Well done to everyone who entered previously 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?

Thank you to parents and students for joining us last night for the Year 10 KS4 Information Evening. The full presentation- including key dates, details of pastoral support, exam information, curriculum overviews, careers contacts, and other general information about the year ahead can now be found on our website here.

On Tuesday the whole of Year 8 were treated to a fantastic assembly by Louise Hardy, Non-Executive Director, Belfour Beatty about the various pathways into the engineering sector.  Louise spoke about her 30 years of experience in engineering, how much she enjoys her role and the challenges she has faced. The students were particularly interested in the six years Louise spent on project managing the infrastructure for the 2012 Olympic Games and the different groups engineers need to work with to make a project successful.  Huge thanks to Louise for your time this week.

We are often looking for parents and carers to speak to the students about their careers and our aim is to showcase as wide a variety of fields as we can.  Thank you to the parents who have already filled in our survey.  If there is anything you can help with, for example, mock interviews, work experience or a talk, please fill in this survey:

Parent/Carers Careers Survey

Thank you for all of the support for Sandringham Careers.

Our Student Wellbeing team recently met with First Steps who work closely with CAMHS, ED and NHS links to support young people who are struggling with eating difficulties, disorders, low self-esteem and poor body image. They have recently received funding for the Hertfordshire area and can offer free support to any students who may have struggles around their eating or low self-esteem. Young people can either self-refer or can be referred by someone else through their website www.firststepsed.co.uk. If you would like to find out more, please visit the website or speak to Mrs Coyne in the SLA.

This week we feature Daisy W in the Sixth Form who recently completed a 65 mile Round the Island bike ride with her dad to raise money for The Gambia trip (in Feb 2023) 

She writes "after the first beast of a hill about 5 or so minutes in, I wanted to give up but through all my dad’s encouragement and the challenge itself, I got back on my bike and 7 hours later I was feeling proud of myself having achieved it. And of course if I hadn’t been so resilient, I would never have got to feed the alpacas!" Amazing work Daisy!

If you would like to read more or support Daisy, you can do so here And if you would like to nominate someone for the student spotlight, please contact melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photos. 

Further Education (college) options

We would like Year 11 to be aware of the options in colleges nearby as these can offer many other options. Both Oaklands College and West Herts collegs have open days taking place this weekend and next weekend at specific campuses. Please see their websites for the full details.

Oaklands: https://www.oaklands.ac.uk/

West Herts: https://www.westherts.ac.uk/

There is also a really useful webinar organised by Herts Opportunity Portal, taking place next Thursday (10th November) at 4.30 - 5.30pm which we encourage students to attend if they are interested in this route. It is themed around attending FE College as a post-16 option. It will involve panellists from each of the 4 FE Colleges in the county (North Herts, Oaklands, West Herts and Hertford Regional). It is a ‘live’ event and students will be able to ask their own questions and interact with the panel. Registrations are open and can be accessed here.

On Monday, individual photographs were taken for students in Years 8-11. Your child will have received a form with instructions on how to register with VanCols to order the photograph if you so wish. These are now ready to order online using the QR code on your proof card or by going to www.getphotos.co.uk

If you have not received your QR card, or it has been lost you can contact the admin email address for your individual code. The online cut-off date for orders to be placed for free postage back to the school is 16th November 2022 

We are now starting to support Year 11 with their research into their pathway beyond Year 11. On Thursday this week, we held the BeauSandVer Information Evening. All three headteachers from our consortium schools presented an overview of Sixth Form provision so that students can start to understand the options available and the style of learning in the Sixth Form. If any students and parents/carers missed the presentation, it is still available to view on the main school website here. The next big event will be the in-person Sandringham Sixth Form Open Evening on January 10th where students can explore specific subjects and hear more detail about aspects of the Sixth Form.

Sustainability Club (which everyone is welcome to join on Friday lunchtimes in B4) have been busy using old bottle tops to make some beautiful poppies for Remembrance Day. Pictured here are Fin S and Jamie B in Year 12 making their lovely creations. We are donating to the British legion for each poppy made. More to follow on this next week! 

The whole school theme for this week recognises Anti-bullying Week. Anti-Bullying Week takes place each year from 14th to the 18th of November and aims to send a clear and positive message that bullying is neither acceptable nor inevitable in our schools and communities.The theme for the week this year is Reach Out. The students received an excellent assembly from Assistant Headteacher, Mr Kemp, that encouraged students to be confident reaching out for support if they are experiencing bullying. Bullying impacts thousands of students each year and we want to do all we can to eliminate it from the school community. Odd socks day is on the 14th of November and we encourage you to show your support by wearing odd socks!

