QUIZ NIGHT IS BACK !  Friday 11th November sees our popular Quiz Night back at Sandringham School supporting fundraising for the Sixth Form Expedition. Tickets are available via Parent pay and can be a mix of Sixth Form students (£5) and Adults (£10) in teams of up to 8 people. Please do come along to support!

Well done to Austen who are currently in the lead with the bottle top collection. There is still time to bring in your bottle tops to school to be used in part of a recycling project. 

As a reminder, the D&T Faculty are asking for your HDPE bottle tops to be dropped off to B4 to be used in fun projects such as melting them down to make coasters, pendants or keyrings. The individual with the most collected bottle tops will win 50 house points, and the house with the most collected bottle tops in total will win 50 house points. Please put them in a plastic bag and label which house they are from and who you are too. 

Good luck- may the best house win! 

This week’s whole school theme is equality in language. Social media means we are exposed to more diverse opinions and this is positive as it makes us a more informed and critical community. However, some free speech online can be fabricated and/or discriminatory and this can cause us to reproduce stereotypical views. In this week’s whole school assembly, led by Ms Wills Director of Learning for Personal Development & Mr Cracknell, Assistant Headteacher, students examined controversial figures such as Andrew Tate and Majorie Taylor Greene to analyse the language that they use. Despite their views receiving signifiant online support, their comments are often hurtful and prejudicial towards certain groups. At Sandringham, we want all students to feel safe and supported by others in the school community and therefore are encouraging students to think critically about the views they see online and the language they use. Kindness is key!

DSPL7 are holding a ‘Post-16 Advice Evening’ suitable for parents/carers of Year 10 and 11 students with SEND. The event will explore the following:

• Understanding the different courses available to students post-16.
• Getting to know the local colleges
• Understanding apprenticeships
• Understanding T-Levels
• Understanding travel and financial support
• Understanding learning and pastoral support at college. 

You will also hear from Services for Young People about how they can support students and you will have time to ask questions from DSPL7 and Services for Young People. 

Date: Tuesday 22nd November, 6:30-7:30 pm.  Location: The Hub, Fleetville Junior School, 228HatfieldRoad, St Albans, AL14LW

Please use the following link to book tickets to attend the event or for more information on Services for Young People, please visit their website.

Hertfordshire has become one of the first regions in the UK to partner with Energy Saving Trust to provide an energy efficiency app to residents and help them make energy savings.

Unique and easy-to-use the Hertfordshire Energy Advice Tool (HEAT) app gives a virtual tour around a typical home, asking questions and giving advice along the way. Based on the answers provided, quick, easy, low or no-cost actions are suggested to help householders save money on their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint too.

The app is available for both Android and iOS users:

Download the HEAT app for Apple devices.

Download the HEAT app for Android devices.

It's been a busy time for our Year 7’s with not one but two house competitions this week. You can read more about Monday's event, Last Form Standing, under Music News and on Tuesday the Year 7s took part in a speed stacking competition in the Sports Hall. Four boys and four girls from each house competed to win house points with some super fast times. In the end placings were as follows: 1st=Newton 2nd=Austen 3rd=Elgar 4th=Johnson 5th=Shakespeare 6th=Turing 8th=Fawcett & Hepworth. Well done to everyone for their efforts! 

This means that for overall house points, Fawcett are still in the lead but Austen now take second place, with Shakespeare, Hepworth and Newton not far behind. A special mention to Katie B, Salma C, Oliver M and Charlie A who have the most points this week (12) and to 7S with the highest average points this week (36.6) for the fourth week running. 13A and 9A have the highest overall ‘house quiz’ score so far (36/40) and Austen have won the Maths Puzzle for a second week running with 39 points.

A massive congratulations to Lauren W in Year 8 who took part in two trials and was offered a place in Hertfordshire County U13 Netball Academy, just 20 girls were offered a place across the County so this is a huge achievement.

She is looking forward to putting her new skills learnt into representing Sandringham Netball Performance Squad. A huge well done Lauren . Amazing work.

If you'd like to nominate someone for the Student Spotlight, please email melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photographs. 

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?

We are pleased to share the open day dates for West Herts College and Oaklands College.  We encourage Year 11 students to consider all options for their next steps.  If you would like to attend one of these open days, you need to register using the links below:

West Herts College: 5th November (Hemel Hempstead) and 12th November (Watford) both 9:30am – 2:30pm

Register here

Oaklands College: 5th November (Welwyn Garden City) and 12th November (St Albans) both 10am - 2pm

Register here

On Sunday morning, 59 Year 11s and 6 Year 12s were up early to travel to the South Downs for their Silver expeditions. The Year 11s were just starting their Silver experience and this was their practice expedition. The Year 12s were completing their expedition section with their Qualifying expedition. We made good time on the journey down and all groups were out walking on their pre-planned routes by 10.30. We are very familiar with this area as an expedition location and so we eased them in gently on day 1, with routes being in largely farming areas but with some areas of common and heath land, along with free roaming livestock. Night 1 was at the scout camp in Plumpton Green and all groups had arrived by 5.30, enabling them to put up tents and cook dinner while it was still daylight. The weather was fine and dry during the day and overnight but day 2 started off grey and overcast and it wasn’t long before the rain started.

