This week, we were pleased to welcome back past pupil Oliver S and his friend Stefan, who went to Skyswood to run a brass session for the 'skills share' section of their Bronze Arts Award.  Oliver and Stefan worked on an ensemble item with the group and the players then shared pieces that they are working on. We are sure that the students found it a hugely valuable experience so thank you to our alumni for coming along and offering their expertise.

A huge congratulations to Henry T in 12A, who has won a scholarship from The Dresden Trust. The Dresden Trust creates opportunities for young people to make connections with fellow young people from Dresden to promote good relationships between Germany and the UK. Henry will spend a month in Dresden towards the end of the summer and start of Year 13. The competition for such an opportunity was very high and Henry’s success is a testament to his commitment to German studies. Well done, Henry on a fabulous achievement. We are all really proud of you.

Vista St Albans are hosting coffee mornings with a School Family Worker to help support Parents/Carers of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, diagnosed or not. This is an informal and safe place for Parents/Carers to share information and chat.

Date: Wednesday 28th June

Time: 9.15-11.00

Venue: The Hub, Fleetville Junior School, 228 Hatfield Road, St Albans, AL1 4LW (The Hub is situated to the right-hand side of the school building)

Running alongside our coffee morning, there will also be the opportunity to pre-book an appointment with a member of staff from the SEND specialist Advice and Support Service (these sessions are specifically for ASC advice). Times available are: 9.30am, 10.00am, 11.00am and 11.30am. For more information about this service or to book an appointment please call Vista/St Albans Plus on 07584798528 or email vistastalbans@gmail.com

This week we feature Katherine M in Year 12 who has played her first season of Prem Netball. Her team is in Surrey (The Downs Netball Club) and the league is national, so involves a lot of travel around the country. The team has been promoted to Prem 1 this season- the highest league in amateur netball (Netball Superleague is the next step). Katherine has managed this alongside playing the NPL league for Saracens Mavericks, school netball and juggling the demands of Year 12 so this is a huge achievement. Well done Katherine! We look forward to hearing about you continuing success. 

If you would like to nominate someone for the Student Spotlight, you can do so by emailing melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photographs. We would love to hear about any students showing flair in the community, sports, the arts, academically, or any areas where they are going above and beyond.

On Wednesday, a team of Sandringham Year 8 students were successful in the annual Faraday Challenge, an inter-school engineering competition run by the Institution of Engineering and Technology. The winning team - Alice G (Project Manager), Siya M, Rose O, Arhaan S, William S and Zainab S (team treasurer) - designed and built a prototype platform for vertical take-off drones. They included electronic and mechanical components in their model and gave an excellent presentation. They are pictured receiving their award, and they scored so highly that they have a strong chance of making it to the national competition in June. Well done also to the other Sandringham team who took part, giving a great presentation of their prototype. They are Oliver C, Oliver S, Noah S, Oliver L, Stefan C and Finn N.

The LRC has 70 new super curriculum books available for students to borrow. The majority of the books are non-fiction, subject specific, and have been chosen by teachers. We hope the new books will inspire curiosity, further student knowledge and support independent research. A huge thank you to FOSS who enabled us to purchase these fantastic new books. Books can be reserved on Accessit and collected from the LRC. Our librarians are always happy to help with student queries. 

Please could we ask parents and carers to make sure their child has a water bottle with them at school every day.  It is imperative they have their own bottles, especially as the weather is getting warmer, as student services are unable to provide cups and water for students in school unless it is for a medical emergency.

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?

Year 13 student Ivan R has written the below report about our fantastic Silicon Valley Trip during the Easter break.

The trip involved completing various Computer Science related activities, including visiting the Computer Science History Museum, a tour of the Adobe World Headquarters, a tour of Silicon Valley including Googleplex, and a tour of Stanford University. We also completed many touristy activities, such as walking across Golden Gate Bridge, visiting Alcatraz Prison, a cable car ride and best of all attending a Golden State Warriors Basketball game. I enjoyed learning about the history of this great subject and where so many big companies came from. This trip was very fun, interesting and incredibly inspiring in terms of motivating me for a successful career in this field. Big thanks to Mr Allday for putting this all together!

The government’s new emergency alerts system is live and will enable people to be contacted via their mobile phone when lives are in danger. The system will be tested nationally on Sunday 23 April 2023 at 3pm. 

An emergency alert is a loud, siren-like sound with a message on your mobile phone or tablet screen. To check an alert is genuine, visit GOV.UK. 

All education settings should take the opportunity to make themselves aware of emergency alerts, reasons why anyone may get an alert and how they work.

