Thanks once again to Fo$S, both the English and Drama faculties are thrilled to confirm that our subscription to Digital Theatre + will continue next academic year. This learning platform has proved invaluable since acquiring it in July 2022, and through watching a variety of superb performances students across all key stages have had their taught texts brought to life. The rising cost of theatre tickets and the challenge of securing group bookings make running year group theatre trips a challenge but with Digital Theatre + students can experience the power of performance from their classroom or home. 

As well as performance, the platform offers behind the scenes interviews with actors and directors, documentaries, and high-quality lectures. Some of the GCSE focused lectures are led by the senior examiner for AQA English Literature and hearing their interpretation of text has proved invaluable for students.  Digital Theatre + is now firmly built into our curriculum and our super-curriculum - promoting independent learning as well as enriching the classroom experience. 

The cost of this learning platform is significant and we are extremely grateful to Fo$s for their continued support of the Arts, and agreeing once again to cover the amount in full. 

Students can access Digital Theatre + through the Sandstorm homepage. We hope that families can make use of this platform and enjoying watching performances together. 

We were overwhelmed with the turnout for our WSS auditions on Wednesday this week! Thank you to the 206 students who came to audition - there were so many of you that we ended up rehearsing out on the tennis courts too! We have one more round of auditions for new students joining Year 12 and our current Year 11's on Wednesday 26th June. After this, we'll have some very tricky decisions to make on casting! You've certainly made our job difficult, but at the same time, we're so proud of you for taking part. 

We are delighted to say also that Fo$$ have agreed to pay for some new portable staging which will be fantastic for all students to use in their Drama lessons. The new staging allows students to build their own unique set design and will be beneficial for exam groups preparing for practical performances. We hope to bring more news over the next few weeks where students will have a go at 'playing' with our new kit! A huge thank you to Fo$$ for their on-going support of our Faculty. 

We are in the process of pairing up Sandringham students with the French students from our partner school in Annecy for next year’s French Exchange.   We have lots of Sandringham students signed up, but are in need of some additional Sandringham families to host a French student when they are here from 13-19 March 2025.   Anyone from Year 7 or 8 studying French who does offer to host this year, would be given priority for a place on the Exchange in 2025/2026 should they wish to take part.  However, it doesn’t matter what year group your child is in or what language they are studying, as taking part in the French leg of the trip is not necessary to host. If this is something you might be able to help with, please get in touch with Mrs Webb in MFL.  Merci beaucoup!

A reminder for students to please sign up to the amazing workshops we have on offer during Artsweek! Read through each workshop and then sign up to confirm your space. It will be first come first served for all workshops which can be found here.

Complete the google form by Monday 17th June! https://forms.gle/kQwsgrB5McfYx1HH9 

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO DANCING WITH YOU ALL WEEK!!!

Last Friday, 144 members of Year 10 set off on their qualifying expedition. This is the final part of their expedition section and for many participants the final part of their Award, having already completed their volunteering, physical and skill sections.  The expeditions took place in the Chilterns. The participants were split into two halves, Green and Blue, with Green half exploring near Chesham and Blue half exploring near Whipsnade. We were incredibly lucky with the weather- it was dry and at times, warm and sunny. However the northly wind caused the temperature to drop especially overnight and it was unseasonably cold. One of the best things about a Qualifying expedition as a leader is to see the progress that participants have made since the practice which was only four weeks before. Rucksacks were more efficiently packed, navigation was (on the whole) more accurate and camp craft was more organised. Another improvement was that groups were up and ready to go earlier on Saturday morning, most likely due to the dawn chorus which started at around 4.30am! All groups across both halves were finished by 3pm. This was an incredibly positive experience for all involved and many participants expressed an interest in moving onto Silver during the expedition debrief so they were dissuaded by their adventures. The focus now is making sure all other sections are completed and signed off so that those who wish to are in a position to move to the next level in Year 11. A massive thank you to all the staff and volunteers who supported our young people on this venture.

We hope that our Year 8 students enjoyed the module fair yesterday evening and parents will have received a letter this week outlining the provision that we provide.  Modules are designed to enrich students’ Year 9 curriculum, giving them the opportunity to study subjects they enjoy in greater depth; try their hand at something new; get a taste of subjects not traditionally offered until GCSE or A Level and even to gain a qualification. We have a wide range of modules on offer from Personal Finance to Film, Forensic Science to Mandarin. You can access a copy of the module options information booklet on our website here and this also gives details on how to make your options choices. We would be grateful if you could talk to your child about this process over the next week.

