Well done to our amazing dancers of the last two weeks Luca, Lulu, Sarah and Maya. They have impressed us with their amazing dancing so keep up the great work!

Tickets are also selling very quickly for our whole school Dance show, Velocity, showcasing next February. Please head to the Sandpit website now to buy tickets. This is always a popular event!

We continue to look for volunteers to help us on Thursday 18th January.  We will be running mock interviews for Year 11 students and would like for every student to experience an interview.  If you have experience interviewing (in any field), please let us know if you can help from 11am - 1:30pm by contacting Carly Eady (eadyc@mysandstorm.org). Thank you in advance for your support!

This week we feature Rebecca T in 8A who has an amazing musical achievement to celebrate and is looking for your votes! Rebecca is a finalist for a melody that she composed for the Radio 3 Carol Competition and has written an article about her experience. The photographs were taken at Maida Vale Studios and the public vote for the winner is only open for  a week so if you would like to vote for her, you can listen to the BBC Singers’ recording of her carol and vote here. What an fantastic achievement and experience Rebecca. Good luck and we look forward to hearing the results soon.

On 4th December I had the most incredible experience as I saw and heard the amazing BBC Singers perform a piece of music that I had written. A month earlier I had submitted to the BBC a recording of me singing my version of the first verse and chorus of the poem Polaris written by the poet laureate Simon Armitage. In the time between my submission and hearing from the Radio 3 producer, my musical arrangement of the carol was shortlisted, transcribed and re-recorded so that it could be reviewed anonymously by a panel of judges including the broadcaster Clive Myrie and Blue Peter presenter Mwaka Mudenda. The panel of judges determined the four finalists in each of the two categories.

The BBC put me in touch with an arranger called Iain Farrington (https://www.iainfarrington.com/) who transcribed and helped me to arrange my carol for the choir to sing. It was really interesting working with him and I had to think about what I personally wanted from the carol and tried to convey that to the arranger. I wanted it to sound like a traditional folk tune that carol singers would enjoy performing. Finally, on 4th December I went to the historic BBC Maida Vale studio to attend the recording of my carol. There, I met the other three finalists in my category (under 16) and heard all the carols recorded and was taken to another recording studio to pre-record an interview with a Radio 3 producer about my carol.  Yesterday, on 14 December 2023, the finalists and our carols were announced on the BBC Radio 3 breakfast programme and over the next week my setting of the carol will be broadcast at all times of the day on Radio 3 and can also be heard on the BBC website.

It has been difficult in the last few weeks not being able to tell anyone about the competition but so exciting to hear the carols played on the radio for the first time yesterday. On the afternoon of Monday 18 December 2023 I have been invited to go back to the BBC Maida Vale studios, this time to attend a concert by the BBC Singers which is going to be broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 which will feature my tune for the carol together with those of all the other finalists.

The carol competition is now open to a public vote, until 20 December, to determine the ultimate winner in each of the two categories. It would be lovely if everyone in the school community could get involved. Here is a link to the website where you can listen to all the finalists for both age categories and where you can vote for your favourite setting of the carol. The winners of the competition will be announced on the Radio 3 Breakfast programme on 21 December 2023.

All 8 houses were represented in a brilliant turn out for our annual Sixth Form Quiz this week. Turing retain their from 2022 and win 400 points- the rest of the results are as follows:

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

Please could all outstanding balances in ParentPay be settled by the end of term. Thank you for your co-operation. 

We are in the process of organising our fifteenth German Exchange between students at Sandringham and the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer Gymnasium in Quickborn near Hamburg. For the past 14 years students have hosted German students in September and then visited Quickborn later in the school year. Each visit lasts a week. During the visit to St Albans, the English and German students go on a day trip together and the German group have a day at Harry Potter Studios. The weekends and evenings are spent with families. While in Germany, our students visit Hamburg and another local town (last year Lübeck), attend lessons, spend afternoons with the German students in town and at home and generally experience life in Germany. We aim to follow the same pattern with the German group visiting us in late September 2024, with our group travelling to Germany in March 2025. This is an exciting opportunity for our students to make meaningful contact with young Germans, to develop their language skills, and to broaden their life experiences.

