Last weekend saw 22 groups of Year 10 students journeying through the Chilterns on their Qualifying expedition. The groups were divided into two cohorts with the Green cohort starting their expedition in Studham, travelling through Frithsden and camping at Felden, just outside Hemel Hempstead.  Day two for Green saw them travelling south east towards Commonwood before turning east and finishing in Bedmond. The Blue cohort started in either Great Missenden or the picturesque village of Hyde Heath. They journeyed north towards the chocolate -box village of the Lee and then onto Cholesbury common before tuning south to arrive in camp at Braid Wood just outside Chesham. Day two took in Lye Green before finishing in Ley Hill.

After a very challenging practice in May, the groups were prepared with full waterproofs and fully lined bags but this time they needed sun cream, sun hats and water- lots of water. The weather was glorious although at times the heat caused its own issues. However all the groups powered through and although some were later into camp than others, they had a good first day. Day two was equally warm and dry and groups were fully “in the expedition zone”, navigating accurately with no temporary misplacements, meaning everyone was done by 5pm. A massive thank you to the 16 staff and volunteers who supported our students through this section of their Award. Assessor reports will be uploaded in the next week. It is now down to the students to ensure their volunteering, physical and skill activities are completed with assessor reports added to eDofE so they can complete their whole Award.

As mentioned in the Headlines, Year 8 and 9 students spent the day tinkering and problem solving, shooting rockets and rocket cars to see how far they could travel. After some learning around the concepts of aerodynamics and thrust, this team of future engineers created some fantastic projectiles. (Although we did have to retrieve one off the B-block roof!) 

Years 7-9 had a fantastic time this week getting involved in various workshops including: Visual Arts, Cake Decorating, Creative Writing, Create a Minecraft character, Harry Potter days, Master Chef A Production in a Day, Music Workshops, PE activities, Photo Workshops, Science - Chain Reaction Tricks, Warhammer and D&D and Team Building exercises with Wise Up. Cake decorating, CSI and rocket making were also included and are in separate articels. Staff provided a wonderful mixture of creative opportunities for students across the years and the results were fantastic! Pesto pasta made from scratch, some beautiful cake toppers, imaginative stories, a Minecraft figure of Mr Gray and chatting to some friendly mushroom people and reading a book on how to befriend slime in D&D day. We hope that the students enjoyed the day and have learnt some new skills to take with them for the future.

Year 8 have had a fantastic time in Germany so far. They have been on a cruise on the Rhine, a chair lift journey across vineyards and a tour around Cochem Castle. They have also been swimming in a huge outdoor pool, been on a trip to Cologne including a Chocolate Museum and taken part in some competitive bowling. A highlight of the trip was also a day-trip to “Phantasialand”, a leading European theme park. Students have carried out interviews with locals and enjoyed lots of outdoor games and fun activities. Further updates to follow- but a huge thank you to the MFL staff for co-ordinating and the students for their fantastic behaviour and enthusiasm on the trip. You can see more pictures on the Sandringham MFL Twitter page @SandringhamMFL

As part of the in-school e-week activities, Mrs Pratt and Mrs Staples hosted a sugarcraft workshop for students in years 7-9. While baking remains a popular wellbeing pastime for many young people, this workshop specifically focused on modelling and piping techniques, enabling students to look beyond glace icing and sprinkles to focus on developing the design skills and expertise that go into achieving a great celebration bake. The animal models and delicate sugar roses were of a particularly high standard. A 'big well' done to all who took part, and a special 'thank you' to support staff and the food technology team for supporting this workshop. If any year 9 students are planning on doing their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award and are interested in learning sugarcraft as part of the 'skills' area of the award, please contact Mrs Staples, who is happy to suggest schemes of learning and to supervise progress.

Year 7 are having a fantastic time on their Bushcraft Trip in Houghton Woods, Northamptonshire. They are enjoying learning skills such as fire lighting, camouflage, shelter building, wilderness first aid, using natural cutting tools, scenario SOS, foraging and trap making. In the evening they are having fun eating smores, singing around the campfire and competing in bushcraft challenges and "tribes got talent." This is a really valuable time for the students bond as a year group and we are sure they will have made some fantastic memories and learnt new life skills. Thank you to all the teachers who have braved the woods with them as well! 

Don't forget you can still buy tickets here for what is set to be an amazing Dance show, IMMERSE, on Monday 27th June @7pm in the Sandpit Theatre. There is also still time to join Dance clubs and be in the show so speak to your Dance teachers for more details. 

