The Careers Team is continuing to prepare for the Year 10 Work Experience Week in June.  Thank you again to the students, parents and carers who have put their placement details into Unifrog. 

Thank you also to the students who do not yet have a placement for putting their preferences into our Link2 system.  The deadline for this is 19th April and we need to ensure that every student has the opportunity to benefit from Work Experience, therefore please assist them with putting at least four choices in.  Thank you.

Healthcare Free Webinar: Sixth Form students that have a free session between 11am and 12pm on 20th April may be interested in attending a webinar on Healthcare careers. There will be a panel, including representatives currently doing apprenticeships in nursing, podiatry & physiotherapy.  This will be run by educationandemployers.org. Register here

Medicine and Dentistry Free Virtual Conference: Students in years 10-12 interested in studying Medicine or Dentistry may be interested in a free session on the UCAS application process, including personal statements and white space questions, UCAT, interview skills, and scholarships. This is run by Medicmentor and Dentalmentor.

Register here for Medicine Saturday 1st April (2:30pm - 7:30pm) or Sunday 23rd April (2:30pm - 7:30pm)

Register here for Dentistry Saturday 29th April (9:30am - 1:30pm)
 

Earlier this year, several of our Year 12 A level Chemistry students participated in the Chemistry Olympiad run by the Royal Society of Chemistry. This is traditionally aimed at Year 13 students and of our participants, we received 4 awards. Mohammed A, Jack P and Emily H achieved a Bronze award, and Jack McK achieved a silver award putting him in the top 30% of all participants.

This is an excellent result and they should all be incredibly proud. We now look forward to their participation In the upcoming Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, and next year’s Chemistry Olympiad. Well done!

Snapchat have recently updated their Family Center in response to the rise in young people accessing content not appropriate for their age. Controls have been added that block 'sensitive' and 'suggestive' content from viewing by under 18s. To enable this feature, parents can toggle on the 'Restrict Sensitive Content' filter within Snapchat's Family Center and once enabled under 18's should not be able to see the blocked content, although this is only on Stories and Spotlight (short videos). It has no effect on content shared in Chat, Snaps and Search.

More information for parents about this new feature can be found here.

An explanation in regards to what Snapchat considers sensitive content can be found here.

Well done Lola and Frieda for completing their A level practical this week! They performed so well and should be really proud of themselves. For all our dancers- have a well earned Easter Break and see you in the Summer Term.

During STEM Week, Alex D (8J) used origami to create an icosahedron, which is a 3D shape with 20 faces, out of coloured paper. Here is Alex with the finished shapes. They look amazing. Well done Alex.

As you may have seen in previous years, End Period Poverty is one of the important causes that we support. This year, the Head and Deputy Head Students are again collecting period products and cash donations for local hygiene banks and for the Gambia. They will be outside C block under the canopy from 8:10 before registration and at break and there will also be a box in starbucks and study rooms in Sixth Form by the external door until the 2nd week after Easter. Any donations are greatly appreciated for this worthy cause. Thank you!

Last week 21 of our Y10, Y12 and Y13 students travelled to Seville as part of our Spanish exchange programme. We spent a lovely and fun-filled week in Seville, in the south of Spain, where our students were totally immersed in Spanish culture and way of life. We had a day trip to the beautiful beach in Huelva, and the host families organised visits to the city of Seville, where some students went up the famous cathedral, saw the renowned Giralda tower and visited the imposing Plaza de España. Our students also had the chance to experience school life with their exchange partners at Colegio Internacional Europa, who was our host for the week. It was very interesting for them to see how people learn in Spain and to experience a new and different educational system.  Students participated in lessons, took part in sporting events and helped primary school students with their English. Our students spent the weekend with their host families, who went out of their way to ensure they had an enjoyable time. Some of the activities organised for our students were visits to the beach, the surrounding countryside and natural reserves. Overall, this was a very enriching experience for our students both linguistically and culturally. They all came back home with very fond memories of their time in Seville.  

