On Wednesday, Hannah B (13T) and Carys M (13TR) sat the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls.  The Mathematical Olympiad for Girls is run by the UK Mathematics Trust which aims to advance the education of young people in mathematics.

The problems on the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls are challenging and the Olympiad is not suited to all students. Students have 2.5 hours to answer five questions, of which two are answer-only and three require full written solutions. Each question is awarded a maximum of 10 marks with partial marks also awarded.

The top scoring students will receive a Certificate of Distinction or a Certificate of Merit depending on their score. The top 30 scorers will also be awarded a book prize; the title varies from year to year. Each student receives a Certificate of Participation. A number of top scorers will be invited to sit the British Mathematical Olympiad Round 1.

We will let you know how they got on when we hear! 

If you are interested in becoming a teacher and would like to find out more, then you can join the Alban Federation virtual Open Morning on Saturday 8th October 2022 from 10am-11:30am

You can register  here or call 01727 799560 EXT 4217 or email afgtpenquiries@Sandringham.Herts.sch.uk for more information. 

Springpod: 

Springpod is a useful resource for students and is advertising numerous virtual work experience opportunities for the October half term week.  Students can read about these opportunities and apply for free here.  There is an explanation of each course, as well as a certificate for those who complete!  Most of them are aimed at students in years 10 to 13.  From designing the next Pret product, to careers at Volvo, as well as in agriculture and healthcare, there are many to read about.

Medicine:

West Herts hospitals are hosting a half day event for 16- to 17-year-olds, living in Hertfordshire and North London, who may be thinking of pursuing a career in Medicine.  This will take place on Friday 28th October 2022.  Students need to send in a form to apply and can contact West Herts or Mrs Eady for the form eadyc@mysandstorm.org

As usual, more opportunities will be tweeted through @sandcareers as they come in.

Our Year 11 students have been enjoying after school Product Design club with The Beatles playing and chocolate supplies to keep them going. Be sure to check out the other D&T clubs on SOCS. 

We have several vacancies including Teachers of Mathematics and Science and also Exam Invigilators/ Theatre Technicians/ TA's and Cleaners. You can find out more about joining our fantastic team here

It has been lovely to see our  Year 9 Music module students enjoying using our fantastic new clavinova. This was purchased using funds raised by Fo$S so thank you to all who have been involved in raising money for the school. The students really appreciate it! 

Fawcett extended their lead again this week with Hepworth, Shakespeare and Austen not far behind. Special mention goes to Robert B from 9F with the most points this week (8) and to 7S with the highest average points this week (25.5) for the second week running. 13N are leading the charge with the House Quiz, getting 19/20 on their two house quizzes so far and Newton lead the Design and Technology (bottle top collection) competition. There is still time to take part in the latter and we also look ahead to the following upcoming events which can swing the title race:

• Year 7 ‘LAST FORM STANDING’ on Monday 10th October
• Year 7 ‘Speed Stacking’ on Tuesday 11th October.

Congratulations to all our Year 9 and 10 students who took part in the German exchange this week. A packed programme was arranged for our guests and some people were even lucky enough to cement friendships which had already begun through social media prior to the group’s arrival. Last Friday, the English and German students enjoyed a trip to Oxford where they had an interesting tour of Balliol college and over the weekend, families organised a wide range of activities for their guests. Monday saw the German students on a trip to Warner Bros studio and they also had a tour of St Albans and the Abbey which involved some interactive role play. The German students spent time in lessons helping Year 10 in German with their GCSE conversation questions and enjoying an art class with Ms Button too.  Towards the end of the week a movie afternoon was arranged for all the partners followed by pizza in the Sandpit foyer. Delicious!

It is worth remembering what a challenging thing it can be to have a guest in your home and it is a testament to our students and their families that the experience was regarded by so many as one of the most rewarding and enriching extra-curricular activities you can undertake.  We can’t wait for the return visit to Hamburg in March next year. Thank you to all involved, particularly the support staff at Sandringham and our dear colleagues Frau Horn and Frau Kranz from the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium. Applications for next year’s programme will open in January.

This week’s theme celebrates the European Day of Languages. This event is observed on the 26th of  September each year and aims to encourage language learning across Europe. There is significant linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe and this event encourages us to celebrate this diversity and be more understanding of other cultures. The students received a brilliant assembly from Head of Modern Forgien Languages, Mrs Baikie, that championed lifelong language learning in and out of school. We hope all in the school community will try to learn, even a small fraction of, a new language this week. Щасти!

If you ordered individual photographs from Van Cols for your child in Year 7 or Year 12 to be delivered to Sandringam School, these have now arrived and will be distributed to students early next week. If you would still like to order a photograph, you can contact the admin email address and we will give you the relevant code for your child and instructions on how to do so.