Please email trips@sandringham.aat.school if you are interested and we will send you further information.

This week at Sandringham we have been collecting Non-Perishable goods as a part of the Verso Care Foodbank. Every morning we have had students bringing in a variety of items that will be going to people in our community who are less fortunate than ourselves. There are still some donations coming in but on the last count we have managed to collect well over 600 items so this will make a real difference to people. This is especially at this time of year where, although many of us will be enjoying Christmas, the differences between us can become more pronounced.

Thank you for all your help and donations!

We had a feeling at the start of September that this was going to be a busy term as the requests for reading recommendations began to flow. As we approach the Christmas holidays we are still getting lots of students discussing and borrowing books to read over the festive period – there’s still a couple of days to go and lots of books on the shelves, so time yet to find that perfect holiday read!

Our library monitors have also been busy this term and have helped to issue over three thousand items to students and staff. The whole school read, “ You Don’t Know What War is” is understandably the most popular book of the year so far and has been issued an impressive 194 times but is closely followed by Karen J McManus’ thriller “One of Us is Lying”. “I am Malala”, the “Heartstopper” series, Sue Wallman’s “Such a Good Liar” and Robert Muchamore’s “The Recruit” have also been very popular reading choices.

Here in the LRC we have loved Jonathan Stroud’s “Scarlett and Browne” series, Claire Chambers’ “Small Pleasures” and “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver . Staff member Mrs Holian also recommends "Lessons in Chemistry," "The Last Devil to Die", "The Maid" and "Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow."  We are always happy to take recommendations from students and the wider Sandringham community, so please let us know if there’s something that you have read and enjoyed and we will look to add it to the school library collection.

Happy Christmas Reading!

Please find below details of the Foodbank opening times over the festive period.

Christmas Week: Monday 25th December 2023 - The foodbank distribution centres at Redbourn & FEED The Verso Vineyard Church* will be closed. However, FEED at The Verso Vineyard Church will open instead on the morning of December 27th -10.00-12.00 Tuesday 26th December 2023 - The Foodbank at New Greens will be closed.

*The Verso Vineyard Church will be hosting a Christmas Day Meal for those individuals who will be on their own this Christmas. Details are on their website calendar under ‘WhatsOn’. Guests need to sign up and it is only for those living within District.

New Year Week: Saturday 30th December 2024 - Dagnall Street will be closed. Monday 1 January 2024 at Redbourn & The Verso Vineyard Church will be closed  - However, FEED at The Verso Vineyard Church will then open on the morning of 3 January 2024 - 10.00-12.00

 All the rest of the distribution centres will be open as normal on their usual days.   Any home deliveries that are booked in during this period may be subject to some variation.  But clients will be kept informed of how and when the deliveries will be made.

Should you require any foodbank vouchers between 20th Dec -4th Jan please contact Gemma Lovett before 19th December

As the holidays approach, we are aware that some students may need additional support for their mental wellbeing. The picture above and the PDF attached include a useful list of services students can access, should they be feeling overwhelmed. 

On Wednesday 20th December, we have our annual Sandringham school Charity day, finishing at 12:10 for the Christmas holiday. This year's theme is ‘fairytales’ for which we are asking students to dress up in ‘fairytale’ themed fancy dress for £1 or come in non-uniform for £2. This donation can be made online via parent pay. This year we have dedicated the day to raising funds for Herts for Refugees, Youth Talk and Unicef. The students will be taking part in a rotation of activities throughout the morning including quizzes, a pantomime and a ‘Winter Wonderland’ activity. During the Winter Wonderland rotation, students will be able to play numerous fairground games in which prizes can be won. Due to the ever growing cashless world, students will use tokens in order to play the games. These tokens can be purchased via parent pay at the cost of 50p per token, therefore anything on top of the non uniform payment, will be given out to the student in tokens on the morning of Charity day.

