It has been an excellent week for Sandringham School's sports teams with lots of new silverware being added to the trophy cabinet. A huge well done to all of the teams and you can read about them further on in the PE NEWS section. For our student spotlight this week, we feature our U14 Netball team and a report from the Sports Faculty. 

On Tuesday evening this week, the U14 Netball Performance squad travelled up to Bromsgrove for an overnight stay ahead of the Sister in Sport National Plate final on Wednesday morning. The squad have worked tirelessly throughout the season and were extremely excited to test themselves against the northern team, Bury Grammar. Hair plaited and face paint on, nerves were high in the warm up but the squad knew that many parents, students and teachers were supporting them from home and school, watching on the live stream. Bury took an early lead as our defensive unit settled into the opposition’s style. Fantastic movement from Lizzie S and strong holding and shooting from Maddy W saw that lead get quickly overturned and we finished the first quarter up 12 – 6. Our defensive pressure drastically increased in the second quarter with excellent interceptions from Emily W and Hannah G. It was outstanding to see the team apply some of the defensive tactics we have been working on for the past couple of weeks that forced the opposition into some costly errors. Our hard work meant that at the half time whistle we had a comfortable lead 28 – 12. The third quarter saw some of the bench take to the court and get their opportunity to represent the school in such a prestigious occasion. Millie W, Mia O’H and Cerys McP kept the defensive pressure high but some amazing shooting from the opposition GS saw Bury start to make a comeback and we were only leading 33-27 at three quarter time. In the fourth quarter, back in the first combination, the team settled into a comfortable attacking rhythm. Terrific feeding from Sophia P meant that we had more shooting opportunities and we were closing in on the national win. Last minute interceptions from Charlotte H and Niamh F, meant we continued to pull away. Final whistle 44-32 to Sandringham – U14 National Plate Champions 2022! Players of the match went to: Opposition – Maddy W; Coach’s – Hannah G and Players’ – Charlotte H. Two members of the squad did not get any court time in the final but were key team players throughout the competition. Poppy R and Chloe G were outstanding in supporting their teammates and embodied all of the values we want from those representing the school. This is the first ever national title the school has won, in any sport, at any age group, and I cannot express how proud I am of the team. They train late on a Friday and early on a Monday, always with a smile on their face and always determined to improve themselves. They are a credit to the school and I know this achievement is just the start for a lot of these players. Congratulations to the whole squad – you smashed it!

“Children’s books act as mirrors to reflect the readers’ own lives, but also as windows so readers can learn about, understand and appreciate the lives of others. They can shape how young readers from minority backgrounds see themselves as well as how readers from the more dominant culture see and understand diversity.” Melanie Ramdarshan Bold, author of Booktrust’s 2019 report on the Representation of people of colour among children’s book authors and illustrators.

All children have the right to see themselves represented in literature and the Learning Resource Centre has a healthy collection of culturally diverse fiction. Picture above are just a few of the titles that are currently available for loan- do pop along to the LRC and see what they have to offer.

Services for Young People will be running an exciting programme of free Easter holiday activities during the first week of the 2022 Easter school holidays. The activities are for young people aged 13-16 who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals. They include physical activities such as: sports, dance, arts and games , fun and informal activities to help with a healthy lifestyle and an opportunity to meet and socialise with other young people

Dates: 4th– 8th April, 2pm - 5pm

Venue: Harpenden Young People’s Centre, 27 High Street, Harpenden, AL5 2RU

Contact www.servicesforyoungpeople.org or 01442 454060 or sfyp.stalbans@hertfordshire.gov.uk  to find out more and book a place.

On Monday, we joined forces with primary and secondary schools across Hertfordshire to fundraise and raise awareness of Ukrainian refugees, by wearing yellow and blue accessories.  In the lead up to the event last week, Mr Leat, Director of Learning for History and Politics led assemblies on the origins of the war in Ukraine.  Thank you to all students and families who have supported this cause which has so far raised over £10,000 for Herts for Refugees. If you would like to donate, you can do so my clicking here.

This week’s whole school theme is Global Citizenship. A global citizen is someone who is aware of and understands the wider world – and their place in it. They take an active role in their community and work with others to make our planet more peaceful, sustainable and fairer. Following on from last week’s theme of zero discrimination (linked to conflict in Ukraine), we hope that students take time this week to consider how they can support those in need around the world. The students received an excellent assembly that promoted the importance of cultural diversity and understanding the lived experience of people in other countries. Our students are fantastic at recognising that their identity transcends geographical and political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from a membership to humanity. We encourage you to take action to build your global citizenship. 

Battle of the Bands is making a comeback! On Tuesday 26th April we will have our annual competition for any bands or soloists. Sign up now in the Music Faculty to take part and look out next week for updates of the results. We have an amazing amount of musical talent here at Sandringham School , so it is sure to be a fun event.

Year 12 Engineering club is about to start up again. On Monday there will be an initial planning meeting, then after Easter all students who are considering doing Engineering at university will meet every Monday after school to take it in turns to research and present an area of cutting edge technology. This will add to students’ knowledge in advance of the UCAS process.

Year 7 Science club (pictured) also continues to give students a chance to do extra experiments - this week they made slime! The product of PVA glue and low concentration borax produces a non-Newtonian material that behaves differently depending how it is handled. Sudden impact, like throwing it down onto a desk, makes it bouncy. Applying a force slowly allows it to flow like a viscous liquid!

Hepworth continue to lead the charge with House Points, with Johnson, Austen and Newton not far behind. It could all change next week however, with points for extra curricular participation since January being added on. Look out next week for a full round up of the term’s house activity

Written by Henry N, Year 13.

