Thank you to everyone for donating to Comic Relief via ParentPay. We have already raised over £1300 which will go towards supporting amazing projects and organisations who are committed to helping people to break free from the effects of poverty, violence and discrimination across the UK and around the world. There is still time to donate here if you so wish. 

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?

As we mentioned last term, the Year 12 students at Sandringham School have been involved in community programme, helping those in our local area. More than 40 Year 12 students have volunteered at Skyswood, Wheatfields Infants’ and Nursery School and Wheatfields Junior School with the students collectively giving over 1200 hours over the year by each spending one hour per school week as a helper. .Tasks range from supporting children prepare for their first nativity performance to regularly hearing readers. Pictured here are some of our fabulous students doing their volunteering at Wheatfields today. Sandringham actively encourages students to volunteer and other students can be found helping out at charity shops, theatres, Arabic schools, sports instructor assistants and libraries. Alongside being a rewarding experience, it helps them gain more confidence and learn new skills.

Last week, we celebrated technician recognition day #TECHOGNITION highlighting the great work all of our technicians perform. Pictured here are two of our amazing Science Technicians, Jane and Valarie, our wonderful D&T technician,Justine (demonstrating the bobbin sander) and our fantastic food technician, Carly. Without all of their, and the other technicians', hard work- students wouldn't be able to carry out the practical work needed in lessons- so we do appreciate all they do.

STEM Week at Sandringham was a week-long festival of activities for students to enjoy. Sixth formers took part in a Symposium where they gave talks on Artificial Intelligence (Thanks to Mr Powell for organising it), KS3 students took part in a House quiz after school (Thanks to Ms Malone and Mr Longshaw), guest speaker Chris Joly came to give a fascinating talk about Climate Change, and of course we put on the highly successful Chemistry Show in the Sandpit Theatre which sold out. Thank you to everyone who was involved in making such a successful week.

Dr Archer-Jones and Ms Malone went to St Peter’s Junior school to talk to KS1 and KS2 children about being a scientist during British Science week.  In one experiment, the children were truly shocked that they could walk across 2 dozen eggs without them breaking.  And were very impressed with Ms Malone’s chemistry spectacular showing and explaining the Elephants toothpaste reaction.

Ms O’Neil demonstrated some spectacular chemistry prowess at Wheatfields Junior school with her lovely assistant Zainab S in Year 8.  The students were wowed by the fantastic chemistry experiments that they showed and she explained the chemical reactions behind each one.

Students had a fantastic time on the German Exchange improving their language skills and experiencing German culture. The below report from Selina J, Max M, Luke C and Eliana S gives a bit more insight about the week:

"An international exchange is one of the most unforgettable opportunities you could participate in through the school. Thankfully, Sandringham has been able to build an unbreakable bond with the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium which has enabled so many of us to be a part of this incredible experience. Throughout the course of this week, we have visited the city of Hamburg numerous times with lots of freetime with our exchanges that allowed us to experience the city properly. We also managed to experience what it would be like to be a student in Quickborn. This gave us a really interesting insight on another way of living. On Tuesday, we visited the beautiful city, Lübeck. The experiences and knowledge we gained over the week have been invaluable and the international connections we have made are not ones we will forget and I'm sure most of the people who took part will go and visit their new friends here again. Thank you so much Frau Kincaid, Frau Webb and Herr Brown and to all the other people who helped make this opportunity possible through years of trust and effort. Vielen dank für alles." 

We have some fantastic teaching and support staff vacancies to come and work at Sandringham School. Please see here for more details. 

On Tuesday 14th March, Year 13 A Level Literature students were joined virtually by Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford, to discuss Hamlet. Smith, author of This is Shakespeare, is one of the greatest Shakespeareans of our time, and both students and staff were eager to hear her thoughts on the play. Following a thoughtful discussion of the ghost, students presented questions to Professor Smith and were able to learn a lot from her answers. We felt privileged that someone so important in the world of academia was willing to give their time to us, and it provided students with a taste of the university experience that awaits them. 

A huge congratulations to Olly P in Year 12, who travelled to Ashington last weekend to compete in the U18 British BenchPress Championships, and won! He has now been invited to represent Great Britain in both the European and World Championships later this year. This is a fantastic achievement which takes a lot of preparation and hard work so well done Olly- we are really proud of you.

If you would like to nominate someone for the student spotlight next week, please email melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photographs. 