Fawcett still lead the house points total this week, but the other houses are not far behind. Special mention this week goes to Daniel M in 9T with an impressive 11 house points and to 7S who continue to have the highest average house points overall (47.5) Turing led the overall points this week and 13E have the highest overall quiz score so far. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Boys House Rugby will take place on 14th November for Years 7/8 and 28th November for Years 9/10
• Sixth Form House Music will take place on 22nd November
• Girls' House Football will be on 30th November for Years 7/8 and 14th December for Year 9/10
• MFL House competition- TBC

We know it's early to mention Christmas, but we thought we’d remind you of a fantastic Christmas tree delivery & recycling service which helps to also raise money for the school. For every tree sold through Treeasy,  Sandringham School will receive between £3.50 and £6.50 (size of tree dependant) to be donated to Fo$S.

Christmas Treeasy specialise in top-grade, non-drop Nordmann Fir Christmas trees, which they deliver free of charge direct to your home on a selection of 14 dates.  For a small additional fee there is also the option of recycling, whereby they collect and recycle trees in the New Year. 

HOW TO ORDER

1. Go to the order a delivery page online at: www.christmastreeasy.co.uk 
2. Choose your size of tree
3. Add your school
4. Choose your preferred delivery date from the options
5. Add recycling, a stand, or logs to your order if you wish

For more information call 07710 407149 or email enquiries@christmastreeasy.co.uk. Please make sure you mention Sandringham School in all correspondence to ensure a donation.

A reminder that Friday 11th November is Quiz Night 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!

Last month, over 20 students from Years 12 and 13 sat the Senior Mathematical Challenge run by the UK Mathematics Trust.  The Senior Mathematical Challenge is a 90-minute, multiple-choice competition aimed at students across the UK and is open to all students in Years 13 and below.  This was a fantastic opportunity which offers students the chance to develop their mathematical problem-solving skills and we are delighted to say that overall, the school achieved 2 Golds, 11 silver and 5 bronze awards.  Special mention goes to Lizzy B (12EL) for best in Year 12 and Henry M (13E) for best in school.  Henry M (13E) and Sam P (13J) both achieved gold and qualify for the follow-on round.  Congratulations to all students who took part.

The immunisation team will be back in school on the 19th December to administer the nasal flu vaccination to students in Years 7-9. Consent information will be sent out in due course. Please note there are currently no plans to offer the vaccination to years 10-13, if this changes we will let you know.

We are pleased to share a fantastic article discussing the value of work experience placements within D&T in the new edition of Futureminds written by Abi F in Year 13. In it she talks about the valuable skills she learnt and reflects that "the whole experience was a fantastic opportunity that benefited me in so many ways. I am so grateful for it and have a huge sense of achievement as Ocado is now using the components I designed for them within their robot design. This is exactly what design and technology work experience should be about: having a student's work realised and taken seriously." You can read the full article here. We are really proud of her!

Last term, Hannah B (13T) and Carys M (13TR) both sat the Mathematical Olympiad for Girls. 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. Both girls peformed very well with Hannah B achieving a Distinction and Carys achieving a Merit. Well done to both students. 

Over half term, our Year 13 Business and Economics students went to Brussels and Bruges. During the trip, they went to a chocolate factory, the European house of history, had a tour round Brussels, and went to the Museum of the National Bank of Belgium, The Atomium and Brussels Design Museum

We are sure that they had a great time and found the trip useful for their studies. Thanks to Mr Brown and the Business Faculty for organising.

This week's book of the week will be His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman, the first book in the author's groundbreaking trilogy. 

Lyra Belacqua and her animal daemon live half-wild and care-free among the scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. The destiny that awaits Lyra will take her to the frozen lands of the Artic where witch-clans reign and ice bears fight. Theo B, 9A who is reading the trilogy says: 'This is a really exciting read with some interesting and challenging language. Lyra is a strong character that readers will be able to relate to. I think anyone who enjoys fantasy will enjoy this series.'

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: unilatéral 

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: unilateral

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: unilateral

Thinking Questions

• Here all three translations are similar to an extent. Can you think of some recently learnt vocabulary for your studies that is similar to the English? How do we end up with cognates in languages?

U is for… unilateral  [adjective]

Definition: (of an action or decision) performed by or affecting only one person, group, or country involved in a situation, without the agreement of another or the others.

Example: There has been unilateral nuclear disarmament.

Synonyms: onesided, independent

Antonyms: manysided, bilateral, multilateral

Etymology: From the Latin ‘ūnus’ meaning one and ‘laterālis’ meaning  sided.

Our U14A netball team had a great win last night against Roundwood Park with an impressive 21 - 4 victory. POM Cerys M, CPM Pearl M

Our U19 Netball Performance squad also got their first win of the half term 32-18 over Dame Alice Owen  in the county league yesterday. CPM - Ida S

Congratulations to Marelie R who made the singles finals and won the doubles at the @ItfJunior championships held in Johannesburg. What a fantastic achievement. Well done. 

The U14 basketball team got their season up and running this week with a good win against Verulam. Well done to all involved

Lots of exciting fixtures for our netball, rugby and football squads next week. You can follow the results on Twitter @SandringhamPE

Sandringham 1st XV dominated the first half in blustery conditions against SJL on Wednesday evening and despite a strong fight back in the second half from the opposition, they finished with a final score of 24-19 to Sandringham. Great play everyone.

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'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

andringham 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

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