The Young Artist’s Summer Show will take place in the summer at the Royal Academy in London. It will feature artwork from students aged 4-19. The Visual Arts Faculty would like to encourage all students to enter a piece of Art to this exhibition. There are prizes to be won and the amazing opportunity to have your artwork on show in the famous Royal Academy in London.

The entry needs to be an original piece of art and not a copy. There is no theme and students can draw, paint, print, make a model, take a photograph, make a short film or create a piece of performance art. The students can hand their work into the Art Faculty by Monday 20th March. They must also hand in a piece of paper with the title, their name, age, email address and a few sentences about the work.

Please look at the Royal Academy website for more information and examples of last year's entries. You can speak to Ms Giddens for more information and the Art Faculty look forward to receiving the student’s entries. 

We have the following vacancies available at Sandringham School if you would like to join our fantastic team.

Teacher of Computer Science

Estates Manager

Theatre Technician

Cleaner

Teaching Assistant

Fawcett start 2023 at the top of the board with Newton and Shakespeare hot on their heels. Special mentions this week go to Connor L-O (7F) with the most individual house points (13) , 8S with the highest average points (76.9), Hepworth for winning this week’s house points (329) and 13E for the highest overall ‘house quiz’ score so far. (95/120)

ONGOING EVENTS

• House Dance rehearsals – Performances are on Wednesday 18th January
• House Photography – deadline for submissions is Friday 27th January

UPCOMING EVENTS 

• Girl's House Football – (Year 9 & 10) – Wednesday 1st February (3.15pm start so get changed at lunch)
• House Maths – Wednesday 1st February 

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?

This week’s whole school theme is New Year. The new year presents an opportunity for staff and students to start fresh and plan what aims, ambitions and resolutions they have for the year. The ancient Babylonians are said to have been the first people to make New Year’s resolutions, some 4,000 years ago. They were also the first to hold recorded celebrations in honour of the new year—though for them the year began not in January but in mid-March, when the crops were planted. The students received an excellent assembly from headteacher, Mr Gray, about the small changes they can make in their day-to-day lives that will have a big impact on them, the school community and the planet. We hope that the students are looking forward to a new year at Sandringham and wish you all a happy new year!

We received the below email from alumni, Louie R, who is now living and working in Munich. We hope it will inspire those thinking of studying German, or students who are interested in hearing where learning German can take you in your career path. It is great to hear from ex-students and how they are getting so thanks to Louie for taking the time to write to us. If you would like to send us any other alumni updates, you can do so to Admin@sandringham.herts.sch.uk

Earlier this year, I moved to Munich to work full-time as a Consultant at Deloitte. With little more than my old German notes, I flew to the Bavarian capital with a hotel booked for one week and my fingers crossed that I could find somewhere to rent afterwards. After moving in to my bare room, I took to eBay Kleinanzeigen, a second hand marketplace in Germany, to source all my furniture. Luckily, I had remembered some basic vocabulary like Kleiderschrank, Spiegel and Tisch which made this process a little less daunting. You can also rent nice electric cars in Much for incredibly cheap rates, so the furniture was as good an excuse as any to drive on the Autobahn to collect everything from the various corners of the city. It was during these first couple of weeks that I realised English isn't as commonly spoken in Germany as I had thought, especially outside of professional environments. But throwing myself in the deep end and forcing myself to practice with what I already knew was so helpful for my learning and confidence.

Around this time, I began working at Deloitte in their Financial Advisory division. Luckily for me, the business language of the office and of our clients is predominantly English, but I quickly learnt that - given most of my colleagues' German nationality - it is very beneficial to understand and speak German day-to-day. At times it is difficult walking into a room of fluent and very fast German speakers, but week by week I noticed that I understood more, supported by 1:1 lessons after work. Everyone enjoys practising their English with me, but to my surprise they seem to take greater joy from teaching me their mother tongue. I am constantly asking whoever is unfortunate enough to sit next to me what the best way to say a particular phrase is and I'm trying to become as close to fluent as possible in 2023.

Though my German has improved much faster than at school, my development since moving here has almost entirely been attributable to my GCSE classes at Sandringham School. Since I already understood the basics of German grammar and sentence structures, I could skip ahead to learning new vocabulary, which made life significantly easier than it would have otherwise been...as German is a pretty complex language. I can also denote some serious credit to learning German at Sandringham for my job offer, because though I didn't know much in hindsight, my studies gave me the confidence to apply for the role and move abroad. 