This week’s whole school theme recognises the UN day, International Day of Happiness.The General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 66/281 of 12 July 2012 proclaimed 20 March the International Day of Happiness, recognizing the relevance of happiness and well-being as universal goals and aspirations in the lives of human beings around the world and the importance of their recognition in public policy objectives. It also recognized the need for a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and the well-being of all peoples. The students received an excellent assembly from Dr Caroline Creaby about how we can recognise what makes us happy and support our community around us to be happier. Take time this weekend to do something that makes you happy!

Last week saw the launch on the 2024 Ski trip to France.  Please see a brief outline of proposed trips for 2024 which may influence your decision to sign up for the ski trip. 

• Business and Economics trip to Brussels (Year 13) February half term 2024 (approx. £500)
• Sports Tour to Europe Easter 2024 (This is likely to be a football and basketball tour (both genders) and we will take around 90 students from Years 8, 9 and 10- more information to follow in the next week)
• Geography students to Iceland Easter 2024 (approx. £1000)

• Year 8 Trip to France June 2024 (approx. £500)

• Year 8 Trip to Germany June 2024 (approx. £500)
• Year 9 Trip to Isle of Wight June 2024 (approx. £650)

June Trips will be launched in the Autumn term 2023

We are working hard to secure the best deals possible but please note that these are subject to change if we are not able to secure places with tour operators. 

A reminder that the deadline for signing up to our Easter revisions sessions is 9am on Monday 27th March. You can indicate which sessions you would like to attend here and make payment via ParentPay (if you are FSM then please contact the admin email address and we can arrange payment.) 

Thank you also to those who attended the Year 11 information evening on Tuesday. You can find the full presentation here and below are some important dates for your diary:

• Easter, May Half Term and weekend Supercrams running- deadline to sign up today, Friday 17th March. 
• Friday 12th May - Last day and celebration assembly
• Monday 15th May - First public GCSE exam
• Wednesday 21st June - Final GCSE exam
• Wednesday 28th June - Contingency day
• Wednesday 28th & Thursday 29th June - Sixth Form Induction, book return and prom ticket collection
• Friday 30th June - Year 11 Prom - Drinks reception for parents/carers from 6:45pm
• Thursday 6th July to Saturday 8th July -Silver D of E Expedition
• Thursday 24th August - GCSE Results Day

This week's Sandcast episode saw hosts Ryan and Mr Cracknell, speak to one of our Deputy headteachers, Dr Creaby, on International Women's Day to hear about school leadership and her aspiration to be the next Simone Biles. You can subscribe where you usually find your podcasts and if you have an interesting topic or experience that you would like to share- you can speak to Mr Cracknell or Ryan about appearing on the podcast. 

Next week, we have our Spring Concert at 7pm on Thursday 23rd March. This features all our ensembles and is always a great evening. Tickets are available from the Sandpit Theatre Box Office

Well done to Newton who remain in front with 12,654points. Fawcett and Austen are not far behind however with 12,352 and 12,064 points respectively. Special mention to Valen C who gained the most individual house points this week (10) and to Johnson for winning this week’s house points (477)

Upcoming events:

• Staff badminton - 20th March
• House basketball week (W/C 27th March)

We were delighted to host Jon Stacey from Computacenter this week.  He came in to talk to Year 8 in assembly about his role and how he got there.  Jon is a certified, multilingual IT service management professional with 20 years’ experience in the field.  He spoke about the different pathways into Customer Experience Management and the importance of finding a role that interests you. We hope that Year 8 found the assembly useful and would like to thank Jon taking the time to speak to our students.

Year 8 will be treated to more careers assemblies in the summer term as part of our careers provision at Sandringham.

We also have this fabulous write up of the trip from Emma W and Emma S, partners to Megan O’L and Eliana S who were on the German Exchange. Perhaps a challenge for those studying German to try and translate!

‘Die Zeit in der kleinen Stadt Quickborn, war sehr schön mit den Englischen Austauschschülerin. Wir haben sehr viel gemeinsam erlebt. Wir waren in Hamburg und sind dort mit der Fähre, auf der Elbe gefahren. Das Wetter war leider oft nicht gut and es war sehr kalt. Das Wochenende haben wir in den neuen Familien verbracht. Wir könnten uns auch kennenlernen und der Wochenendplanung waren keine Grenzen zu setzen. Am Montag, haben wir einen gemeinsamen Schultag erlebt. Die Englischen Gäste haben schnell gemerkt, wie anders das DGB ist. Den nächsten Tag haben wir in Lübeck verbracht, welche eine wunderschöne alte Stadt ist. Ein Besuch für unsere Austauschpartner im Hamburger Dungeon, durfte nicht fehlen. Die Currywurst am Ende, hat allen sehr gut geschmeckt. Den letzen Tag haben wir zusammen in der Schule verbracht, bis es Zeit war, Tschüss zu sagen Die Zeit verging wie im Fluge und wir hoffen auf ein Wiedersehen.’