Once again the Science Faculty would like to say a big thank you to Fo$S.  They have managed to purchase several pieces of equipment to enhance the learning of students across a range of subjects and year groups.  Please see photos attached of just some of the equipment generously provided including a lung bell jar, a pH probe and a Potometer. Whenever you support a Fo$S led event, the money raised can be used to add to subject enrichment. Thank you to Fo$S for all that you have done this year and continue to do.

This week we feature Charlotte P in 8S, who was competing at the National Schools Equestrian Association on Sunday 26th March 2023 representing Sandringham School. She was show jumping at 90cm and came an impressive 3rd place, qualifying for the Inter County Championship at Hickstead. Well done Charlotte on such a fantastic achievement and good luck at the next stage of the competition. 
 

If you would like to nominate someone for the student spotlight after the Easter break, please contact melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.herts.co.uk with any details and/or photographs.

We have the following support staff vacancies at Sandringham School:

• Assistant Data Manager
• Computing Hub Regional Administrator
• Design & Technology Technician
• Learning Supervisor
• Theatre Technician

You can find out more here.

This week we saw some great sportsmanship in the mixed Year 7, 8 and 9 House Basketball matches. Well done to everyone who took part, the results are as follows: 

Year 7: 1st - Elgar 2nd - Turing 3rd- Shakespeare & Austen 5th - Johnson 6th- Fawcett 7th-Newton 8th- Hepworth

Year 8: 1st - Shakespeare 2nd - Elgar 3rd- Turing 4th - Hepworth 5th - Fawcett 6th-Newton 7th-Johnson 8th-Austen

Year 9 : 1st - Elgar & Shakespeare 3rd- Turing 4th - Austen 5th - Fawcett 7th- Johnson & Newton 8th- Hepworth

Year 10 : 1st - Johnson 2nd - Hepworth & Austen 4th -Turing 5th -Elgar 6th-Newton

We head into the Summer Term with Newton in the lead with 13,469 house points and Fawcett and Austen in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. Well done to Allan I (7E) with the most individual house points this week (13) and Elgar for winning this week's house points overall (629)

This week, we had the pleasure of a visit from former Sandringham School student Simon Maskell. In the final year of a BA (Hons) in Illustration at the University of Art Norwich, Simon came to talk to some students from KS4 and KS5 about his degree and career aspirations. It was brilliant for students interested in a similar pathway to see what a fine art degree entails through Simon's talk and portfolio. His former teacher, Miss Kelly, who taught him from Year 7 to Year 13, gave a moving speech about how amazing it was to see the fruition of his journey as an artist. Thank you Simon for a great talk. 

Last week we had our Spring Concert which featured all our music ensembles, as well as some exam student soloists and our Sandringham House Band. It was a fantastic evening and we were extremely proud of all our musicians. Well done everyone!

Student exam success

Congratulations to the following students for their excellent exam results

Melanie B - Grade 4 Piano with Merit

Zach D-G - Grade 5 Piano with Merit

Luke D-G - Grade 3 Piano with Merit

If you have recently taken a music exam, let us know by sending us an email, so we can celebrate it in the Sandprint!

From Sunday 26th - Tuesday 28th March, Year 12 Geographers visited a range of environments to carry out a series of primary fieldwork techniques in preparation for their Independent Investigation (NEA). Despite it being on the chilly side, the weather remained mostly fair as we visited Boscombe, Poundbury, Durdle Door, Lulworth Cove and Swanage Bay, where students investigated regeneration, deprivation, identity and place, coastal processes and coastal management schemes. A huge thanks goes out to all the students for their exemplary conduct and engagement, and to the teachers who gave up their time to support - Mrs Mouncey, Miss Pratley and Miss Goss. We all look forward to a range of interesting coursework titles that we hope have been inspired by your work in the field

We have had some exciting careers talks in the Sixth form this week!