This week’s whole school theme prepares students for Arts Week that will take place in two weeks' time. 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. This week students received an assembly from the Director of Learning for Art, Mrs Kelly who spoke about the Arts at Sandringham and introduced some of the exciting opportunities that students will have during Arts week.

The Easter Region Special Operations Unit are running two free online sessions to discuss all things cyber.  These sessions will be suitable for parents/carers of children age 9 and above and are a fantastic opportunity to learn and ask questions regarding your child’s online world. They provide an insight on what cybercrime is, the risks for young people and tips on how to improve your personal cyber security. If you would like to find out more you can visit the NCA website here.

As you may be aware, this year has seen the introduction of House ‘Charity weeks’. Our houses attempt to raise as much money and awareness in their given week. We have had movie night, bingo night, discos, sponge the teacher and much more. In total, as a school this year, we have raised a massive £17,09,75 for our three chose charities. This is a phenomenal amount and even prior to our House Day and Charity Run which add even more to the total.

As well as this, behind the scenes, our Year 8 & 9 House Leaders have been working on a presentation to reflect on their houses charity weeks. Last week they presented to members of leadership to celebrate their weeks with a charity cup on offer for the winner. The criteria was:

• Awareness raised
• Money raised
• Unique ideas
• Participation rates

After much deliberation, Fawcett & Hepworth were crowned ‘Charity Cup’ WINNERS for 2024.

Thanks to everyone that has paid towards our charity events so far this year.

An exciting week for Hepworth as they enter the top three!  

1. Turing 19,281
2. Fawcett 17,890
3. Hepworth 17,874

Special mentions this week go to Alvin L (7F) for the most points this week (13)

• Fawcett for winning this week’s house points (639)
• Fawcett for winning this month’s house points (905)
• 8H for the highest quiz score so far (180/235)
• Fawcett & Hepworth for winning the CHARITY CUP

 UPCOMING EVENTS  

• Fit for life week (1st -5th July)
• Sports day (Wednesday 3rd July)
• Charity run (Friday 5th July)

Year 10 students will be attending their work experience placements next week.  A huge amount of organisations are supporting our students, including Artscape, Tesco, Google, Govia Thameslink, Marks and Spencer and many of our fantastic local primary schools.  We are grateful for every placement and wish our students the best of luck.

Sandringham are currently looking for a Teaching Assistant, Teaching Assistant (Visual Impairment) and Learning Supervisor to join our fantastic school. More information is available on our website here.

Please share with friends who may be interested.

As previously mentioned, the picture above includes a useful list of services students can access, should they be feeling overwhelmed. 

We would also like to highlight again two excellent services which parents and students can access for support with their mental health and well-being. First Steps (who work closely with CAMHS, ED and NHS links to support young people who are struggling with eating difficulties, disorders, low self-esteem and poor body image) provide an excellent variety of resources. Young people can either self-refer or can be referred by someone else through their website www.firststepsed.co.uk. This is an excellent service for those experiencing difficulties, so if you would like to find out more, please visit the website or speak to Mrs Coyne in the SLA.

The Sandbox by Mindler is also an excellent free, NHS funded service to support children and young people in Herts with their mental health and well being. It offers access to internet enabled Cognitive Behavioural therapy, one to one support from professional therapist by texts, phone, online chat or video calls. Signing up is easy and doesn’t require a referral from a professional. You can visit The Sandbox website or click here to find out more details.

A lovely write up from Alice D, Rose McK, Genevieve G and Vaidehi S, who took part in a STEM workshop this week.

"15 girls from Sandringham took part in a "Girls into STEM" Electronics workshop on Monday 10th June, with other schools from the local area. We learnt about the many career opportunities available if you were to follow a path in STEM. Over the afternoon we were taught about how to use the micro bits. First we played around coding it to light up, make patterns and flash them on and off but over time we were shown how to play music on them. We experimented with the code and changed it to how we wanted. After a quick snack break, we were introduced to the Kitronik ZIP Halo HD which we learnt that it could be used as an alarm clock. We programmed it to cycle through all 360 colours rotating around the halo. We finished the day by coding two halos to talk to each other through morse code.  Overall, the day was incredible and we would 100% do it again. This day was one of our favourite days all year."

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?

We are delighted to invite you to our  annual summer arts exhibition on Tuesday 25th June which runs from 5.30pm-6.45pm in the Visual Arts faculty. We will be exhibiting the work of our GCSE and A level students and hope the occasion will provide a wonderful opportunity to celebrate their achievements. The students have worked incredibly hard this year and have produced a stunning range of final outcomes in a range of media. Work exhibited will include a selection from Fine Art, Photography and Textiles. We hope you will be able to join us for this annual event which is always a highly enjoyable event for friends and family to view the work of our students.

