As mentioned in the Headlines, Year 10 had the honour of visiting Neasdon Temple on Thursday to learn more about Hinduism and this special place of worship. They had the privilege of joining fellow worshippers during the midday Rajbhog Arti at the Mandir. Zander M in Year 10 said of the day "I really enjoyed the day as it was great to learn about the experiences and culture of Hinduism. I was interested to learn about the significance of the temple and how the leader had come over from India to open and bless the building. It was absolutely beautiful inside the temple and impressive how everything had been hand carved. I learnt that various sections had been sent around the world twice to make them fitting for the temple itself. Looking up was a must, to get the full experience of the grand architecture. It was great to be fully immersed in the Hindu way of life for a full day and to learn new things about such a fascinating culture." 

Well done to Turing who are still on top overall with the house points this week! 

1. Turing 12,244
2. Shakespeare 11,424
3. Newton 11,321

Special mentions this week also go to:

• Fanya P 7T with the most points (15)
• 7T highest house points overall (2886)
• Alvin L (7F) with an impressive 201 house points overall- the most in the school.
• 8H for the highest quiz score so far (89/115)

UPCOMING EVENTS  

• Battle of the bands – 6th February
• House assemblies – W/C Jan 29th
• Vertical form quiz – Friday 2nd Feb
• House Maths – Wednesday 31st Jan
• Shakespeare and Turing charity week – Feb 5th – Feb 9th

A busy house week, starting with House Photography where we were delighted with a beautiful array of images. Well done to the following students’ photos made the shortlist:

Hannah E, Selina E, Xavier H, Astrid L-J, Varvara N, Summer T, Ceyrus C, Isla C, Layla J, Chelsea L, Eliza P, Charlotte B, Carmel F, Aaron W, Siya M, Megan N, Amelia C, Mia L, Caleb M, Nathan P, Sasha T, Theofania P, and Max T.

And to the following who were the finalists and eventual winner. Finalists in top picture, shortlists below. 

• Siya M (9N) – Winner
• Mia L (12S)
• Nathan P (11S)
• Max T (10T)
• Varvara N, (8T)
• Chelsea L (7J

On Thursday, our annual Lion King In a Day ELD took place. The Art team welcomed all the Year 8 Visual artists who worked on the set design for the performance in The Sandpit Theatre. One group created some impressive giant fabric designs that were hung in the theatre to an amazing backdrop for the performers. Three groups worked on creating birds by cutting out card from templates and using acrylic paint to paint both realistic bright African birds and more abstract patterned birds which were hung from the ceiling and decorated the seating areas. We were so impressed with their creativity hard work and excellent behaviour shown. It was a fantastic day and a chance for students to understand how many different areas of the arts can lead to jobs within the theatre. We hope it has inspired our young people to join in with the clubs on offer such as photography club, art club and textiles club which can all be found on SOCS. Mrs Kelly also talked to young people about how the day could be used as part of their Trinity Arts Award. Please contact Mrs Kelly if anyone is interested in finding out more.

If you would like more information on learning to train to teach, you can join one of the Alban TSH ITT events in February.  New additions to their training offer include flexible training pathways (3 days a week, 4 days a week and full time, assessment only routes and QTS with PGCE.) Please see the pictures above and below for more information 

The whole school theme this week is Online Safety in recognition of Safer Internet Day. Safer Internet Day 2024 will take place on the 6th of February 2024, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Making a difference, managing influence and navigating change online’. Coordinated in the UK by the UK Safer Internet Centre, the celebration sees thousands of organisations get involved to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people. The students received an excellent assembly from Assistant Headteacher, Mr Allday where he talked about the importance of remaining sceptical when viewing information online. We encourage all students to be critical of the information they read online and consider what they can do to stay safe online.