The terrain was more challenging on day 2, starting off through the rural valleys but then ascending up onto the Downs. All groups went via Ditchling Beacon and then some groups travelled south , passing by and visiting the Chattri War Memorial where Indian soldiers who died in the field hospital set up in Brighton Pavillion during WW1 were cremated. It is a very peaceful spot for a moment’s rest and contemplation and many of the groups took time to visit. Other groups travelled west and caught sight of the Jack and Jill windmills which dominate the landscape. Their routes continued over the Downs towards the village of Poynings before arriving at Park Wood scout camp.  After such a dismal start to the day, the skies cleared and they were treated to panoramic views to the north and the south – the views went on for miles. This was the longest day of the expedition and some groups ended up pitching tents and cooking dinner in the dark which was a new challenge. A very cold night was followed by a beautifully warm and sunny day for the last push of the venture. The checkpoint at Truleigh Hill Youth Hostel was at the top of a very steep climb near Edburton Hill but then the groups followed the undulating South Downs Way to the finish point at Devil’s Dyke.

We are immensely proud of the participants- they stayed positive and cheerful throughout and their campcraft and navigation was almost always spot on- there were a couple of “temporarily misplacements” (Mrs Cuneen’s term for going wrong!) but this was a hugely successfully expedition. They even kept smiling for the endless photos taken by staff (all on our Twitter feed- @SandringhamDofE ). This marks the end of the expedition season for Sandringham DofE and it was a great way to round off another fantastic series of adventures for our DofE participants.  A massive thank you to Mr Allday, Mrs Gibson, Mrs Ellis, Mr O’Connor and Mr Swann for supporting these young people with their adventures on this expedition.

On Thursday, our Year 11 students spent the morning focussing on "preparing for successes". Our guest Dr Van Der Spoel spoke about effective revision strategies, whilst 5 of our Year 12 students joined a Q&A panel where they provided honest answers and advice. We are sure that the students took away lots of useful information from the talk. Under Career News, we have the dates of the Open Days for Oaklands and West Herts College and below are some other important dates coming up for Year 11. 

• Monday 31st Oct: Individual photos for Years 8-11 and Year 11 tutor photos.
• 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, one of our GCSE Astronomy students used a telescope and phone camera to picture this year’s Harvest Moon. Quite late this year, the Harvest Moon is defined as the full moon closest to the Autumn equinox. Well done to Chloe G for bringing this to the astronomy group! As winter approaches there will be more opportunities for the group to go outside together and view the night sky, as the lessons take place after school each week.

In other news, a group of Sixth Formers have recently entered a competition run by the European Space Agency called CanSat. The challenge for the team, supervised by Mr Neville, is to put sensors together that could fit into a tin can. They must then get it 1km high to take measurements. More on this as the project progresses.

Barracudas are running their fantastic holiday camps at Sandringham School again this half term. The clubs offer a wide range of activities for children aged 4 to 14 and are run trained and DBS checked staff. To book you can call 01480 467567 or go to www.barracudas.co.uk to find out more. Parents can get £10 off a full week by applying the code HSCH22 in the promotions box.

Monday lunchtime saw our fabulous Year 7 forms battle it out in Last Form Standing in the Sandpit Theatre. This was the first time in three years that we have been able to hold this house competition in person, so it was fantastic to see each form singing and their respective Sixth Form House Captains cheering them on. Each form had been practising their chosen songs in music lessons and the hard work certainly paid off. There were drums, keyboards, triangles, scarf waving, a few jazz hands and even some audience participation, which made it hard for the judging panel of Mr Leat and the Head Students to decide the winners. The end results were as below. A special thank you to Mrs Beaton, Ms White and Miss Cooper for making the event such a success and a huge well done to everyone for taking part. It is not easy to stand up and perform in front of 200 peers, staff and older students so we are really proud of their brilliant performances. 

1st - 7A with 'Wavin' Flag'

2nd - 7F with 'Your Love Keeps Lifting me higher'

3rd - 7N with 'I'm Still Standing'

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: la chance

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: der glücklicher Zufall

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: la casualidad

Thinking Questions

• Nouns in French, German and Spanish all have a grammatical gender. Why do you think this is? What impact does this have on the way people potentially view certain objects and abstract concepts?