On Tuesday 21st March 2023 at 1.20pm in The Sandpit Theatre, Holocaust survivor Ivan Shaw, will be giving a talk about his experiences. Students in Years 10-13 are able to sign up for what is set to be a fascinating talk here. We look forward to welcoming him and our students then.

Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She is a Telepath, and has the power to hear the thoughts of everyone around her – something that she's never spoken about, even to her own family. But everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who also reads minds. She discovers there's somewhere she does belong, and staying where she is will put her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a magical world. Carmel F in 7N who has recently read the book says 'This is a really good adventurous series. I love how the characters travel between worlds, and I really like how the author manages to fit so much into one book, but the books never feel too long.'

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: Embrouiller, Obscurcir

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Durcheinanderbringen

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: Ofuscar

Thinking Question

• Sometimes we don’t understand every single word in a foreign text – what can we do in this situation?

O is for… obfuscate  [verb]

Definition: To make obscure, unclear, or unintelligible.

Example: The spelling changes will deform some familiar words and obfuscate their origins.

Synonyms: baffle, conceal, confound

Antonyms: clarify, enlighten, explain

Etymology: From the late Latin verb ‘fuscare’ meaning to darken.

A strong performance from our Year 7 basketball team ended in a 52-22 win over St George’s this week. Points for all members of the team in the district league. MVP Toby B.

Our Year 10 boys also had a good win in the County Cup Semifinal over Beaumont thanks to some outstanding shooting from the team. A place in next weeks County final is a reward for some great work so far this season.

On Monday, the Year 7/8 hockey team played against Dame Alice Owens. The team played some excellent hockey, passing the ball in to space with super teamwork and effort. It was and brilliant game with some lovely hockey played by both teams and chances created at both ends. Dame Alice converted 3 of their chances to win 3-1 but overall, it was an enjoyable game with Micayla making a successful debut in goal, and all students performing well.

Congratulations to the U16 Netball Performance Squad for their 38-26 win over Brighton College in the SIS National Plate Semi-final! OPM - Liv C & CPM - Martha D. They fight for the national title next week!

Well done to the Year 9 A Netball team for coming 3rd in the District Netball Tournament. They had a tight last match vs STAHS in the final game. POT - Mia O. The U14B Netball team also put in some good performances at the District Tournament. They finished 8th but enjoyed the experience! POT - Beth Y.

Congratulations to the U16 Netball Performance Squad for their 38-26 win over Brighton College in the SIS National Plate Semi-final! OPM - Liv C & CPM - Martha D. They fight for the national title next week!

And finally, a huge well done to the U14PS for getting to the semi-final of the SnS Plate competition. So much progress made since September but just couldn’t keep up with a strong Epsom College side. OP - Katie J & Sophie B, PP&CP - Bea T

Well done to the Year 10 football squad who put in an impressive performance to win 4-0 win against Roundwood Park on Saturday. 

Our Year 11 boys also managed a win in the District Cup quarter final over Samuel Ryder, despite a week of mock exams, and now have a place in next weeks semi final.

The U18 Girls Football team's also did well in the District semi-final against RPS. A 4-0 win sees us into the final in 2 weeks! CPM - Yas H

The U13G football team unfortunately lost 2-1 to Birchwood High school in the semi final of the county cup. The girls played tremendously and it was a very tight game. The team has had a great season and should be very proud of there performance. The goal was scored from a phenomenal free kick by Lola S. OPM: Lola S PP: Erin C CP: Isla D

Our Year 7 Football team also won a well fought quarter final vs Sam Ryder 1-0 last Friday, but unfortunately lost 2-1 in the semi finals to Beaumont last night. Well done to the team for getting that far. Goal from Harry R.

And finally, our 1st X1 had a tight game in the district semi final which ended in a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Sir John Lawes. Good luck to them in the final

Our U13 girls took part in U13 indoor cricket on Friday ending the day with 1 win and 2 losses. A great experience for all, with some representing the school for the first time.

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!