This week, as many of our Year 10 students are completing final preparations for this first Bronze expedition, some of our Gold participants were completing this DofE experience by attending a Gold Award Presentation in Buckingham Palace gardens. Mrs Gibson was there to celebrate with her own daughter but was delighted to see so many familiar faces. Despite it being a DofE event, it didn’t rain and the participants and their guests listened to speaks from celebrities such as Kirsty Allsop, Alice Beer, Ade Adepitan and Ore Oduba and a walk through of the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. This is the culmination of many hours of volunteering, skill and physical activities as well as hiking up the Chilterns Hills , the Peak District and the Lake District. The Gold Award shows an individual’s commitment and resilience and all our Gold Award holders deserved their special day in the sun.

Year 10 Bronze

As already mentioned, our Year 10 participants are embark on their first expedition this weekend. Follow on Twitter @SandringhamDofE for photos and updates. Full report in next week’s issue.

Year 9 Bronze Launch

We are preparing to launch the Award with year 9. There will be an assembly next week and a letter will be sent via ParentMail with details of the information evening which is being held on Wednesday 7th June at 6.30pm in the school hall.

Our Dance Faculty and students are working behind the scenes in preparation for the dance summer showcase, EUPHORIA, on Wednesday 28th June 2023. It is for one night only, so make sure you grab your tickets early to avoid disappointment. You can buy them here. Don't miss out on what is set to be a fantastic evening showcasing our amazing dancers.

In April, some 140 students in Year 7 and 8 took part in the Junior Mathematical Challenge run by the UK Mathematics Trust.  The aim of the UK Mathematics Trust is to advance the education of young people in mathematics. The Junior Mathematical Challenge is a 60-minute, multiple-choice competition aimed at students across the UK. It is open to all students in years 8 and below.  This was a fantastic opportunity which offers students the chance to develop their mathematical problem-solving skills. It encourages mathematical reasoning, precision of thought, and fluency in using basic mathematical techniques to solve interesting problems.  The problems on the Junior Challenge are designed to make students think. Most are accessible, yet still challenge those with more experience. 

Taking part in the Junior Mathematical Challenge is a stimulating and rewarding experience for all students.  To recognise the highest performers in the Challenge, students are awarded Gold, Silver or Bronze certificates. Students that are 'Best in Year' or 'Best in School' will also receive a badge to denote this on their certificates.

The students did very well with 36 receiving Bronze, 33 receiving Silver and 10 receiving Gold certificates.  In addition, Oliver S was best in Year 8 and Caleb M was best in school.Well done to everyone.

Students interested in careers in Veterinary Science might be interested in a free conference on Saturday 20th May.  MedicMentor is running a virtual session on the application process and what it’s actually like to be a vet.  For more information and to register, visit this webpage.

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?

This week’s whole school theme is Mental Health and Wellbeing Awareness. Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 15 to 21 May 2023. This year, we're focusing on the impact that the cost of living crisis is having on our mental health. The uncertainty of watching as our costs spiral can be difficult to bear. The worry of how we’ll get by and support our families is piling on the pressure. But for so many of us, looking after our mental health is often last on our list. The students received an excellent assembly from Assistant Headteacher, Mr Kemp, about how we can be more understanding about the challenges people are facing and be armed with strategies that keep us mentally well. We hope that everyone in the school community is staying mentally healthy and know that Sandringham is always here for help if needed. 

Congratulations to Mylo W in Year 12 for obtaining a place in the National Youth Theatre. This is a difficult process so he has done really well to obtain a place. Well done Mylo! 

Well done to Newton who top the board today with 14,417 points. Fawcett and Shakespeare are not far behind with 14, 152 and 13,862 respectively. Special mentions this week go to Emilie W (8F) with 6 points and Johnson for winning this week’s house points (180)

The week commencing July 3rd brings our Fit for Life week, where we host a large number of physical activities during the school day. The aim is to promote further opportunities for our staff and students to get involved in physical activity and sport. If there are any local businesses or volunteers in the Sandringham community that would like to run an hour session for our staff/students then please get in touch. It would be great to have some externally run sessions during the week.