This week we feature 19 of our Sandringham students, across several year groups, who will be performing in the Gang Show  from 14th-17th February at the Alban Arena. For those of you unfamiliar with the show itself,  young people aged  between 11 to 18 in Scouts and Girl Guides across St Albans have been rehearsing since October to prepare for the all singing-all dancing show. With something for everyone, this variety performance features many much loved musical numbers based on themes, interspersed with short comedy sketches, and additional small dance and singing numbers. Featuring a breadth of musical genres, spanning several decades the cast will perform hits by artists such as One Direction, Dean Martin, Run DMC, Glenn Miller, Blur, Billie Eilish and Pink with many more besides.

Tickets have been released and are now available via the volunteer run box office and can now be ordered either online via the show’s website or over phone/email.  www.stalbansgangshow.com/tickets

We wish our students, and all of the cast members good luck for their upcoming performances!

Well done to Miles C in 7H, who achieved grade 7 distinction in his Trinity drum exam just before Xmas. An impressive achievement Miles! 

If you would like to nominate someone for the student spotlight who has gone above and beyond, please email holianm@sandringham.aat.school with a few brief details and/or photographs to include. We look forward to hearing from you. 

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

Please share with friends who may be interested.

FO$S would like to thank everyone who supported the raffle at the Christmas Fair, by  either buying tickets or donating gifts. The raffle raised an amazing £2,600 bringing our Christmas Fair total to £6,000! This year we are focusing our fund raising on supporting the school minibus project. 

The winners of the raffle were:

• Lee 10A
• Annabella 7T
• Olivia 13A
• Maya B (8H)
• Micheal Jones

And the highest bid for the pantomime tickets went to Katie Davidson-Smith.

Our next event will a Quiz night in March so please keep an eye out for further updates. 

Competitions and wider opportunities: The National Centre for Early Music and BBC Radio 3 are hosting a competition for young composers. Follow the link here for more information

Sound and Music - In the Making There is a scheme called 'In the Making' which is now accepting applications. It sounds like a really exciting opportunity, and we have had a number of students attend the residential composition school before and have found it to be invaluable. This is a 12 month programme, which will support 70 young people to grow their confidence and expand their skills and creative ambition in an open and accessible environment. In the Making supports anyone interested in working with music and sound through a diverse range of opportunities. These include our annual week-long residential Composition School, online skills sessions, bespoke creative composing tasks and networking opportunities. The course will enable you to develop your artistic portfolio by receiving a recording of your music by professional musicians to support your future career progression. You will also have access to insight and expertise from the composers on our In Motion programme. Follow the link here for more information and to apply. The deadline is 30th April

Unfortunately, we have received further complaints regarding instances of inconsiderate parking around our school area. These include cars being parked across dropped kerbs, in front of resident's gates and parking over pavements.  Whilst we completely understand that many of our families come to school by car, we would like to remind you to park safely, lawfully and with respect to residents and other road users. We do appreciate the majority of parents who do park safely and considerately. If you are driving to school  for drop off or pick-up please consider the following

• Driveways/Dropped Kerbs -Please do not park on front of neighbours houses/gateways.
• Pavement - Please do not park on pavements - blocked pavement restricts access and forces pedestrians onto the road.  
• Lines - Please do not park or stop on zigzag or double yellow lines.
• Waiting - Please don't wait in your car with the engine still on - consider the cost of fuel and the environmental costs.
• Park Further away - Please consider leaving home 5 minutes earlier and parking a little further away, and walking the last part.  The extra walk each day has great health benefits and  it will ease the congestion on our busy streets.
• Walk/Cycle - Please consider other ways of coming to school.  
• School Car Park -  Please do not park in the staff car park.  

Well done to our Dancers of the Week, Grace C (Y13) and Alexa W (Y10). You are awesome!

In other Dance News, as mentioned in the Headlines, we had a wonderful event on Thursday evening with around 50 students taking part in our House Choreography. There were some brilliant performances and it was great to see students supporting their fellow house mates. The winners were:

• 1st - Megan C (Turing)
• 2nd - Rose O (Johnson)
• 3rd- Poppy, Amelie & Zara (Turing)

Well done to everyone who took part! 

