A huge well done to all the Year 8 PRE students who have recently completed their Religious Research projects. The PRE Faculty have been blown away by your effort and the incredible projects which you have been able to produce. Hopefully you have all enjoyed making them as much as we enjoyed reading them!

On Saturday 17 June 11.00 -12.30, Fo$S will be holding a second hand uniform sale at Sandringham School. They will be selling all uniform and PE kits as well as revision guides. All money raised goes towards buying new equipment for students in school. They look forward to seeing you there.

We have the following Support Staff vacancies available to work at our fantastic school:

• Theatre Technician
• Learning Supervisor
• Resources, Reprographics & Website Manager.

Please click here for more details:

This week we feature James C in Year 12 who ran the St Albans Half Marathon last Sunday in very hot conditions, raising funds for the Motor Neuron Disease Association. He was joined by Henry C and Harry Y, also Year 12, for the run.  The MNDA is an important charity for James and his family as his grandmother died of MND in 2006 and his grandfather volunteered with the charity, at a local and national level, from 2004 until his death early this year. So far James has raised over £1,300. If you would still like to sponsor him, you can do so here. Well done James on such a fantastic achievement in such difficult conditions! 

You can find all of the details for the E Week Trips here. We hope that students have a fantastic time! 

The new LRC display for June has been delighting readers with its rainbow of PRIDE books, featuring some of the many LGBTQ+ books that are available to borrow from the LRC. Pop up to see one of our friendly library team to see what we have on offer. 

We have written to all Year 7 parents regarding Work Exploration Day.  If it is not possible for students to work with a parent, it is worth asking local friends and family if they can help.  We look forward to hearing about the days the students have planned.  The letter can be found here

Best of luck also to all the Year 10 students heading to their work experience placements next week! 

Well done to Newton who maintain their lead this week with 15,035 points this week. Fawcett and Austen are still hot on their tails however with 14, 702 and 14,553 points respectively. Special mentions this week go to Henry R ‎(7A) with 9 points and 8S with the highest average points overall (127.7)

Upcoming events before the end of term are as follows:

• Fit for life week
• Sports day
• Charity run
• House day

This week’s whole school theme prepares students for Arts Week that will take place in school from 26/6/23 - 30/6/23. Arts Week is always a fantastic opportunity for our students and this year students will be learning more about our work as a Trinity Champion Centre and our Arts Award offer. Through Arts week, students will have the opportunity to learn more about our Arts Award offer and take part in a range of specially organised workshops. As a Trinity Champion centre, we are now qualified to offer Arts Award across all levels Discover, Explore, Bronze, Silver and Gold. During Arts week, students will have the opportunity to work with our Arts Award ambassadors and complete workshops with them to develop their skills further. In addition, every faculty area has a unique Arts offer and we are really looking forward to seeing their creative outcomes through the week. We are also incredibly excited to see the Euphoria Dance show, Visual Arts exhibition and Summer Music concert. We know lots of our students are also incredibly excited for the Music tour and to participate in the visiting Drama Stage Combat workshop. There will be a huge variety of workshops with many visiting specialists for students to participate in so we do hope they discover an area of interest.  We would like to thank our students in advance for their participation.

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?

Last week, a group of Year 10 and 12 students visited Jersey Farm Day Centre to perform a concert to the members. There was a lovely range of solo and small ensemble performances and at the end, our students spent time talking to all the visitors to the day centre. We had lovely feedback including this comment from Mr Marsh ‘I am in absolute awe of their musical ability and lovely singing. They were all so confident in coming forward in quite a close situation, but several to show no nerves!’

Year 8 students attended the Module Fayre on Monday to learn more about the wide range of modules on offer to them next year. There were vibrant displays from each of the subject areas and students had lots of questions!  Year 8 students have from now until Friday 23rd June to make their choices online (using their username and passwords sent via email on Monday 12th June). We look forward to seeing what they select!  To learn more about the modules on offer this year, click here.

There will be a music tour information meeting for parents and students on Monday 19th June at 6.30pm in the main hall. Please bring passports to hand in, along with completed OV7 medical forms and behaviour contracts if you have not already returned them to me. If you are unable to hand in your child’s passport at the meeting because they are in France/Germany, please hand their passports in to me at the start of the following week on Monday 26th June. Pictured here are last years' students on the fabulous trip!

The UK-wide celebration of all teaching and support staff is back, National Thank a Teacher Day will be celebrated on Wednesday 21st June.  This year is all about gratitude and recognising the long-lasting impact that education has on individuals and throughout society. This year, a limited-edition e-card has been illustrated by much loved author and artist Charlie Mackesy which will be send directly to any teacher or member of staff that is thanked by a student/family. So if you would like to thank a special teacher, teaching assistant, librarian or other member of support staff at Sandringham, make their day and let them know how grateful you are by sending a free e-card here.

Thank you to all Year 7-9 parent/carers who have made their payments for non-residential EWeek activities.  If you have not made your payment yet all items are available via ParentPay.

We hope all students have a fun-filled week!