A reminder that Year 8-11 individual photographs and form photographs for Years 9 (who missed theirs being taken in Year 7 due to covid restrictions) and Year 11 will be taking place on Monday 31st October.

Thank you to Mr Allday and Mr Smith for their Year 11 Information evening on Monday. A few important dates for the calendar to remember:

• w/c 21st Nov to 6th Dec: Trial exams: Students are on study leave during this time
• Thursday 3rd Nov: BSV Information Evening -
• Tuesday 10th Jan: Sandringham Sixth Form Information Evening
• Monday 16th Jan: Year 11 PTC
• Friday 3rd Feb: BSV consortium application deadline
• w/c 6th March 2023 (1 week) Trial Exams
• May (date TBC) Celebration assembly -
• May/June 2023: GCSE/Vocational Qualifications public exams
• Friday 30th June: Year 11 Prom

This week we feature Oliver M in 7E who took part in his first ‘speed cubing’ competition at the weekend. The event was officiated by the World Cubing Association and Oliver entered the 2x2x2, 3x3x3 and Pyraminx events, and he was a finalist in the Pyraminx competition. Well done Oliver. It is great to see our students getting involved in extra curricular activities and really challenging themselves. 

If you would like to nominate someone to feature in the student spotlight next week, please contact Melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and or/photos. 

Well done to everyone who entered last week and got the answer right! This week's puzzle is shown above. For every entry you will receive 1 house point, 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 house points!  To enter, simply scan the QR code and fill out the google form.  Good luck! Why not play at home and see who is the quickest to get the answer?

Well done to Sandringham students Bella P, Jess P, Olivia G, Franziska M, Lucy T, Jasmin R and Isobel S who all took part in the Cancer Research Shine Night Walk on Saturday night in memory of Nick Pratt who died earlier this year after a 3 year battle with brain cancer. They walked the half marathon course through the streets of London and collectively, the team has raised almost £5,000. If you'd like to read more about the event or donate to this worthy cause you can do so here

Some of the students have noticed that Jupiter is especially bright at the moment. On clear nights this week the planet has been easy to see in the East between about 9 and 10pm. One feature of planets that helps to identify them is that they appear larger than stars in the sky, to the extent that stars tend to twinkle whereas planets have a much more steady light.

In other STEM news, Pi Club is hugely popular this year. Students do all sorts of mathematics activities and have great fun working together. Thanks to Ms Julef for running this exciting club.

Students had a fantastic ELD on Wednesday. With Year 7 out on the Peak District Trip, the rest of the school were left to enjoy activities co-ordinated by Ms Borman. Year 8 enjoyed a day on Sustainability and Year 9 had a great talk about Life in the Trenches. Year 10 had an informative workshop on Relationships and Year 11 either took part in activities at Willen Lake or were out on their Geography field trip in Shropshire. Year 12 enjoyed some team building exercises whilst Year 13 worked on their UCAS statements. We hope they enjoyed their days! 

Year 7 have had a fabulous week bonding as a year group. They spent some time en route to the Peak District having lunch and completing activities at Carsington Reservoir, before heading on to Ilham House. On the first evening, they enjoyed dinner and more team-building activities before heading to their allocated rooms. On Day Two, they enjoyed the 8 mile walk to Thorpe Cloud taking in the beautiful countryside. Despite some tired legs, everyone was proud to have made it to the top and enjoyed a well-deserved ice cream on the way down. In the evening there were more activities and a neon-themed disco led by our wonderful Year 12 volunteers and everyone settled for a good nights’ sleep after having showed their rather interesting dance skills. The final day included a trip to Alton Towers where students had the chance to let off some steam and staff had a break from the noise levels of 120, 11-12 year olds! The year group have done amazingly: getting on with their CATs tests with no fuss, building new friendships and challenging themselves with new experiences. A big thank you to all of the staff involved on the trip and we hope the students had a great time!

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: réprimer

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: nehmen

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: aquietar

Thinking Questions

• Languages naturally evolve over time – what factors affect the evolution and use of a language?

This week's featured book is Robin Hood: Hacking, Heights and Flaming Arrows by Robert Muchamore. 

In the first installment of this five-book series, Robin Hood and his bother Little John are hounded out of the toxic wasteland of Locksley and must learn to survive in the Sherwood forest, home to free spirits and outlaws. Noah H in 9N, who recently read the book, says 'Anyone who likes Muchamore's Cherub series will enjoy Robin Hood. It's a face-paced story with plenty of action. I raced through it!' If you'd like to borrow this book, or would like some recommendations, do pop along to see our friendly librarians in the LRC to see the great selection we have here at Sandringham.

Q is for… quell  [verb]

Definition: Put an end to (a rebellion or other disorder), typically by the use of force.