House Dance Choreography takes place on Wednesday 18th January, 3.30pm in the Sandpit. This is a free event so please come and support our competitors. Winners will be performing in a dance showcase this year.

As mentioned in the Headlines as well, our amazing Dance Show, Velocity, will take place this term. It is set to be bigger than ever with students across all years showing off their dancing skills. Tickets usually sell out quickly so please click here to come along and support all of the students involved!

From Geraldine Bruce, Head of Health Protection, Hertfordshire Public Health

As children return to schools and childcare settings, we expect to see many more cases of flu, COVID-19 and other infections that affect children’s breathing (known as ‘respiratory infections’). There also continue to be high numbers of scarlet fever cases, which can spread quickly, but can be easily treated with antibiotics. To help us through this term, the leaflet attached has five simple steps we can take to protect children, minimise the spread of illness in schools and childcare settings and protect others. These are summarised below and you can find out more here. 

• Stay home if unwell
• Keep hands clean
• Catch coughs and sneezes
• Get vaccinated if you’re eligible
• Be scarlet fever aware 

This week, we are delighted to feature a wonderful short suspense story by Alexa H, 8N. What a gripping read, well done Alexa!

The Gift

A sun beam dancing with dust motes shone through the skylight in the old attic room, and fell softly onto something in the corner. Half-concealed by a dust sheet, the old dollhouse sat patiently alone, seemingly frozen in time. Its pristine but old-fashioned looking rooms were occupied by still, lifeless inhabitants, solemn expressions plastered onto their petite wooden faces. Although the dolls couldn’t move, they were restless - it had been so many years since they’d had someone new to play with…

Ottolie watched the moving van drive off down the road. Just her in this ancient, rickety house now. Feeling strangely desolate, she picked up a huge cardboard box of DVDs and began lugging it up the stairs to the attic. A naked bulb began to flicker into life as she flipped the light switch - dark, bruised storm clouds were starting to gather overhead. Heavy rain pattered onto the skylight as Ottolie reached the top of the staircase. She heaved the box haphazardly into a corner, next to a large object half hidden by a dust sheet. Curious, she whipped it off. A dollhouse. It was crumbling slightly round the edges but it was beautiful - intricately detailed and oddly realistic. She opened it up, a spark of childish excitement fizzing in her chest, to find that the interior was just as stunning. The dolls, though, extinguished the spark completely. They were incredibly uncanny, with expressions and beady black eyes that seemed to pierce her soul. None of them were in natural positions as they would’ve been after being played with - they all stood, staring, facing her.

She began rearranging them to look less sinister, when her head started to pound. She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, listening to the ambience of the now torrential rain and trying to wish the pain away. As the pounding in her skull began to subside, Ottolie slowly opened her eyes - and was met with a shock. Everything was suddenly enormous - the lightbulb, the box, the skylight. She turned her head to look around before realising she couldn’t move at all. Every limb stiff, rigid and frozen. She tried to scream, but couldn’t even open her mouth. It was only a black line of paint now, after all, on her petite wooden face.

We were delighted to welcome students to our Sixth Form Open Evening on Tuesday. If you were unable to attend or would like to read more, you can do so here . Deadline for applications is Friday 3rd February 2023.

The Gambia Fundraising Quiz and Auction will take place on Friday 27th January, 7pm at the Sandringham School Hall. 50% goes to the school, 50% goes in the prize pot – please bring cash on the night. Teams of 6 or less Email fryerh@mysandstorm.org to book your spaces.

Battle of the Bands - 23rd January 7pm

Tickets for our annual Battle of the Bands event are now on sale from the Sandpit Theatre Box Office. For bands looking to take part, the deadline to sign up is Monday 16th Jan.

Student success.

Congratulations to the following students for their excellent exam results.

Jacob K - Grade 3 guitar

Thomas W - Grade 2 guitar with Merit

Ani K - Grade 4 trumpet

Rhys P - Grade 3 trumpet with Distinction

Archie S - Grade 1 trumpet with Merit

Nia V - Grade 7 cello

Ethan W - Grade 2 cello with Merit

If you have a musical achievement please let one of the Music faculty staff know so we can celebrate it in the Sandprint!