On Monday, Year 9 had a full day with Humanutopia, an organisation who work to empower young people. Year 9 focused on the question ‘who am I?’ throughout the day, taking the opportunity to consider their past, present and future. There were lots of opportunities for team work and for students to pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. As ever, the Year 9s embraced the day positively and engaged fully. On Tuesday they were involved in team building exercises with Wise Up and on Wednesday to Friday they went to Swindon for their PGL trip enjoying activities such as the high wire and other team building exercises. Thank you to all the staff involved in such an enriching week for the students. 

For those students not on residential trips, there were lots of fun activities to enjoy. Year 8 enjoyed paddle boarding at Stanborough lakes and a walk around St Albans and Years 7-9 spent time with external companies who led workshops on team building. The week culminated with some huge inflatables on the field and a picnic giving students the chance to have make new friendships across the years. So lovely to see students enjoying themselves and having fun in the sunshine.

Calling all alumni musicians! Join Ms Taylor-Paul for a two hour rehearsal on June 26th from 3pm – 5pm in the Music Faculty bringing together musicians from previous Sandringham years.  There will be a performance in the Sandpit Theatre on Tuesday June 28th and an opportunity to catch up after the concert.  Please confirm your attendance with either Ms Taylor-Paul or Mrs Beaton. Hope you can join us and please let friends know!

Years 7-9 enjoyed some team building exercises out on the field this week. Their activities encouraged students to “think outside the box” and use their communication skills to express their thoughts and ideas clearly to their peers. Skills such as communication and teamwork are such important life skills and we are sure that these students will take what they have learnt with them in school life and beyond.

The whole of Year 10 have been out of school on work experience this week and they have represented Sandringham exceptionally well.  School staff have been able to visit many of the students and it has been rewarding to see them rise to the challenge in the working world.  Above is a lovely quote from a student assisting at Skyswood Primary School and below are some more delightful comments staff have heard from students and pictures of 2 of our students at Barhale Ltd.

“I'm enjoying it, it's nice to be in a university and I'm helping plan for a student exhibition."

“It’s amazing being able to see an event run from start to finish!”

“I know that I really want to be a primary school teacher.”

And a quote from a very pleased employer! 

“It has been an absolute pleasure to have him working with us here.  He arrives before I do and is always willing to help me.”

Thank you again to all of the organisations that have provided placements and well done to all of the students for their hard work this week.  

All are invited to come and view a selection of work across all key stages to showcase the work of our students. The evening will also provide opportunity to learn more about Arts Award across all levels to inspire future participation. Admission is free to the Visual Arts studios and if you would like to view the concert please purchase a ticket from The Sandpit theatre here.

This week we feature V in 9J who achieved a fantastic Distinction in their grade 4 LAMBDA Performing Arts exams, with an impressive mark of 84% . V has worked incredibly hard to get to this stage, performing with Top Hat Stage School since Year 7 and acting in many of their productions including last year's Snow White panto at the Sandpit Theatre at Christmas. V will also be performing at Alexandra Palace in July. This kind of performance level takes many hours of hard work on top of school life so it is an impressive achievement. Well done!

If you would like to nominate someone to feature in the Student Spotlight, please contact the admin email address with a few brief details and/or photographs. 

Year 8 have also been enjoying the sights and sounds of St Malo in France this week. We've received some fantastic pictures of them playing sport on the beach after diary writing, visiting the the cider farm and having a great time on a tour of Dinan town. The weather was glorious for a day in Brittany finished off with a dip in the sea at St Lunnaire. And on Wednesday morning they visited the Oyster farm in Cancale. Yesterday they enjoyed the Aquarium in St Malo and some final fun activities. What a fantastic chance to practise speaking French with each others and bond with friends. You can see more pictures on the Sandringham MFL Twitter page @SandringhamMFL.  A huge thank you to all of the staff involved in the trip and we look forward to publishing more about the students' adventures next week. 

Ms Coy conducted an exciting day involving crime solving. She wrote the below about the day.

"A body has been found at the theatre and police are treating the case as a murder. The body has been removed by the coroner and it is now time for teams of detectives to examine the scene for clues alongside various other evidential sources that our uniformed colleagues have been gathering overnight. We have already identified three potential suspects and have them in police custody. Now we need to identify which is the murderer before our 24 hours is up....."

Thomas P said “I did not know what to expect when participating in the csi today. I found it great as we got to utilise all the techniques that real crime investigators use in a real life situation such as lifting fingerprints, studying footprints, and analysing handwriting. It real helped with team building. Overall an amazing day! :)”

Parisa E said "“The activity I did was fun as we got to use different materials to finish the task and solve the crime. I used different techniques to find fingerprints and learnt how people lie and how to spot it and also how we can use graphology to show people’s personality. Really fun day and great team building”. 