Last week we had the pleasure of welcoming local MP Daisy Cooper to the school. Ms Cooper was interviewed by Henry, Logan and Maddie and everything from the UKs approach to the Ukraine crisis to the role of an MP during coronavirus. We were particularly impressed with the insightful questioning of the student audience and their mature engagement with challenging topics. Suffice to say, we may have a few budding politicians among us!

Have you started reading our Whole School Read yet? All students (and their families!) are encouraged to read the text and to join the conversation about the text, either with their peers, their teachers, their families or on Twitter @SandringhamRead. 

There are still a few copies available in the LRC, including a ‘short read’ edition and a ‘teen’ edition of the text. PDFcopies are also available on the Sandringham Reads Google Classroom (Class code: 5ukzdug), where students can also submit a short review of the book.

Congratulations to Erin, Russell and Alessia (Yr 7) who have recently read ‘I am Malala’ and submitted their review.  All students who read ‘I am Malala’ and submit a review will be awarded the Whole School Read Achievement Award on epraise, so please encourage your child to participate.

As our books are well read and go through many hands, we have a rather shabby collection of certain very popular books. If anyone has any of the following in good condition, and they are willing to donate it to the Learning Resource Centre, you can be sure it will find a good home here. We particularly need:

Suzanne COLLINS Hunger Games series

Michael GRANT Gone series

Robert MUCHAMORE Cherub series

                              Robin Hood series

J.K. ROWLING Harry Potter series

Darren SHAN Zom-B series

J.R.R. TOLKIEN The Hobbit, or The Lord of the Rings series.

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine- La dignité

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche- Die Würde

SPANISH- La palabra de la semana- La dignidad

Thinking Questions

• Language is an important part of culture and heritage. What can learning a language teach us about a culture or the heritage of a country?

D is for… dignity [noun]

Definition: A sign or token of respect; worthiness; your relative standing or rank.

Example: I decided to include the reality of their fight for dignity.

Synonyms: Decency, Self respect, Status

Antonyms: Unimportance, Worthlessness

Etymology: From the Latin ‘dignitatem’ meaning worthiness. 

DIGNITAS

It was a double in the #EastCentral U13s District Handball Tournament on Monday.

The U13 girls came 2nd, meaning they are through to regionals! PP - Katie J & CP - Jasmine R. And the U13 boys also came second. Well done everyone on your amazing efforts!

This week was County basketball finals week and after a long hard season we had 4 teams make the showpiece event, with our Y8 boys, Y9 boys, Y8 girls and Y10 girls. On Monday both the Y9 boys and Y10 girls were in action in St.Albans and Queens, against St. Columba’s and Beaumont respectively. The Y9 final held on St. Columba’s College’s home court was a close affair. The first quarter saw us freeze and SCC took an early lead as our nerves dissipated. Going into the second quarter we had to up our game, which is exactly the response we got. Defensively we piled the pressure on and quickly converted our offensive opportunities to take a 12 point lead into the half. The third quarter saw much of the same with some outstanding rebounding from our big men. In the last quarter we turned up the heat on our hosts by edging into a 19 point lead. With a flurry of fouls and change in personnel on the floor SCC fought back hard. At 2 mins on the clock we were 12 up and Mr Cracknell was confident of victory. The gap closed further and a final score of 76-70 saw us crowned County Champions. Well done boys!

The Y10 girls' final at Queens was also an exciting match with a number of the team stepping up to this level a year young and impressing. In a battle under the basket and rebounds dictating the outcome our opposition eventually got the better of us to take the tie and leave us as U15 Girls County Runner up,  Day 2 of the finals was on Wednesday and again saw us in two finals with our U13 girls again away against Queens in a repeat of Monday’s final and the same for the Y8 boys at St.Columba’s College. The girls had a very close contest taking the tie to overtime with some outstanding individual performances to give the team depth. In overtime however, our opposition took the game by 5 points leaving the girls as runners up again. A great performance and achievement nonetheless. The Y8 boys were simply outstanding. Seeing them in their first County final dominate such a well respected basketball school was an impressive feat. The team were leading by 25 points at one point and Columba’s had no answer to the mix of size and speed that our team can offer.We took the title to finish the week with two County titles and two runners up positions. Well done to all who have played throughout the season.

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

The Year 10/9 hockey team played in a very competitive match against Samuel Ryder last week. The team played some excellent hockey moving the ball wide and creating several scoring opportunities. Samuel Ryder also tested our defence, scoring early on to go ahead. However, the teamwork and communication from the Sandringham team helped them to maintain their pressure in attack and they were unlucky not to convert many of their scoring opportunities, denied by some excellent goal keeping by Samuel Ryder.   

The tennis season has begun with our B team getting their Glanville cup campaign off to a winning start with a victory against St. Edmunds, Canterbury. 

Well done to our Herts representatives Harry W, Luke C, Zoe H and Lily T who competed at the XC championships over the weekend. Well done to all of you on reaching this prestigious race and well done on such great performances.

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!

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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

Sandringham School presents their annual concert. This features all their choirs and instrumental clubs, including the ever-growing show choir, the famous jazz band and sinfonia orchestra.

Tickets £5/£4

IT’S TERRY!

“…Unstable and deliciously unexpected” The Guardian

It’s Terry is a brand new knock about show Introduced by the world famous character performer ‘Richie Raganoo’ - who by his own omission, says Terry Alderton is the “weakest character he does. But his most successful!”

It’s Terry has narrative, it’s a throw it up and see where it lands kind of show. So those that Know, Know, and those who don’t…will!

Tickets - £17