Students had an engaging engineering career talk by @balfourbeatty  non-executive director Louise Hardy. We're delighted that it has inspired three female students to start a sixth form engineering society. Matthew Crouch from @Arm also came in to give an intriguing career talk about data science and machine learning to students. And Clinical psychologist Nina Viljoen gave an engaging talk to students about careers in Psychology. Thank you to our fantastic Sixth Form Team for organising.

If you are thinking about a career in teaching,The Alban Federation offers highly-personalised, school-based teacher training, in St Albans, Harpenden & the surrounding area. Visit http://albanfederation.com to find out more today.

As part of British Science Week a few weeks ago, Year 7 and 8 students were treated to a show that was half science and half magic. Students really enjoyed taking part, and a particular Well Done to Rachel W who was prepared to have spoons stuck to her face due to being electrically charged! (For the record, this was quite safe!)

The last whole school theme for the spring term is Autism Awareness week. The definition of autism has changed over the decades and could change in future years as we understand more, however, the current most widely held definition of autism is a lifelong developmental disability which affects how people communicate and interact with the world. More than one in 100 people are on the autism spectrum and there are around 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK. The students received an excellent assembly from Director of Learning for Personal Development, Ms Wills, about how we can be more open-minded and tolerant towards people who are neurally diverse. If we can create a more equitable society, then a lot of the challenges that autistic people face can be reduced and the value they bring to fields such as science, music and film be more widely celebrated. 

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: Pitoresque

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Reizend

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: Pintoresco

Thinking Question

• How do languages evolve over time?

Welcome to England, where the Protectorate enforces the Public Good. Here, there are rules for everything - what to eat, what to wear, what to do, what to say, what to read, what to think, who to obey, who to hate, who to love. Your safety is assured, so long as you follow the rules. Gabriel is a natural born rule-breaker. And his biggest crime of all? Being gay. Riley O in 10N who has recently read the books says 'This book had its scary moments, particulary when the main character was almost caught. I really enjoyed the form of the book, that it switches between the past and the present. I think everyone should read this book as it highlights how easily the far right can gain power and reminds us that intolerance should not be permitted in any form.' 

Q is for… quaint  [adjective]

Definition: Attractively unusual or old-fashioned.

Example: In the village there was a collection of quaint country cottages..

Synonyms: Charming, Picturesque, Whimsical

Antonyms: Modern, New, Ordinary

Etymology: From the Latin  ‘cognoscere’, meaning to know, which was then adapted in French to ‘cointe’ then ‘queinte’, originally meaning clever.

Well done to our Girls' U15 Basketball team who are now County CHAMPIONS! We are so proud of this brilliant bunch, who went into the final undefeated and kept that record in a very tightly fought final vs Beaumont, where they came from behind and took the win by just 1 point! Well done team on a fantastic season.

A good start to our tennis season with a win in the first round of the Glanville Cup over Berkhamsted School. All 6 matches went our way and it was great to have some well contested games.

A huge well done to our U13B netball team who have made so much progress over the course of the season, culminating in being undefeated in the group games of the District Tournament and then narrowly losing to STAHS in the final. CPoT Rachel W and PP Temi

The U13A Netball team also came 2nd in the District Tournament! POT - Bea T

Our U12A Netball team also had an 8-4 win against Loreto in very windy conditions with some great defence all down the court! OP - Beatriz S, CP - Emma D. But the U14B Netball Team unfortunately had a 9-6 loss against Loreto. Great progress was made throughout the game however, and some excellent feeds into the circle. OP - Sasha T, CP - Beth Y

Well done to the Year 11 Netball team who beat Roundwood Park yesterday in a very closely contested game, which involved all of the elements! OPM Liv C and PP Alys

And finally, our U15 netball team had a win in the district league over RPS - one game left to play! OPM - Charlotte H & CPM - Niamh F

Well done to our Junior teams indoor champs athletics this week. Our junior girls (Year 8 & 9) won by 9 points, and our Junior boys and Inter boys finished 5th. Well done all  

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!