As mentioned in the Headlines, Wednesday evening saw our annual Christmas Carol Concert at St Saviours Church with around 130 students taking part. As always it is a lovely evening and despite the chilly conditions, parents and friends were able to enjoy an evening of festive readings and singing. Thank you to everyone who took part and represented the school so brilliantly. And to the staff involved in making another hugely enjoyable Music Faculty event. 

This week we feature Oscar McK, in Year 10, who is enjoying success not just in the field of music but in the sporting arena as well. Having completed his Grade 8 piano exam last year, Oscar has spent much of this year honing his cello skills and took his grade 5 cello exam last week, where he not only achieved a Distinction but also an impressive score of 141 out of 150. In addition to this, Oscar swims competitively for his swimming club and at the end of year awards ceremony was awarded Best Competitive Male Swimmer 2023. He has also achieved County Consideration Times for ten swim events and is hopeful that he will be able to compete in the Hertfordshire County Championships in January 2024. All fantastic achievements, well done Oscar, we are very proud of you. 

If you would like to nominate someone for the Student Spotlight in the New Year, please email Holianm@sandringham.aat.school with any details and/or photographs. 

The final standings for our ParkRun participation at the end of 2023 are as follows.

• 1st Johnson
• 2nd Elgar
• 3rd Turing

Braving the very wet and windy parkrun last weekend were Evan L-O (7J), Conrad L-O (9A), Xavier H (10A), Melissa G (12N), Daniel N (12N) and Seb D (13E). 

Over the Christmas break, why not take part in the parkrun specials on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Details here.  Google Form to tell us of your participation. If you’ve never taken part before you will need to register. Further details here. 

Advanced Notice: - starting in the new year, we have schoolrun, a timed 3km run or walk to support those wanting to step up from the junior parkrun distance or a training opportunity for those running the parkrun. Every Wednesday, at 3.30pm. Look out for updates and signup via SOCS. 

We look forward to the next update in the new year. Merry Christmas everyone!

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

Please share with friends who may be interested.

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?

A Christmas themed STEM News today with scientific activities from recent meetings of the Year 7 Science club led by Tabitha D in Year 11 with assistance from Abigail V in Year 12 and Molly P and Disha C in Year 13. During the session, students explored the fascinating phenomenon of regelation, which involves the melting and refreezing of ice under pressure. They conducted their own experiments, observed the process, and sought to explain why an ice block remains intact even after a wire passes through it. This experiment showcased the unique properties of ice under pressure and provided a captivating example of material behaviour under specific conditions. Additionally, the students enjoyed creating beautiful clusters of snow through a magic crystal tree experiment, which served as a fun Christmas project demonstrating principles such as capillary action, evaporation, crystallisation, and saturation. The students thoroughly enjoyed the magic of science during this Christmas season, engaging in captivating experiments and discovering the wonders of the scientific world.

On Tuesday, our staff showed off their baking skills in a "biscuit themed" House Baking competition. Great British Bake Off eat your heart out. The results were as follows:

• 1st - Shakespeare
• 2nd - Johnson
• 3rd - Newton

Well done to everyone involved! 

If you haven't yet bought a raffle ticket for the Fo$S Christmas Fair, then there is still time to do so. Tickets can be bought on ParentPay for £1 each by clicking on the link under your child's name here. Each ticket purchased online will be allocated a paper ticket and added to the others sold. Tickets can be bought up until the draw, which will be made on Tuesday 19th December. Prizes include Pub in the Park Tickets,a Wine and Dine Hamper, a Pamper Me Hamper, a Fitness Lovers Hamper, and a Try Something New Hamper. All money raised goes towards supporting students at our school so please do support this worthy cause.