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. The next one will be held on Wednesday 31st January. Full details are in the picture above. There is no need to book, please just go along if you feel it would be useful. 

As mentioned in the Headlines, Year 8 had a fantastic "musical in a day" themed ELD combining art, music, dance and drama to get a rousing performance of the Lion King in the Sandpit Theatre. Xander P in Year 8 said of his experience: "I took part in the Drama group. Initially we did some warm ups and then we got into groups and had to work together to act like an animal. We chose an elephant and it was fun to come up with ideas of how to show this. We then performed small sections of the Lion King using a script. Some people learnt face painting and other practised their scene. At the end of the day, the whole year group got together and performed as a group. Some had been learning the drums and the dance group performed along to this. Others had learnt "Can you feel the love tonight" and "I just cant wait to be King" which had been pre recorded to go over the acting. The art team had created some stunning backgrounds and the tech team were great at working the spotlights and making the performance look dramatic. The best part was the performance at the end and getting to work together as a form and year group. I learnt some new drama skills and this was my favourite ELD so far." 

Year 7 had a fantastic day for ELD spending their time Battle of the Poets. Rayyan J in 7F said the following about his experience: 

At the start, we we were given four different words and had the think of other words which rhymed with them. Then we went to another room and were given different pieces of poetry to perform in groups. It was fun as we had to think of ways to make our poem sound interesting. The third part was a challenge to write a haaiku poem- ours was about our feelings towards poetry and again, we performed it to the bigger group. After this, we went to the Sandpit Theatre and had a talk by Harry Baker (a world champion poet) who read us some of his own poems including "The A to Z of Time and Space" which was really clever and gave us some good ideas. The final part was to write our own poems which would be performed in front of the whole year group at the end of the day. Our group wrote about Oranges but the winner in our form was a poem about a flea who wanted to buzz like a bee. The most fun part of the day, was finding the winner and Harry Baker creating a poem on the spot with words we had given him. He managed to compose a brilliant rap about polar bears, oranges, wonky carrots, potatoes, waffles and English breakfast. It was really inspiring and also funny. It was great to have a chilled day working with my form, having fun and making poetry more enjoyable.

A big shout out to all of the Drama module students for creating some amazing special effects and stage makeup looks. Students have been working really hard to learn some technical aspects alongside developing their own makeup concepts inspired by TV and Film. As you can see, the results are fantastic! Well done everyone.

No change at the top, but it is fantastic to see more and more new runners. Hywel J (10J), Alice D (8N), Theo S (8A) and Zita S (13E) are now contributing to the overall standings. As ever, please use the Google Form to tell us of your participation. 

You can see the latest schoolrun results here. This is every Wednesday@ 3.30pm.Do come along to join in the fun.

Details of Mr Smith’s charity event are here also. 

Happy running!

As mentioned in the Headlines, we are delighted to announce that Sandringham has been placed 67th in the top 200 Sporting Schools of the year 2023 by School Sports Magazine. This is a huge leap from our rating of 163 last year and is based on our national finals and regional finals success in cross country, tennis, netball, athletics, basketball and our strong seasons in football. This means that we are now in the top 20 state schools in the country for our sport, an impressive feat which is a huge testament to our amazing students who are showing hard-work and commitment in sports across the board. As always, they are supported by our hard-working PE department who work tirelessly to put on training sessions, arrange matches and support our students inside and outside of school hours. Finally, this couldn't be done without the parents who drive their children around the country and stand on the freezing sidelines to support them- so we appreciate you all immensely as well. The sporting season is already well underway with some impressive results so far and we look forward to reporting even more success as the year progresses, but more importantly, we hope that students continue to enjoying sport at Sandringham School and all of the physical and mental health benefits that it provides.

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?

