This week’s whole school theme recognises Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). HMD is the international day on 27th January to remember the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution of other groups and during more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. The students received an excellent assembly from Director of Learning for History, Ms Constable, about how the 27th January marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. We hope all of the students appreciate the importance of recognising this day to remember the people affected and ensure that a genocide like the holocaust never happens again.

If you are thinking about becoming a teacher- please see the picture above for details of a coffee morning where you can learn more. 

University of Hertfordshire

On Thursday 19th January Year 10 visited the University of Hertfordshire.  The University have let us know that the students were a pleasure to host and we are currently reviewing the feedback from our students which we hope to share next week.  Some of the students have reached out to tell us that they are keen to go to university following the trip.

Computacenter Apprenticeships

Computacenter have been in touch as they enjoyed presenting to Year 11 last week.  They have asked us to share the information in the picture above for any students interested in doing an apprenticeship:-

Marlborough Science Academy Careers Event:

Note the deadline to sign up for this is today (27th January)! Sign up here> Marlborough Careers Sign Up

Students are invited to Marlborough Science Academy’s Apprenticeship, Careers and Higher Education Fair that is taking place on Wednesday 8th February 2023 from 4.30pm – 7.30pm.

The event has been designed for students to be able to gain information on the types of apprenticeships, careers opportunities and higher education that are currently on offer from employers/colleges and to understand how these work in conjunction with the training providers. The evening is open to students in Years 8 - 13.

Our annual Battle of the Bands was on Monday this week and it was a brilliant event. There were students from all year groups performing and helping with the technical running of the evening. We were treated to brilliant guitar solos, performers switching between instruments mid- performance and some very impressive stage presence. As mentioned the in Headlines, well done to all performers and in particular, 'Red Roses, Blue Violets', 'Spicy Mangos', 'Izzy and Azima Music' and 'Funky Monks' who all won their age categories. 

Every term, Directors of Learning nominate a student from each year, in each subject, for the Roll of Honour. These students are recognised as having gone above and beyond in their particular and a Star Student (who has excelled in each subject) is also nominated. Students receive a badge on ePraise, a physical certificate and displays for each subject are updated around the school each term with the winners. Some of the certificates have been handed out in the whole year assemblies this week and others will be given to students next week. We wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners for their hard work. The Spring Term Roll of Honour students will be chosen at the start of the Summer Term, so we hope students are inspired to try and receive an award then! 

If you would like to nominate someone for the Student Spotlight, please email  Melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photographs. We would love to hear of any achievements for students outside of school.

In the LRC this week, we have been encouraging students not to judge a book by its cover and to go on a blind date with a book. Students are welcome to come along to the LRC and choose their wrapped book based on only five words. We hope students will find a book they'll fall in love with! 

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?

We are delighted that this year we will once again be holding our Presentation evening on Thursday 2nd March at 7pm in the school hall. This is a chance to celebrate the success of our students in Years 11-13 who have completed their whole Award. Invitations will be sent out before half-term. At the moment we have almost 150 Awards to celebrate. However it is not too late- the final deadline for submitting Awards in DofE in time to be processed and approved for the presentation evening is Friday 10th February. Students were emailed in the Autumn term with guidance on how to complete their Awards. I will be following that up with emails over the next few days to students who still need to submit assessor reports. 

Big news, we now have a new house at the top of the board! Newton have knocked Fawcett off the top spot and are in the lead now by 18 points. Special mention this week goes to Allana E in 7E for receiving 10 house points this week and Shakespeare for winning this week’s house points overall (324.)  Well done to everyone that entered the house photography competition. There were some fantastic entries and staff have been voting for their favourites. Results will be posted soon!

UPCOMING EVENTS 

• Girls house football – (Year 9 & 10) TBC
• House maths – TBC
• Staff badminton - TBC

Year 10 astronomers have been getting plenty of hands-on experience as part of their GCSE course. We recently had clear skies and a full moon soon after the end of the school day and, as the picture shows, Ryan K, Troy J and others used the school telescopes to observe the Moon’s craters and the planets Jupiter and Mars.

Parents might be interested to know that three planets at the moment - Mars, Jupiter and Venus - can be seen, in the early evening, along the ecliptic (the plane of the Sun’s orbit). 

The GCSE astronomers are doing two other practical activities at the moment - an observation project where they make their own sundial, and an upcoming visit to the observatory at University of Hertfordshire. If you are in Year 9 and thinking of taking Astronomy as one of your additional GCSE subjects- please speak to Mr Tattersall for more information about this exciting subject.