FREE OPPORTUNITY - ORA SINGERS YOUNG COMPOSERS' SCHEME

The award-winning vocal group, ORA Singers, has launched its fourth national Young Composers' programme – a free scheme aimed at developing the skills of young composers from UK state-schools. The programme sees 10 Young Composers each receive 10 hours of one-to-one mentoring with professional composers, who will help them write a new choral piece which will be performed and recorded in concert by ORA Singers. During the scheme, Young Composers have their ideas and sketches workshopped by ORA Singers, who offer specialised tips and advice along with a guest composer. 

The 2023 Young Composers scheme will also see up to 40 Apprentices fast-track their skills in composition through a series of online, in-depth workshops, and will gain invaluable insight into the world of professional composition by hearing from industry experts.

Applications are now open here. Deadline to appl yis  Monday 6th February 2023

Please see the picture above which may be of interest to any families of students with SEND. 

This week we are delighted to feature not one but 12 students who have been working hard practising for the annual St Albans & District Scouts and Guides Gang Show 2023 which is taking place at the Alban Arena from 8th-11th February.  Sandringham students Bryony R, Luke C, Harry M, Evie W, Daniel C, Erin R, Oliver S, Georgia M, Phoebe H, Robyn P-H, Arabella R and Kia McC make up a large percentage of the 85 strong cast and have been rehearsing since October. Their first rehearsal at the Alban Arena is this Sunday and the students are all very excited. This is always a fantastic show so if you would like to find out more or buy tickets you can do so here.

If you would like to nominate a students/students to feature in the Student Spotlight next week, please email Admin@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with a brief summary and/or any images to include. 

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: Fou/folle de joie

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: froh

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: exultante

Thinking Questions

• The French word this week literally means ‘crazy/mad with joy’. Sometimes other languages don’t have exact translations of words - why might this be the case?

Maeve Chambers doesn't have much going for her. Not only does she feel out of place in a family of geniuses, she managed to drive away her best friend Lily a year ago. But when she finds a pack of dusty old tarot cards at school, and begins to give scarily accurate readings to the girls in her class, she realizes she's found her gift at last. Things are looking up - until she discovers a strange card in the deck that definitely shouldn't be there. And two days after she convinces her ex-best friend to have a reading, Lily disappears. Lily H, 7A, who has recently read the book says: 'I really enjoyed reading this book - especially as there is a character called Lily! There were lots of unexpected plot twists and I couldn't put it down.' 

E is for… elated  [adjective]

Definition: Ecstatically happy.

Example: After the long awaited concert, I felt elated.

Synonyms: delighted, euphoric, overjoyed

Antonyms: depressed, disappointed, miserable

Etymology: From the Latin ‘efferre’ meaning raised.

Our U13 girls had their first basketball match this week vs Dame Alice Owen with a final score of 24-10. Lots learnt and a big range of experience from Y7 to 8- great to see some of the girls play in a basketball fixture for the first time ever. CPM - Tilly F

Our U15 boys basketball team had a good win against Ridgeway in the County league on Wednesday finishing 79 - 19.

The U15 Netball team's run in the county cup cam to an end this week unfortunately, losing 39-46 in a fantastic match against STAHS. Still lots to fight for before the end of the season! OPM - Maddy W & CPM - Hannah G.

Fantastic play from the U13 girls basketball team today, winning their friendly fixture against Townsend Well done to all involved POM - Nell M, CPM - Beatriz S

An EXCELLENT win for the U19 Netball team in the County Cup Quarter final 24-20 over Broxbourne! PP - Molly C & CP - Sib M.

Please see above the upcoming fixtures this week. Good luck to all of the teams. You can follow their results here @SandringhamPE

Our U16 boys put in a solid performance in some testing conditions against a very strong Aldenham team this week winning 1-0 with a goal from Noah B on his return to the team. They now go into the County Cup 1/4 finals.

Our Year 9 boys came up against a very strong BSHS in the quarter finals of the county cup this week, losing 4-1 and bringing their cup run to an end. A very pleasing performance from all involved however.

And our Year 7 boys National Cup journey came to an end with a 3-0 loss in freezing conditions to a strong Linslade team. They take now take on Parmiters in the County Cup this evening. 

Our amazing Dance Show, Velocity, will take place this term.  It is set to be bigger than ever with students across all years showing off their dancing skills. Tickets usually sell out quickly so please click here to come along and support all of the students involved!