We would like to highlight this year's "Kafkaesque Kreatures" Oxford German Olympiad which students can enter. All entries must be submitted in German using this form by 7th March 2024 and tasks for different age groups include:

Years 7 to 9 (age 11-14) 1. Write about a day in your life as a Käfer, Affe, Maulwurf, Maus or Fisch and illustrate it. 2. Write an essay or create a video presentation on the topic "Wie kommunizieren Tiere/Vögel/Insekten?" 3. Create a comic strip of an animal, bird, insect or fish having an unexpected adventure.

Years 10 and 11 (age 14-16) 1. Write a story about an event or adventure that brings together a human and an animal and tell it in a comic strip. 2. Design a brochure for a study trip focused on the conservation of a particular species of animal. 3. Make a video entitled "Mein Odradek" showing and explaining how to make an imaginary animal or insect out of m

You can find out more details here. Good luck! 

We are excited to announce that we have two new clubs starting next year. The timetable is as follows:

Monday - 1:30 - J1/2 - Year 8 Drama Club - Staging a play - New club for 2024

Tuesday - 1:30 - J1/2 - Year 7 Young Actor's Company (YAC) - continues with same group as before

Wednesday - 1:30 - J1/2 - Musical Theatre Club (MT) - Year 7, 8, 9 - New club for 2024

Friday - 1:30 - J1/2 - Year 9 Sandringham Actor's Society (SAS) - continues with the same group as before

All clubs are working towards final performances of their work in the Summer Term for the Drama Showcase in Arts Week - a great opportunity to perform on The Sandpit stage if you haven't had a chance before.

It would be great to see some new faces at one of our clubs! If you have any questions, please contact your Drama teacher for more information.

This week’s whole school theme is Human Rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948. These rights are designed as inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status. Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. During the week students considered these rights in their ‘thought for the week’ reading an article about our rights and considering whether countries should have their own or whether there should be a universally agreed set of rights.

We have been made aware of the following events running locally, which are open to all and include a free meal that has been prepared by local pubs and restaurants. They include:

• children’s storytelling 
• biscuit decorating  live music 
• winter coats for adults and children 

You can book here or walk ins are also welcome. Please see the posters above or below for more information.

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: La myriade

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Die Unmengen 

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: La miríada

Thinking Question:

• The French and English words this week are very similar - why do you think French and English have many common words?

M is for…myriad [noun]

Definition: Consisting of a very great number.

Example: It was difficult to decide what to do because the city presented us with myriad possibilities for fun.

Synonyms: Countless, Endless, Infinite, Multiple

Antonyms: Limited, Measurable

Etymology:  Originating from the Greek ‘myrias’, which in turn comes from ‘myrioi’, meaning countless or ten thousand.

Our Year 7 team had a good win in the Junior NBA tonight against Adeyfield this week. There were multiple scorers and some debuts to top off another win this year. Well done boys!

Our Year 9s also played St Edmunds in the national cup. This team have gained a lot of confidence since the start of term and put in a convincing win against a strong St Edmund’s side. The team also put in another thriller performance vs Ridgeway in the county cup later in the week. The game ended 36-35 with a final basket to seal the victory from Sam McC in the closing seconds. Amazing work boys.

The Y7 B team's National cup run came to an end at the round of last 64. The boys gave a great account of themselves but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to beat a strong Ashlyn’s side. 

The few final fixtures of this term are shown above. Well done to everyone on a brilliant term so far. We look forward to bringing you more successful results next term.

Well done to Year 7 A team for a successful win of 11-5 against SJL on Monday placing us top of the league table. A big well done to Hannah K for receiving player of the match. We look forward to the new year for more fixtures to come!

Well done as well to the U15 Netball team for their double win this week. First up was their league game against RPS which resulted in a win and and OP - Cerys M, CP - Sophie B, PP - Holly W. And the following day they faced Loreto, winning again taking them through to the semi final of the district plate competition! Thankyou to our lovely supporters for cheering us on and a speedy recovery for Mia so we can have her back on the team soon! OP - Cerys M, CP - Katherine K

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

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.