This week, we also feature Cameron D from Year 10E in our Student Spotlight. He received an impressive Merit in his grade 7 drum exams last week.  Cameron has been playing the drums since age 6 and is already working his way through his grade 8 pieces.  An excellent achievement Cameron. Keep up the great work!

If you would like to nominate someone to feature in the Student Spotlight next week, we would love to hear from you. This can be someone who is doing fantastic things in the community, arts, sport, music, academically or just going above and beyond, then please contact Melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with a few details and/or photographs.

Last week saw the Qualifying expedition for our Year 10 Bronze participants. Twenty six groups of between 4 and 7 students set out on their pre-planned routes to cover a distance of at least 25 kilometres over the course of two days. The students swapped locations with Blue Half starting in Jockey End and travelling to Felden before finishing in Bedmond and Green half starting in Great Missenden or Hyde Heath, travelling to Braid Wood and finishing in Ley Hill.

The sun shone for most of the two days. While it was a relief to not have to worry about waterproofs, the unrelenting heat made this a challenging venture. Pollen bombs and heat waves are not ideal expedition conditions. The staff chorus of “Fill up your water bottles and re-apply sun cream” echoed around every checkpoint. The students made wise choices and spent time in the shade whilst out on expedition and when they got to the campsites. The overnight temperature was positively balmy compared to the almost freezing overnight temperatures of the practice expedition.

It was an early start on day 2 with groups up and cooking breakfast from about 5.30am to try and complete their 6 hour day before the heat kicked in. There was a welcome breeze on day 2 and lots of shady footpaths which made it all a bit more bearable.

We are delighted with their achievements in this section of their Award and encourage all participants to ensure that they complete their other three sections as soon as possible and upload their assessor reports to finally achieve their Bronze Award.

We’re excited to announce the cast list shortly and thank you once again for being so wonderful during the audition. This will appear on the Google Classroom and on our notice board in the Drama block. In the meantime, as we start to prepare for the show we have an unusual plea for plant pots! I’m sure there will be lots of gardening going on with all the beautiful weather and in a bid to be more sustainable, we would be grateful for your donations for the Whole School Show. Ideally we are looking for plastic pots/tubs that aren’t too heavy. Please drop any off to the Drama office (there is a box labelled ‘plant pots’) or speak to your Drama teacher for more information!

We turn to a graphic novel for this week’s ‘book of the week’. The Sad Ghost Club has been very popular recently here in the LRC as students share their recommendations with each other during the lunch break. One reader commented that the story was ‘very relatable and good for people who don’t like long, very wordy books’  

When one sad ghost, alone at a crowded party, spies another sad ghost across the room, they decide to leave together. What happens next changes everything. Because that night they start the The Sad Ghost Club - a secret society for the anxious and alone, a club for people who think they don't belong.

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: Circonspect

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Vorsichtig

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: Cauteloso/a

Thinking Question

•  What can learning a language teach us about a culture or the heritage of a country?

C is for… circumspect [adjective]

Definition: Wary and unwilling to take risks.

Example: The officials were very circumspect in their statements.

Synonyms: Careful, considerate, meticulous

Antonyms: Careless, foolish, indiscreet

Etymology: From the Latin ‘circum’ meaning  around and  ‘specere’ meaning to look. 

Well done to our tennis teams this week with another win for the Y8 boys B team over Watford Grammar to keep their unbeaten run in the group stage of the County champs.And a great result for the U13 Girls tennis team, getting their first win of the season 8-4 over RMS!

As mentioned in the Headlines, our athletics fixtures started last Saturday with an impressive 9 COUNTY CHAMPIONS winning at their respective events at Jarman Park. In addition there were 4 Silver medalists and 2 Bronze medalists. Highlights include Jasmine R securing her place at English schools for U15 100m, Luke C for his 800m and Annabelle H for U19 800m. Well done to everyone involved. 

Our athletes then competed in the Regional B finals during a long and hot day in Croydon on Monday with both U14 squads putting in a superb performance to come 1st (boys) and 2nd (girls) overall. 

On Wednesday Sandringham delivered again in County League 6. Athletes of the meet were U14G - Georgia T U14B - J KK U16G - Jasmine R U16B - Mackensie B-G

And finally, on Thursday it was a trip to Woodside athletics track with 72 amazing students representing Sandringham at the District championships. Students were competing against 14 schools including some of the best athletic schools in the county. Each sub team has a chance to win a trophy and every point scored on that day, across all ages and genders went towards the overall combined schools trophy. Every single athlete played their part in an extremely memorable day for Sandringham as they collected 5 trophies out of a possible 11, including the overall boys trophy. Other cups we won included Year 7 girls: 2nd Year 7 boys: 1st Year 8 girls 1st Year 8 boys- 2nd Year 9 girls 1st Year 9 boys 1st Boys overall- 1st Girls overall- 2nd Overall- 2nd

So many new personal bests and a real team effort.  A huge thank you to all of the PE team for supporting our students at these all day events. 

On Tuesday 27th June, we present our annual Summer Concert. This amazing show features songs from all choirs and instrumental clubs in the school, including the ever-growing show choir, the famous jazz band and sinfonia orchestra. You can buy tickets for this unmissable event here.

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.