As mentioned in Mr Gray's Headlines, our annual Carol Service is fast approaching. It will take place at St Saviour's Church at 7pm on Wednesday 13th December and is sure to be another fantastic event. Our choirs and Sinfonia are involved, as well as a few of our smaller ensembles. All students taking part have received a letter. Rehearsals are taking part from sessions 2-5 in the church, so students need to remember to bring layers to keep warm on the walk there next week, as well as sensible walking shoes and a packed lunch. Tickets are selling quickly so, if you haven't already, we strongly recommend purchasing tickets soon via the Sandpit Theatre Box Office.

Thank you to everyone who supported Fo$S at the Christmas Fair last Saturday. The event was a great success and, as Mr Gray mentioned, we raised around £4,500 for the school. We could not have done this without all the help from our volunteers and everyone who came to the fair. So a big thank you. 

If you weren’t able to make it on the day or didn’t have the chance to buy a raffle ticket, then there is still time. Tickets can be bought on ParentPay for £1 each by clicking on the link ParentPay. We have some great prizes including Pub in the Park tickets, a wine and dine hamper,a pamper hamper and a fitness hamper.  

All money raised from the Christmas Fair and the raffle goes towards supporting the school and its students. Many Thanks the FO$S Team

The LRC has a new snowy display full of festive reading. Whether you’re looking for a humorous light-hearted story for the holidays, a winter fantasy, a seasonal murder-mystery, or want to do a spot of Christmas baking, we’ll have a book for you. Do pop up to the LRC and take a look at our fantastic selection of books. Any books borrowed from the LRC this week are not due back until after Christmas. 

On Saturday, former Sandringham Head Student Henry N took to the stage at the Abbey Theatre with his male acapella vocal group from Oxford University ‘Out of The Blue’. Henry took over as musical director of this ensemble at the start of term and is now leading a new group of singers in preparing repertoire for a series of concerts. Next year they are touring in the USA and will also be at the Edinburgh festival. It was wonderful to see Henry on stage singing a range of contemporary and classic songs with some festive tunes in the mix. You can follow the group on socials @ootboxford. Amazing work Henry!

A very well done to the students in Year 7 pictured above who recently passed their music exams: 

Jude W  passed grade 3 piano with distinction

Max I passed grade 2 piano with a merit

Turing lead the charge this week with an impressive 8,632 house points. Newton are not far behind with 8,352 points and Shakespeare, Austen and Fawcett take 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively. Congratulations to Alvin L (7F), Isaac L (7S) Becca B-S (10H) Connor L-O (8F) and Chelsea L (7J) and George D (8H) who all gained 12 or more house points this week. 

Well done to Dave T (7T) Diego D (9T) Gabs B (8S) and Arthur C (7A) who all have 110 house points or more overall this term. Impressive work!

As mentioned in Mr Gray's Headlines, this week it has been the turn of Fawcett and Hepworth house to raise money for our chosen charities (Youth Talk, HertsforRefugees and Unicef.) The cake sales have been very popular and Year 7 and 8 students are excited for the disco this evening. We will include more photos of the disco, details of the total raised so far and information about our clothes drop in next week's Sandprint but well done everyone for your amazing efforts in supporting these hugely worthwhile events so far. 

A huge thank you to our amazing PE teachers and students who have been braving the sub zero temperatures the past few weeks to train for upcoming fixtures. It is not easy to get out of bed when it is still dark outside and the ground is frozen but your hard work and dedication will pay off we are sure. Here are Year 10 enjoying some chilly football training with Mr Smith this week.

Here at Sandringham School, we stress the significance of arming our students with proficient problem-solving abilities to tackle real-world challenges, especially in STEM fields. These skills promote critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. The image above depicts a typical gathering of the student-run Sixth Form Mathematics and Physics problem-solving society during Tuesday's lunch break. During these sessions, students delve into captivating STEM problems, gain new knowledge, and apply it outside the curriculum to address real-world issues. It is great to see students putting their new skills into practise and enjoying themselves.

We have received further emails from residents this week, regarding parents parking inconsiderately around the school. If you are driving your child to/from school, please could you park respectfully, being mindful of our neighbours. This includes not parking across drives even if you are waiting in your car. We appreciate your co-operation in this matter.

We are currently looking for a Pastoral Support Assistant and Cleaner. More information is available on our website https://sandringham.herts.sch.uk/vacancies/

Please share with friends who may be interested.

Well done to our ‘Dancers of the week’ for this half term! Lots of brilliant work in lessons and clubs from Amelie, Amber, Gabby, Jessie, Beatrice, Cai! Keep up the awesome work!

A huge well done also to our Year 11 BTEC, Year 10 BTEC and Year 11 GCSE dancers who have completed one dance examination this half term. You all should be super proud of what you have achieved!