On Wednesday, the school had two teams of four students from Year 7 qualifying for the final of the Year 7 Team Maths Challenge run by Herts for Learning. The Year 7 Maths Challenges are designed as informal, friendly inter-school competitions, designed to challenge young mathematicians.  They require excellent communication, problem-solving and team-working skills, as well as mathematical skill and insight.

Each challenge is divided into four equally-weighted rounds:

• Round 1: General Maths questions
• Round 2: Memory round
• Round 3: Estimation round
• Round 4: More general Maths questions

As these titles will suggest, success in the challenges relies on much more than mere mathematical calculation.  Many of the problems and activities are accessible to most students, not just higher attainers.

Overall, 74 teams took part in the challenge this year with the top 19 teams qualifying for the final which was held at the Hertfordshire Development Centre in Stevenage. Both teams did exceptionally well, with one team finishing 10th and the other team finishing 5th.  Congratulations and well done to Phoebe H (7N), Mati M (7H), Rebecca T (7A), Tim C (7H), Joanne F (7F), Harrison M (7F), Filip S (7S), and  Connor L (7F).

A match report from our budding reporter Mr Lacey.

As the dust settled after a rousing performance from the Sandringham Cheerleaders the two teams went back into the changing rooms ready for a final team talk before the beginning of the game. With two mixed teams the anticipation in the crowd was fever pitch for a hard-fought game of running rugby.

The first 10 minutes were a cagey affair with both teams enjoying periods of possession but with the game being played in the middle of the pitch the defences were able to remain solid. Ultimately though the experience of the OAs side started to show with two quick tries scored around the 20-minute mark. Fortunately, this only rallied the Sandringham Barbarians who fought their way back up the pitch and after a disallowed try, finally crossed the whitewash with a pick and go from Lacey. The half was finished with the teams scoring a try a piece after strong runs from OAs and a classy pass from Diprose finished by Bedwood for Sandringham. The teams went in for half time with the game firmly in the balance at 21-12 to OAs.

The second half started much the same as the first with both teams attacking well but with the game opening up the lack of playing experience in the Sandringham team started to show and OAs were able to capitalise on some defensive errors to score two more tries as they enjoyed a 33-12 lead going into the final 20 minutes. Sandringham refused to give up though as they began their fightback. Firstly, through the inexperienced Clarke on the wing who finally got his hands on the ball 40 meters out with space in front of him and only the full back to beat, he ran like a young Shane Williams to pick up another 5 points for Sandringham, converted by Diprose. This try galvanized the men in red who began their next assault on the OAs line after a surprisingly quick 30-yard break from Brown followed by an offload out the back led to a passage of play that was stopped only 5 yards short from the line. Sandringham continued their attack with hard running and some quick hands leading to Keenleyside coming within two yards of the line, finally finished by the Sandringham Fullback.

The score was 33-31 and Sandringham were within a score as they came back at OAs who were now hanging onto slender lead with their fingertips. Ultimately it wasn’t to be, as the OAs captain Watson winning a turnover and kicking the ball out to win the game for the home side. Not the result Sandringham wanted but ultimately, rugby was the winner, and with so much money raised for YOUTHTALK a successful day for all! Youth Talk are a fantastic cause which provides a vital service of free, confidential counselling to 13-25 year olds in St Albans and surrounding areas. If you feel able to donate an amount, however small, you can do so here.

On Sunday 30th April, a group of around 50 students will be attending an exciting and prestigious event at the Royal Albert Hall. This will provide an incredible opportunity to sing and dance at this amazing venue and rehearsals are well underway with music and dance based on the theme ‘Give Life to Music’ featuring repertoire including ‘I Was Glad’ by Parry and ‘Lux Aurumque’ by Eric Whitacre. One of our Sixth Form musicians, Zac Pile, will also be performing an original song with his band ‘Princes to Kings’ as part of the programme. We have two tickets which are no longer required so if anyone has been unable to purchase a ticket, please get in touch admin@sandringham.herts.sch.uk

This year’s Junior Recital evening has been moved to the new date of Tuesday 23rd May at 6.30pm. It will take place in the Sandpit Theatre and will include an impressive range of instrumental performances from students ranging from Year 7 to Year 9. This lovely event gives the younger students an opportunity to perform in front of an audience and to showcase their hard work and dedication to their chosen instrument. Tickets will be available online closer to the date.  Students wanting to express an interest in taking part need to speak to their music teacher by Friday 28th April.

Well done also to Rebecca T (7A) who has received a distinction in grade 5 piano. She sat the exam on the last day of term. This Is the year of grade 5s for Rebecca after having achieved a merit at grade 5 in the violin in the autumn. Well done Rebecca- a fantastic achievement at such a young age! 