When the Sky Falls by Phil Earle 

It's 1941, war is raging. Joseph has been sent to London to live with Mrs F, a gruff woman with no fondness for children. She only loves her rundown zoo and her mighty silverback gorilla, Adonis, who Joseph soon befreinds. When the bombs begin to fall, it's up to Joseph to guard Adonis' cage should it be damaged by a blast, but will Joseph be ready to pull the trigger when it comes to it? Lucas H, 7F, who recently read the book said: 'This was an intriguing and adventurous book. You never knew what was going to be around the next corner and there were no boring bits. I really enjoyed it!' 

S is for serendipity [noun]

Definition: The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Example: It was a fortunate stroke of serendipity.

Synonyms: fluke, break, luck

Antonyms: misfortune

Etymology: This word was created in 1754 by the writer Horace Walpole, and is suggested in ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes were always making discoveries, by accident, of things they were not in search of.

A meeting of World Class Schools! The director of World Class Schools Quality Mark, Miranda Perry, met with Laura Borrgan (Exhange Co ordinator) and Carlos Valdivia from World Class School EuropaSchool Sevilla (whilst on a visit to World Class School Sandringham) to be presented with this portrait from @pedrojaenseijo. They had a fantastic morning discussing all things World Class. If you'd like to find out more about the WCSQM, please speak to Mrs Beaton about ways you can get involved. 

Our swimming team girls had a great evening on Friday in the regional qualifiers. The Junior girls finished 6th in their medley relay, the Inter girls finished 7th in their freestyle relay heat and the senior girls finished 6th in their medley heat relay. Well done team!

The U13 boys played some brilliant table tennis at Verulam school on Wednesday. They managed to get to the finals but were beaten by St Albans eventually. This means they still qualify for the county round however, so well done to the four boys involved. 

Our Cross country teams had some great results vs St Columbas on Thursday. The Senior Boys finished as follows: Daniel B 1st, Daniel M 6th, and Henry T 10th. Our Inter Boys showed some awesome running as well with Luke C finishing 1st, Harry W 5th, Ross H 20th and Charlie L 34th. And our junior boys were also in fine stride with  Toby P 1st , Lewis D 5th and Oliver C 17th. 

The incredible running continued with our amazing girls. The senior team gained two podium finishes: Annabel H 2nd and Beckie C 3rd. Our inter girls saw Zoe coming 1st and Annabelle N running strong to finish 5th. And the Junior Girls were also fantastic with Georgia T 1st, Erin R 8th and Astrid LJ 35th.

Well done to the U13A Netball Team who beat Beaumont in the District League and Cup on Wednesday, OPM Lexi K and CPM Lauren W. Our U14B Netball Team also played well but lost out to a strong Beaumont A team in the their first district league game. OPM and CPM Sasha T

This week also saw the first game of the year for our Year 7A netball team vs Bedford Girls’ School. Unfortunately a win wasn't meant to be but a fantastic effort from all with lots to take away! POM Erin C, CPM Nell McK

And finally on the netball court, there was another good win for the U19 Netball Performance Squad who beat Stowe 33-28 in the second round of the SIS National Cup! CPM - Ida S

Please see above for our upcoming fixtures. You can follow all the results and updates  @SandringhamPE

Our 1st XV had a tough match vs St Columba's College on Wednesday. They put in a valiant effort and were rewarded ofr their continued perseverance with 2 tries in the second half b but the end result was a 10 - 35 loss.

On Saturday, our football teams had a tough morning against some strong Berkhamsted teams. Across 6 games there were 51 goals and whilst our three Year 7 teams all fell to defeat at home, our Year 8’s managed one draw from their three games away. It was a great chance for lots of debuts and lots learnt from the fixtures.

The Year 7 team managed to rally however, and produce a great 2-0 win against Nicholas Breakspear on Monday evening with the goals from Harry R. They now go on to round 3 of the county cup. And on Thursday, they secured a 3-2 win over Robert Barclay. A busy week for the boys and some impressive talent and stamina shown.

Our U14 boys also played this week, doing well to draw 1-1 against Marlborough in added extra time but sadly lost out on penalties 4-5 in the end. 

And our U13 boys had a great win against John Warner School 3-0
 

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

Sandringham School Presents A Christmas Carol

A Ridiculous but surprisingly faithful rendition of the Dickens classic in which Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by the ghosts of his late partner, Jacob Marley, Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come.  Faced with his own mortality, and the evil results of his misanthropic, miserly ways, Scrooge is redeemed, reconciled with his nephew and his neighbours, and becomes a second father to his assistant's son, Tiny Tim.  Ludlam finds the humour as well as the pathos in this Victorian melodrama, creating the most Dickensian and stage worthy adaptation yet.

Tickets £12/£10

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

THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family, features an original story and it’s every father’s nightmare: Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family– a man her parents have never met.  And if that wasn’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother.  Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before – keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia.  Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.

Tickets £20-£24

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

Sandringham School's Music Faculty presents their first concert of the year.

The Autumn Concert will be an evening filled with musical delights and will feature highlights from show choir, junior choir, jazz band and their regular instrumental clubs.

Tickets £5/£4

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

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