The Puzzle of the Week is a Mathematics challenge run weekly. This week's puzzle is shown above. For every entry you will receive 1 house point, if you answer correctly you will win 2 house points 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?

Velocity preparations are in full swing and we are so excited for the shows! Tickets are selling very quickly, so head to the Sandpit website now to avoid disappointment. The Dance department are looking for the following to be borrowed and used in the shows: wooden tables, wooden chairs or stools, Super Mario costume or anything Mario related to wear (hat etc.), barbie dolls or any dolls (some will be used for decoration/set and some to be used in a dance).

Second letter to purchase t-shirts, video recording and wristbands will be sent out early next week.

Sandringham is host to Sandringham Computing Hub, based in the Teaching School Hub, a part of the National Centre for Computing Education. Their role is to support teachers across a region of over 2000 schools through professional training to help them to teach Computing effectively. Sandringham is also the ‘regional co-ordination hub’, supporting other hubs in a region of almost 10,000 schools.

On Wednesday the 6th December, we were visited by a delegation from Colombia, that consisted of Ministers and members of the British Council in Colombia. The delegation were interested in finding out more about the work of Sandringham Computing Hub and learning from the way that they have been leading the way in Computing Education in the country. Miss Taylor-Paul welcomed them to the hub and the school. They then heard from Mr Turton and Mr Smith, leads from Sandringham Computing Hub, about their work, which this year has included overseeing the professional developing of over 1,000 teachers on 102 courses. Mr Allday introduced them to Computing at Sandringham School and the delegation then visited a Year 8 class coding in Python and saw some of the Year 13 A Level Computer Science students working on their projects. They were particularly impressed with the level of complexity that Year 8s were able to use in coding using the programming language Python. They also had a lot of fun looking at some of the Year 13 projects including one piece of software that had been created by Tariq E-J. During the break they met Mrs Flynn-Coley and Mrs. Qanungo, computing teachers at Sandringham, they also met three sixth form students who are going on to student Computing further after Sandringham – Jocelyn R, Nataliya G and Imogen R, and they very impressed with their knowledge and plans for the future. Supporting the visit were two of our 6th form students studying Spanish, Henry T and Alfie G, who were able to converse with the visitors in Spanish and our very own Colombian member of staff, Mrs. Cruz-Morrison who is cover supervisor at the school.

It has been a busy week with not one but two theatre trips. Dance students went to see Edward Scissorhands at Sadler's Wells Theatre and our Year 10 and 11 students enjoyed a fun performance of the Play That Goes Wrong. It is great for students to be able to be inspired by professional performances and also gives them a chance to enjoy themselves after all their hard work in lessons. 

Lots of you now are taking part in Parkrun! Johnson house are still out in front and Elgar now in second, but joining the top three is Turing house. Runners, walkers and volunteers from last week were brothers Conrad L-O (9A) and Evan L-O (7J), Molly A (9J), Seb D (13J), Thomas W (9N) and Mr Smith (Staff, Turing). 

Earn one point for your house every time you walk, run or volunteer at a parkrun or junior parkrun. So why not get active this weekend at a parkrun near you. Parkrun map an be found here. And there is a Google Form here to tell us of your participation. 

If you’ve never taken part before you will need a parkrun barcode. How to register and further details can be found here. We look forward to hearing from you!

Our Sixth Form Open Evening is taking place on January 11th 2024. This is the main information evening for prospective students (current Year 11 at Sandringham and at other schools.) You can find out more information here. We look forward to seeing you there. 

This week’s whole school theme is counting down to Christmas. One of the main themes that Christmas aims to foster is giving, so as a school this week we have been encouraging students to take part in, and prepare for a variety of charity events. The first of these was the Fawcett and Hepworth Charity week where there were a series of clothing collections, and bake sales that took place every lunchtime. The week culminates with the Year 7 and 8 Charity Disco in the school hall tonight. All of these were to raise money for our schools chosen charities. Alongside this students received a thought provoking and inspiring assembly from STEP, which reminded student’s why there is such a close link between Christmas and charity, and to prepare students for the FEED food collections that will be happening every morning at the school next week.

This week, we are delighted to include one of our fabulous Year 7 students, Clara W in 7N who is a chorister in the St Albans Cathedral Choir. This week the Cathedral choristers sang in John Rutter‘s Christmas Celebration Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bach Choir, conducted by John Rutter himself. The choir sang beautifully and it was a wonderful experience. Congratulations Clara, we are very proud of you! 



 

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: lucide

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: deutlich

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: lúcido/a

Thinking Question:

• Adjectives in French, German and Spanish have to ‘agree’ with the gender of the noun. Why do you think some languages have gendered nouns and some don’t?