Example: Extra police were called to quell the disturbance.

Synonyms: Annihilate, Conquer, Extinguish

Antonyms: Compliment, Encourage, Help

Etymology: From the Old English word ‘cwellan’ meaning to kill.

Last Saturday, our football teams were away to Aldenham School. The Year 7 A team battled well from the start and came away with a 4-1 victory and the B team had a very close game which saw Aldenham equalise late on to finish 2-2. The 24 Sandringham boys should be very proud to have represented the school so well! The Year 9 boys also had a good competitive game of football but just lost out 3-1 to Aldenham- a good goal from Luke R wasn’t enough in the end to inspire a late comeback. The Year 10 boys had a great game and put some fantastic football on show again vs Aldenham with a great goal from Montet but the result didn’t go our way with a 6-1 defeat in the end.

On Monday, the Y9 boys football team had a great result winning 4-1 on penalties after a series of comebacks saw them draw 4-4 with Croxley Danes in normal time. The win secures their spot in round 2 of the County Cup. Goals from Luke C x2, Harry M and Harry W

And on Wednesday,  the Year 8 boys selected to play in the National cup ‘B’ game. They put in a great shift in a very even game but unfortunately, Sandringham were on the wrong side of a 2-0 result. Despite the score, there were some brilliant individual performances.

We had some brilliant performances on Thursday against Nicholas Breakspear with placings below: Senior boys- 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th & 9th Senior girls - 1st & 3rd Inter boys - 1st, 2nd & 6th Inter girls - 1st & 5th Junior boys - 6th, 10th & 22nd Junior girls - 6th, 19th & 25th

Last Saturday, we took a team of swimmers to the Herts & Bucks qualifying round competition. 3 teams were entered to compete in a freestyle relay and medley relay. The Junior boys finished 2nd in their freestyle relay heat with some really promising performances which included two year 7’s. The Inter boys finished 5th in their heat of the freestyle relay, the Junior boys finished 4th in their heat of the medley relay and the Senior boys finished 1st overall in the Medley relay with a time of 1.52.59- a superb race. The standard was very impressive so well done to all of the boys who took part.

Congratulations to the U15 Netball team for a 44-30 win over Berkhamsted this week in the School Sport National Cup! They now go on to round 3. OPM - Maddy W & CPM - Lizzie S

Congratulations also to the U19 Netball team who won the district tournament! POT - Ida S. A great result. And the Performance Squad also had a 52-37 win over Goffs sees them into round 2 of the county cup. OPM - Katherine M & CPM - Molly C

The U16 Netball team also put in a fantastic performance to finish 2nd place in the District Tournament, after a close final with STAGS. POM: Martha D but, a great team performance.

And the U14 Performance squad played their first fixture against Wycombe Abbey this week. The eventual result was a 14-28 loss but good to see the team improving! OPM - Cerys M & CPM - Holly W

Another full week of fixtures ahead. Good luck to all of hte teams involved.

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!

“Absolutely Incredible” – BBC Three Counties Radio

“Hilarious, Modern… an absolute delight” - Bedford Today

Tickets £12.50-£15

Tickets are available now at www.hanselandgretel.co.uk

John Robertson’s terrifying, live-action videogame 'The Dark Room’ now comes with a family-friendly flavour! Part stand-up comedy show, part theatre; all interactive and insane - this award-winning, genre-defining, mixture of improv comedy and retro gaming all combines to become a deranged rock n’ roll game show – now suitable for ages 11 and up. Families will find themselves trapped inside a live-action videogame!

‘You must see the Dark Room at least once in your life’ ✭✭✭✭✭ The Sun

‘Genuinely irresistibly dangerous’ ✭✭✭✭ The Stage

Tickets £8

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

Welcome to THE DARK ROOM – the world’s only live-action, text-based adventure game. It’s strange, insane and addictive – it’s a choose-your-own-adventure, so choose it!

How do you play? The audience is trapped in a retro videogame with a sadistic end-of-level boss. Choose your options, survive the abuse simulator that is the improv comedy overlord John Robertson, and escape to win £1000 – or, be brutally murdered by the rest of the crowd!

Tickets £10.00 – £12.50

Little Red Riding Hood’s friend arrives to tell us the story but has a problem, there are no pages in the book! He tries to tell the story and we meet Red Riding Hood’s mum, dad, and grandma but he keeps getting the story wrong. So, Cinderella arrives to help, dancing a conga with her Jack’s Baked Beans Band and suggests auditions to find the Wolf to end the story.

There is lots of participation in this theatre show, with the audience becoming Cinderella’s backing band, auditioning to be wolves, helping Red Riding Hood’s dad cut down trees and dancing a conga.Tickets £7/£5