And well done also Alexis P in year 8 who passed his Grade 4 Piano with Distinction!

It has been a busy first week back with Fawcett leading the charge on house points gaining 235. Newton take the lead overall however, with 13,617points, and Fawcett and Austen on 13,506 and 13,253 points respectively. Well done to Mona A with the most individual house points this week (9) and 8S for maintaining the highest average points overall (114). It is all to play for this term with several big house events. Watch this space for more details.

Sandringham School is pleased to welcome Sarah Timberlake (pictured below) who will work alongside Nicky Honeywell to offer Careers Guidance to students.  Both Nicky and Sarah are from Herts Services for Young People and offer impartial careers advice. We are sure students will benefit greatly from her expertise.

In other careers news, Oaklands College have the following open evenings.  Please register here if your student is interested in going to college after Year 11:

• St Albans Campus – Tuesday 25th  April -  St Albans Open Evening
• Welwyn Garden City – Thursday 27th - WGC Open Evening
• There will also be Twilight Taster events on Wednesday 3rd May at both campuses.  Our Twilight Taster event is a one-hour session where students will have the opportunity to meet the tutors and gain hands-on experience in a specific subject area.   WGC Twilight Taster or  St Albans Twilight Taster

GSK are running virtual events for students in years 7 to 13 interested in science, statistics and programming.  Find out more and register here: GSK Event Information

A reminder that sign up for the summer clubs is now open. Please check SOCS and sign up for athletics, cricket, tennis and rounders.

The whole school theme for this week celebrates International Earth Day. Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22nd, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.The official theme for 2023 is Invest In Our Planet. The students received an excellent assembly from Assistant Headteacher, Ms Mouncey, who leads on Sustainability for the school. This term, each year group will be running a project to improve the school environment or raise money for environmental charities. Sandringham is committed to becoming as sustainable as possible to improve our world for generations to come and any support from the school community would be much appreciated

Is there a God? Should I eat meat? Where does the universe come from? Could I live forever as a robot? These are the big questions you will be wrestling with when reading The Philosophy Files! Conrad L-O who has recently read the books says:

I found this book thought-provoking as it grappled with many philosophical questions such as "what is 'real' " and "does God exist". It made me think outside the box and question things we take for granted and what we don't normally think about. I'm looking forward to reading the follow-up book!

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: Rectifier

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Etwas berichtigen

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: Rectificar

Thinking Question

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

R is for rectify  [verb]

Definition: To put right; correct.

Example: Mistakes made now cannot be rectified later.

Synonyms: Amend, Improve, Remedy

Antonyms: Harm, Hurt, Worsen

Etymology: From the mediaeval Latin ‘rectificare’ from the  Latin word ‘rectus’ meaning right.

The World Class Schools Future Leaders of the Circular Economy program consists of a competition, a summer holiday program and culminates in an Autumn Symposium. Running from May through to the Symposium in early October, the program and competition will showcase and build the characteristics required to become future leaders in the circular economy.

Free early access will be provided to the new BeWorldClass app as part of the project.

Key dates are as follows  

• Product competition – 15th May to 21st July
• Summer program – July 24th to the 3rd September
• Autumn Symposium date TBC

Students don't need to participate in all three, but they recommend that students do so to ensure a smooth transition through the summer holiday. You won't need to start the product competition straight away, but if you would like to take part please let us know before 1st May. 

You can find out more information here

More information will be released soon but let us know if you have any questions please contact the admin@sandringham.herts.sch.uk email address FAO Mrs Beaton.

Please see below for upcoming fixtures. 

Well done to the Year 13 netball team, who ended their 5 years as a team with a WIN over Samuel Ryder! OPM K Anfield CPM Martha D A fantastic end to a fantastic season.

Huge well done to the U12A Netball team who won the Year 7 district plate netball competition with a 7-5 win in the final against SRA CP and OP - Beatriz S with some fantastic interceptions and game play

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!

The critically acclaimed creative team that brought you ‘Hansel & Gretel’ are back with more fun-fueled pantomime madness; a joyful new twist on another old story, it’s not to be missed. Rapunzel saves the day (and herself!) in this action packed, magical musical pantomime adventure. Let down your hair with a cast of kooky characters as they dance and sing through this unusual, tangled tale; where people live in giant old boots and tall towers, where frog boys rap about enchanted ponds and girls with long hair battle more than split ends!

Tickets are on sale now for just £13.50 (EarlyBird Price until May 1st)

An evening of Fleetwood Mac and Cheese performed by Big Love UK!

Featuring a 5-piece tribute to Fleetwood Mac, Plus some familiar cheesy dance floor classics!

£15