link to join the virtual Microsoft Teams meeting can be found here

Year 10 spent their ELD taking a first look at universities this week. They were able to hear from a student ambassador from the University of East Anglia, who talked about student life and what it is like to study at university. Students also undertook a range of activities and research into universities, the wide range of courses on offer and what it is like to study there. We hope that this offered students a view of what university is like, and the many choices on offer. Apprenticeships and other pathways are also covered extensively through our Personal Development curriculum and further ELDs. We look forward to working further with Year 10 students in the near future in their exploration of careers when we start to look at work experience for June.

It is now less than two weeks until the amazing whole school Dance show, Velocity, takes place. T-shirts arrived this week and the performers are busy practising their moves in what is set to be a fantastic show. You can book your tickets now at the Sandpit Theatre website for this unmissable event!

We have several vacancies available at the moment: 

Please see our website for more details.

This week’s whole school theme is World Religion Day. World Religion Day is celebrated every January on the third Sunday of the month - this year it fell on the 16th of January. Its aim is to promote understanding and peace between all religions, encouraging people to learn about other faiths and their followers. The first such day was observed in 1950 and it was initially started by followers of the Bahá’í faith, which says that all religions have common features, and that they should be respected equally. The students received an excellent assembly from Hannah Coy, our SMSC coordinator, which encouraged them to reflect on the link between World Religion Day and social, moral, spiritual and cultural education. We encourage you to learn more about some different religions this week and continue to build tolerance towards those that see things differently from us. 

Music Extra-curricular activities

We have a wide range of music activities taking place every week and these are all listed on SOCs. Please do encourage your child to sign up top get involved! In particular we are very keen to expand our Sinfonia (orchestra). So if your child plays an orchestral instrument (not piano please) to at least Grade 3 standard, we would love to have them in this group. We rehearse this group on Thursdays after school from 3pm-3.45pm.

Free trial woodwind lessons

We would like to offer a fantastic opportunity for students to have a free trial lesson on the clarinet, saxophone or flute. Our woodwind specialist Laura Bookbinder will be running these free sessions over the next few weeks. If you are interested, please click here to complete a google form and I will be in contact to arrange a date and time for a trial lesson. You do not need your own instrument for this trial lesson.

We received a concerned email from a resident recently about Sandringham students cycling to school. If your child does cycle, please could you ensure that they wear a helmet and, where possible, reflective clothing/lights during the darker mornings and evenings. The safety of our students is paramount, and drivers can often be in a rush along the route to school in the morning, so if you could remind your children about wearing helmets and general road safety- we would be very grateful. 

The Year 9 ELD day focussed on the Holocaust and centred around a first-hand testimony from a Holocaust survivor. Alongside this students took part in a number of workshops that were designed to evaluate the role of ‘Bystanders’, and how Propaganda was used by the Nazi’s to dehumanize certain people. These workshops encouraged students to think critically about what they see and hear, and to challenge injustice when they see it. Thank you to Mr Lacey and all of the staff involved in making the day so informative.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiography describing the early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma. Whilst this is a brilliant read, it is suitable for those in Year 11 and above, as it deals with scenes of violence, including sexual violence. 

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine- La antipathie

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche- Die Antipathie

SPANISH- La palabra de la semana- La antipatía

Thinking Questions

-          Sometimes words are made up of other words. How can this help us when reading in a foreign language?

-          Sometimes we don’t understand every single word in a foreign text – what can we do in this situation?

A is for… antipathy  [noun]

Definition: A deep-seated feeling of aversion or opposition.

Example: He held an antipathy towards the group.

Synonyms: Animosity, Antagonism, Hostility

Antonyms: Friendship, Liking

Etymology: From the Greek ‘antipatheia’. From ‘anti’ meaning opposite and ‘pathein’ meaning to suffer.

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

On Sunday, the U16 Table Tennis Team, consisting of Olivia C, Marelie R, Roslin M and Kaela L (Emma M was there in spirit!) travelled to Morpeth School in Tower Hamlets, to play in the Butterfly Zone Finals, where winning Schools from South Eastern County competitions battled it out to be Zone Champions! It was clear that there was some stuff competition and none more so than our first game, which was against previous National Champions, Thomas Aveling. It was a tough start, losing all, but one of the matches. However, on the second round of matches against them, we won all four games, meaning we won 5-3! An outstanding start! From there on in, it was plain sailing, taking wind from both Patcham High and Eastwood Academy respectively.&

This convince display means that on 6th February, we shall we travelling to Bristol, to play in the Southern (Regional) Finals and if successful there, will be representing Sandringham at the National Competition. Well done to the girls and Good Luck in the next round.

This week has seen lot more Netball as the business end of the season looms. On Monday we hosted Roundwood Park in a U16 District league match with a 35-12 convincing win.

The U14 girls also performed exceptionally to demonstrate their progress in a 38-15 win over JAGS to take us into the Sisters in Sport National Plate semi-final. A superb performance with Cerys M and Sophia P impressing.

The U14 girls played Dame Alice Owens in a friendly basketball fixture on Tuesday away and came out 24-17 winners in a competitive game that was played in a really enjoyable manner. Both teams learnt lots and it was great to see so many girls out playing basketball.

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

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

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!

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