If you are able to volunteer hosting a session, we would love to hear from you. Please complete the google form here.

This week we feature two Year 7 students who are achieving amazing results in swimming outside of school.

Well done to Jasmine S in 7F who gained a bronze medal in the 50m freestyle in the East Region swimming championships and reached the finals in the 50m butterfly (missing out on 3rd place by one hundredth of a second!)  She has been representing Costa and has been doing brilliantly.

Well done also to Akey Chiu Ki C in 7S , who entered the Swim England East Region Long Course Champions 2023 and got a bronze medal in the Boys U12 200m Butterfly. Excellent work Akey. What a great achievement!

If you would like to nominate someone for the Student Spotlight, please contact Melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photographs

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the LRC has a new display highlighting some of our helpful and inspiring books. We stock a number of fiction and non-fiction titles which explore different elements of mental health. If students would like to read about a specific topic, our librarians will be happy to help. Please pop along and see if there is anything that catches your eye.

Set in a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games.

There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

Oliver G 9N who has recently read the book says 'The story is really gripping and the riot scenes are very powerful. You never feel like Katniss is safe. I like the way the friendship subplot between Katniss and Peter develops throughout the series.' 

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: Verbeux, Verbeuse

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Langatmig

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: Verboso/a

Thinking Question

• Sometimes words are made up of other words. How can this help us when reading in a foreign language?

V is for … verbose  [adjective]

Definition: Using or expressed in more words than are needed.

Example: Much academic language is obscure and verbose.

Synonyms: Wordy, long winded

Antonyms: Concise, succinct

Etymology: From the Latin  word ‘verbum’ meaning word. 

It was great to see our students competing so well for their clubs over the weekend. Georgia T & Sophie B did brilliantly in their various events. 

Our Year 9 and 10 tennis teams played at Queenswood School last night in a LTA schools tennis competition. A playoff 10 pointer was needed to separate Sandringham and Queenswood with the home team taking the win in the end. A great effort from the 4 girls involved who represented the school brilliantly.

We were also very proud of the below 5 students on Monday for accepting the challenge of playing a new sport for the school! A loss against Presdales in U13 Girls tennis but excellent progress made by all!

Well done to the following students who have broken 6 school records in the last couple of weeks.

• Georgia T (yr 8 800m)
• Oliver G (yr 8 300m)
• Erin  R (yr 8 Triple Jump)
• Katie J (yr 8 Pole vault)
• Jasmine R (yr 9 100m)
• Harry W (yr 10 100m hurdles- as a year 9)

In fixtures news, CL3 brought some impressive points for all 4 sub teams . Athletes of the week were U14G - Erin R (county league record in TJ) U14B - Lewis D U16G- Sophie B U16B - Seth M

Please see above for upcoming fixtures. You can follow all of the results

Congratulations to Harry W on winning the JPL with his football team over the weekend. 

Well done to the Y10 Cricket team this afternoon, winning their county plate R2 fixture Vs Verulam with a strong performance Verulam: 96/7 Sandringham: 99/1 (Popat 30, Everitt 25, Smith 8, Nicholls 4) MoM: Everitt

An evening showcasing solo and chamber music including both instrumental and vocal performances from Sandringham students in Years 7-9. This is an opportunity for friends and family to support and celebrate the hard work put in by our younger musicians throughout the year. You can buy tickets for what is set to be a fantastic evening here.

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! 

Flat £15. 

The critically acclaimed creative team that brought you ‘Hansel & Gretel’ are back with more fun-fuelled 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 cost £10-£17.50 and you can buy them here.

Sandringham Dance present their annual summer dance show. An evening of student choreography, exam work and pieces from the resident companies; SYCD, Tuxedo HipHop Company and TripleEdge. You can buy tickets here.