We are delighted to awarded once again the role of Trinity Champion Centre for 2024-2025. Trinity Champion Centres inspire existing and potential centres by sharing our practice and advocating for Trinity qualifications in our local community and more widely. I would like to thank all of the Arts team for their exceptional delivery of Trinity qualifications and their work sharing their practice to enable us to achieve this role once again. Thank you to all of our students for their exceptional efforts in their examinations and work which again has enabled us to secure this role in leading and inspiring in and beyond our school.

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: l’humilité

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: Die Bescheidenheit

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: La humilidad

Thinking Question:

• Nouns in French, German and Spanish have a gender. We do not have this in English. How do you think they decided on the gender of a word?

A fragile teenage girl is held captive. Locked in a cell by The Reestablishment, a harsh dictatorship in charge of a crumbling world. But Juliette is no ordinary teenager - one touch from her can kill.

The Reestablishment wants to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has other plans. After a lifetime without freedom, she's finally discovered the strength to fight back - and to find a future with the one person she thought she'd lost forever.

Alisa J in 7F has recently finished the book and comments: 'This dystopian book was really engaging. There was lots of action and it kept me on my toes. I would recommend it.'

H is for ... humility [noun]

Definition: The quality of not being proud because you are aware of your bad qualities.

Example: He does not have the humility to admit when he is wrong.

Synonyms: Modesty, Humble

Antonyms: Pride

Etymology: .The term comes from the Latin word ‘humilitas’, a noun related to the adjective ‘humilis’, which may be translated as humble, but also as grounded, or from the earth, since it derives from ‘humus’ meaning earth.

A busy week for our athletics squads! 

On Saturday, 30 Sandringham students attended the Hertfordshire Schools Athletics Championships. 13 out of the 30 students medalled.

Gold – COUNTY CHAMPIONS

• Liam P – Year 12 LJ
• Beckie C – Year 12 800m
• Ben W – Year 12 HJ
• Olivia G – Year 9 300m
• Katie J – Year 9 Pole Vault
• Lewis D – Year 9 800m
• Isla C – Year 7 Shot put

Silver

• Erin R – Year 9 TJ
• Beatriz S – Year 8 Shot put
• Margot K – Year 13 HJ

Bronze

• Liam J – Year 7 Discus
• Henry Y – Year 7 100m
• Diego D – Year 9 Hurdles
• Georgia R-J – Year 7 1500m

CL6 on Tuesday was a battle between 3 of the top 4 teams so points were hard to come by but Sandringham held their own and performed well.

Athletes of the meet

• U14G - Yana M 
• U14B - Lucas H
• U16G - Annabelle N
• U16B - Will A

A brilliant game for our Year 9 team v SJL ended in victory after a super over. Both teams scored 118 off 16 overs before Sandringham hit 10 in 6 balls and kept SJL down to 7. Mentions to Archer, Pritchard & McCree for their contribution.

As mentioned in the Headlines, yesterday, Sandringham became DISTRICT ATHLETICS CHAMPIONS for the first time in 23 years!! An incredible day with every single student contributing to the overall result. Our consistency across the year groups was impressive. Special mention goes to the following students. But EVERYONE was amazing and it wouldnt happen without the huge team effort and support of our awesome PE department.

• Hurdles – Hannah P, Diego D, Erin R
• 200m – Sophie B
• 300m – Olivia G, Toby R
• 400m – Luke C
• 800m – Lewis D
• 1500m – Toby P, Georgia T
• Shot put – Isla C, Beatriz S, Harry R
• Discus – Toby R
• Long Jump – Jasmine R
• Triple Jump – Erin R, Sam McC
• Pole Vault – Kristian H
• Relay – Year 9 girls (Lexi , Olivia, Emilie, & Erin)

After a busy week of athletics, next week looks set to be a quiet one as students are on E Week. 

Following the fantastic success of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ & ‘Rapunzel’ our creative team are back with a Brand New pantomime adventure based on the classic tale.

 Puss In Boots and the Pea Green detective agency are ready to save Pantoland from a terrible threat!

The Hickory Dickory Dock clock has been stolen and someone is messing with the pantomime timeline. The police are struggling to sniff out a suspect and things are getting stranger by the hour! Join Puss In Boots on their epic quest to bring the time thief to justice. This sword-swinging, paw-scratching, time-stopping pantomime is an action packed treat for all ages!

Tickets are on sale here and cost from £10.00