There will be a second hand school uniform sale at Sandringham School on Saturday 25th June 2022 between 11am - 12.30pm. It will take place under the Sandringham School under covered area near Reception and there will be lots of uniform to choose from plus revision guides as well. Payment can be made by cash or card and all money raised goes to Fo$S.

If you have any donations to give before then, please leave in the bike shed at 15 Skyswood Road. Fo$S don’t need any school shirts, boys trousers or ties.

Once described as a perfect teen adventure novel, ‘Scythe’ is set in a conflict free world where humans have conquered death, and elected Scythes must cull the human population. Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have been selected to be Scythes' apprentices, and despite wanting nothing to do with the vocation, they must learn the art of killing and understand the necessity of what they do. Only one of them will be chosen as a Scythe's apprentice and as Citra and Rowan come up against a terrifyingly corrupt Scythedom, it becomes clear that the winning apprentice's first task will be to kill the loser. Watch more here: https://youtu.be/HPZPY8UWhSk

June is Pride month, and here in the LRC we are steadily growing our collection of LGBTQ+ titles. Over the past few years, the publishing industry has responded to demands for broader diversity of characters and storylines, and thankfully we are now able to choose from an increasing number of titles where LGBTQ+ characters take centre stage. Here are some of our recent purchases, which can be found in the LRC:

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine- déchirant

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche- grauenvoll

SPANISH- La palabra de la semana- terrible

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?

H is for… harrowing  [adjective]

Definition: Acutely distressing.

Example: It was a harrowing film about racism and violence.

Synonyms: Agonising, Chilling, Disturbing

Antonyms: Pleasant, Calming, Pleasing

Etymology: May come from the Middle English words harow, 

HAROU harowe, haru, harwe, from Old English words hearwe or hearge or from Old Norse words harfr and herfi..

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

Well done to the large group of students who competed in the County Athletics Champs on Saturday. It was a great event with some high quality athletics on display from the very best performers across the County. Podium finishes were as follows.

Sam McC Y7 Long Jump 3rd

Toby P Y7 1500m 3rd

Erin R Y7 800m 2nd

Lewis D Y7 800m 3rd

Jasmine R Y9 100m 2nd and 200m 2nd

Luke C Y9 800m 1st

Emilie W Y7 200m 3rd

The event also saw Luke C all but cement his chances of running at the English School championships in July after running a qualifying time earlier on this year. Jasmine R also came within one tenth in the 100m so has an outside chance of selection in the 100 and 200m. What makes this achievement so impressive for both athletes is that they are still a year young in this age group. Well done to them and everyone involved

This amazing documentary follows artist Preston Zeller, who feels compelled to take on a year-long creative project after the sudden death of his 35-year-old brother. Preston decides to create an intuitive abstract painting every day for 365 days as a way to process his grief and he shares the ups and downs of this momentous challenge in the film.

Following the screening there will be a Q & A with filmmaker and artist, Preston Zeller and clinical director of the Art Therapy Project, Lindsay Lederman

This film is presented by Zellerhaus Art and The Art of Grieving as part of The Art of Grieving Festival 2022 in St Albans.  All proceeds from the screening will go to Rennie Grove Hospice Care

Tickets £10

Sandringham Dance present their annual summer dance show. An evening of student choreography, exam work

and pieces from the resident companies; SYCD, Tuxedo HipHop Company and TripleEdge.

Tickets on sale from Monday 23rd May.

Tickets £7/£5

From 6pm in the Visual Arts Faculty (Free)

7pm concert start time in the Sandpit Theatre – tickets £5/£4

There will be a slightly extended interval to allow parents to pop into the art exhibition

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

Chuckl. In association with The Sandpit Theatre bring you the very best in live stand-up comedy.

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

The line-up includes Jo Caufield (Have I Got News For You, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow) / Sarah Keyworth (Live at the Apollo, Comedy Central's Roast Battles) / Martin Westgate ("...hope he gives up soon before he starts costing me work." - Gary Delaney) / Nelson Gombakomba (Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year Finalist).

Tickets £12.50

The Sandpit Theatre present their Premiere Professional Pantomime!

A fun-filled, sugar-fuelled, family-friendly pantomime adventure that reminds us ALL not to take candy from strangers (even if they wow you with a fabulous song and dance number!)

Join ‘Hansel and Gretel’ in a new take on an old favourite; with tasty tunes, magical mayhem and colourful characters (including a 7 foot yeti!) it’s simply not to be missed!