This week we started the first of the Open Morning Tours. It was great to see so many students interesting in joining our fantastic Sixth Form. Our next Open Morning is Tuesday 31st January, please register using this Google form. A reminder that the deadline to apply is Friday 3rd February and you can find out more information here.

Percy Jackson was just a normal boy until he accidentally vaporised his maths teacher. Now he spends his time at Camp Half Blood battling monsters and trying to stay alive. And now Zues thinks Percy has stolen his lightning bolt, staying alive is going to be even harder. 

Ana M in 7T who has recently read the book says 'I love how the book has both comedy and adventure. Even when the characters are in perilous situations, there is still plenty of humour. I've read the whole series!' 

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: Ruse

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Tücke

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: Astucia

Thinking Questions

• There are roughly 6,500 languages spoken in the world – why do we have so many? How have they developed over time?

G is for… guile [noun]

Definition: Sly or cunning intelligence.

Example: He used all his guile to free himself from the situation he was in.

Synonyms: trickery, deceit, duplicity

Antonyms: honesty, openness, truth

Etymology: From the Old French ‘guiler’ meaning deception.

Our senior boys won in a tightly contested match this afternoon against @doverbroecks school, winning in a doubles shoot out. Well done to all the boys who participated.

Congratulations to the U15 girl’s basketball team who played in an entertaining match against Queens’ school. Both teams had opportunities to score but Sandringham proved too strong for the opposition, winning by 30 points. The effort and communication were excellent and the whole team played well in both attack and defence with contributions made by every member of the team. Well done to all who played and thank you to the students who ran the table.

Our Year 7 boys also played on Thursday in what turned out to be a fairly scrappy game of basketball ending in a 23-19 win for Sandringham against Verulam in the district league. 2 wins from 2 for the team. MVP Russ

Last week, two mixed / predominantly boys hockey teams played against two skilful SJL teams. The boys have been training hard with their coach (Sixth Former Alice T-P), who is an experienced club / county player herself. Both teams played some excellent hockey, passing the ball around, going forward as a team with some well worked attacking play as well as some excellent defence. The stronger, more experienced, Sandringham team (pictured above) won very convincingly in their match with goals scored and set up by every member of the squad, while the less experienced Year 7/8 team (below) won 2-1 with some resolute defence and perseverance in front of goal. Well done to all students involved.

Please see above for our upcoming fixtures. 

Our U12 Girls' football team had a good first performance beating STAGS 3-0 this week. OPM - Nell M & CPM - Megan C

Well done as well to the Year 10 boys as well who had a superb win on a cold, frosty morning against Dame Alice Owen. 

The U13 girls football team also had another win in the County Cup ¼ finals 8-0 Vs Samuel Ryder Academy. The girls have had some great performances so far this year and should be very proud of themselves. The goals were scored by Nell M and Georgia T PP goes to Nell M

Another win for the Y11 boys football team sees them progress to the County Cup semi final with a win after penalties over Monks Walk. The score was 1-1 (AET) and then 4-2 (PEN) A lot of possession saw us through in what was a frustrating game in front of goal.

A huge well done to the U14 Performance Squad who won their match against STAHS today 19-13, fantastic effort from every player on the squad OP - Lauren W, CP - Holly W, PP - Katie J. They also put in another fantastic performance vs Haileybury on Thursday, scoring in the last minute to make it a 32-31 win, they are through to the quarter finals of the SnS Plate competition PP - Cerys M, CP - Katie J, OP - Mia O

The U19 Netball Performance Squad also had patches of brilliance but we couldn't sustain them and ended up losing 35-24 to a strong Berkhamsted side on Thursday. CPM - Bryony C & OPM - Ida S

This extraordinary I Spy game is nothing like the one you might remember from long car drives with your dad though.  Instead, it's a magical adventure full of fun, giggles and all your favourite sing along song including Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, Sing a Rainbow, The Ants Go Marching and BINGO.

I Spy with My Little Eye is based on the popular children's book by author Steven Lee and was created alongside education and child development experts to be great for kids’ minds. So, it's not just wonderful entertainment for your little ones but good for them too!

After sell-out shows from as far afield as Dubai, Dublin and Derby the cast of the wonderful People's Theatre Company are bringing I Spy with My Little Eye to The SandPit Theatre!

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!