This week’s book of the week has sat on the shelf unloved for the best part of a year but has recently been picked up and enjoyed by quite a few students.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third is a smallish Viking with a longish name. Hiccup's father is chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe which means Hiccup is the Hope and the Heir to the Hairy Hooligan throne - but most of the time Hiccup feels like a very ordinary boy, finding it hard to be a Hero. In the first How to Train Your Dragon book Hiccup must lead ten novices in their initiation into the Hairy Hooligan Tribe. They have to train their dragons or be banished from the tribe forever! But what if Hiccup's dragon resembles a small brown bunny with wings? The Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus is stirring and wants to devour every Viking on the Isle of Berk . . . Can Hiccup save the tribe - and become a Hero?

Daniel S in 7J has recently devoured the whole series and says, “I really enjoyed the plot throughout this series, I found it a true enjoyment to read. Anyone who likes adventure and fantasy books, or just looking for what to read next, I would definitely recommend this to.”

L is for…lucid [adjective]

Definition: Clearly expressed and easy to understand, or (of a person) thinking or speaking clearly.

Example: She gave a clear and lucid account of her plans for the company’s future.

Synonyms: Clear, Unambiguous

Antonyms: Unclear, Confused, Obscure

Etymology:   Lucid comes from the Latin verb ‘lucere', meaning to shine.

Our U13 team had a great day last Friday at the county table tennis tournament. Some strong competition but a respectable 4th place finish for our girls. Great effort!

Quite a few football fixtures with unfortunately not as much success as we would have liked. Our U15 girls had an unlucky result against KWS. Despite a solid defence from our back 4 and everyone giving their all- the final result was a loss. POM Roxie K and goal from Sophie D.

The Y7 B team’s county cup run unfortunately also ended at the last 16 stage this week. After a valiant comeback attempt in the second half from 3 down, they narrowly lost out 3-2 to NBS. Next up National Cup last 64. 

Our Year 7 A team also had a tough week losing out to a strong JOA side. However, plenty of positives to take forward and the attitude shown across the team was excellent

We finish however with some good news! Despite a very tough battle for the 1st XI this week V Leventhorpe...goals from Noah, Cian and an extra time penalty from Ben sees us through to the @SchoolsFootball National Cup last 16 with a 3-2 win. Well done boys.

And our Year 8 B team are now through to the final 16 of the EFSA (National) football cup after a win against Ashlyns! Great performances from everyone involved

Huge congratulations to both the U14 and U16 boys Badminton teams this morning, both finishing 7th place in the County Round. Qualifying for the county round is an achievement in itself but they played superbly throughout, against some very good opposition

Well done to Yr7A Netball team for a busy week with fixtures. We had an unlucky loss against Beaumont 16-10 on Monday but a intense and successful game on Thursday winning 13-12 against Roundwood Park. This means we are through to the next round of the cup. Well done to Evie M and Grace B who received players of the matches!

And congratulations also to the U19 Netball Team who beat SAS B team in the District League today. POM Phoebe

We are very proud of the team above who finished 9th school in the country at the @SchoolAthletics XC Cup National Final today with an amazing race from all 6 of our team. Well done boys on this fantastic achievement. The highest place finish from a Hertforshire school this year!

The U13 boys' hockey team played against Dame Alice Owens on Monday winning 1-0. The game was much faster and requires more skill on the hockey astro but the boys quickly adapted to the playing surface and demonstrated their skills under pressure. The teams were evenly matched with the game flowing from end to end. There were numerous shots at goal by both teams but excellent goal keeping from Daniel and the Dame Alice keepers meant it was still 0 – 0  at half time. The defence remained resolute in the second half but in another Sandringham attacking move, an excellent shot was initially saved by the goal keeper, but Isaac pounced on the rebound to score. Overall the team work, positive attitude and quality of hockey from both teams was superb and a performance the entire squad are to be proud of.

U13 squad. Juan, Alex, Thomas, Rehan, Jack, Kenzie, Tim, Christopher, Daniel, Jamie, Isaac, Ben and Ishaan

This week saw the start of the U14 boys’ Basketball season with a brilliant opening win 49-33 win against RWP. There were notable performances from a number of players, but Sam M in particular stood out in this match. 2 more games to follow next week- let's hope there is more of the same.

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.

It’s back! Sandringham Dance Faculty bring you the ever-growing Velocity Dance Show. Sure to be an absolute showstopper not to be missed!

Tickets are on sale here and cost £12.50 / £10 / £8.50

Sandringham School's Music Faculty present a traditional service of lessons and carols, taking place in St Saviour's Church in Marshalswick on Wednesday 13th December at 7pm.

Tickets are on sale here and cost £4-£5