Battle of the Bands Tuesday 6th February, 7pm: We still have a few spaces to sign up for this brilliant event - deadline is Monday 22nd Jan! Tickets are on sale here. Do come along to watch/support those involved.

Spring Concert Tuesday 5th March, 7pm: Letters have now been given out to our clubs and ensembles and tickets are on sale via the Sandpit Theatre website here

Instrumental lessons: We are proud to offer instrumental lessons on a wide range of instruments at Sandringham School and have just welcomed a new drum teacher to the team. Music lessons are provided by the hertfordshire Music Service so for more information and the application form, please follow the link here.

Student achievements: Well done to Allana I for achieving Distinction in your Grade 1 flute exam!

On Thursday, Year 11 attended their "You're Hired" ELD.  The day involved interactive talks from Elstree Screen Arts Academy, Oaklands College, West Herts College, Herts Services for Young People and our own Sixth Form team at Sandringham.  One of the sessions consisted of an individual interview with a local volunteer.  We are extremely grateful to all of the volunteers to helped us by conducting interviews, thank you so much!

The students said:

• "My favourite part was the interview, as I feel like it gave me more confidence"
• "I enjoyed looking at the creative subjects on offer at Oaklands"
• "The day was fun and engaging"

Thank you to everyone involved for making this a day to remember for Year 11.

Year 9 students went to IMW Duxford yesterday for an enriching ELD experience to learn more about role of aircraft in twentieth century British and European history. Students had the opportunity to learn more about Duxford’s role during the Battle of Britain as a vital airfield to repel Luftwaffe attacks, and witnessed a re-enactment of the wartime operations room in action. They were then able to explore the wartime aircraft and learn more about the observation stations, wartime emergency services and shelters that kept British civilians safe. Additionally, students learnt about the American involvement in Europe in the later part of the twentieth century with an introduction to the Cold War and exploring the bombers and spy planes that were stationed and used by the American Air Force. Finally, students were able to engage with a range of STEM content, including the principles of flight, aviation technology and a tour around Concorde.

It was a wonderful opportunity for the year group to expand their knowledge and appreciation of both their History and STEM disciplines and we hope that they enjoyed the day.

The student wellbeing team are always available in school to help students who need support. Outside of school, we thought it would be useful to include a list of NHS approved apps which can be accessed for additional help with mental health. 

These include: Be Mindful, Beat Panic,BlueIce, Calm Harm, Catch It, Chill Panda, Cove, disrtACT app, eQuoo, Feeling Good, ieso, MeeTwo, My Possible Self mental health, SilverCloud, Sleepio, Sleepstation, Stress & Anxiety Companio, The Student Health App, ThinkNinja, Thrive, Togetherall and WorryTree

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: poignant

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: bewegend

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: emotivo/a

Thinking Question:

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

On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan's song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.

Jessica P in 7A has recently read the book and comments: “I thoroughly enjoyed the book and all of it's characters. I liked how the world of Narnia was described in such detail that it almost felt like I was there! My favourite part of the book was when they went into the land of Charn and found Jadis there. I thought that the writing was outstanding”

P is for…poignant [adjective]

Definition: Causing or having a very sharp feeling of sadness.

Example: The monument is a poignant reminder of those who died in the war.

Synonyms: Emotional, Moving

Antonyms: Unemotional, Indifferent

Etymology:  Derives from the Latin verb ‘pungere’ meaning to prick or sting.

Huge well done to the U15A netball team on their win against Beaumont this week, and a big thank you to Julia and Sasha for helping out and smashing it! OP - Sophie B, CP - Katherine K, PP - Julia H

Well done to our Year 10s in the district futsal tournament this week- you were brilliant.

Our Year 7 girls also played in some competitive Futsal on Tuesday at the district tournament. They had 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses. Great play from all involved.

Please see above for upcoming fixtures this week.

Our Year 11 basketball team put in another strong performance last Friday with a win over St. Columba’s in their last group game of the National Cup. Well done team. 

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