As mentioned in previous editions, we are proud to be a placement school for Initial Teacher Training at Alban TSH who offer flexible, highly-personalised, school-based routes into teacher training. This includes: tuition fee paying, salaried positions, assessment only and Postgraduate Teacher Apprenticeship for a wide range of secondary courses as well as primary (5-11 and 3-7). There is also the opportunity to gain PGCE status in addition to QTS. Alban TSH is an experienced provider of teacher training and has established partnerships with many outstanding schools in the region. Listed above are some of our events where you can find out more here or get in touch with our team teaching@albantsh.co.uk. 

 A message frfom Miss England & the Sixth Form Gambia team.

So far we have raised £581.79 ! Some of the events we have already hosted are: Halloween makeup master classes and face painting. We are working towards our target of £3,300 to build a borehole for our partnership school Farafenni High school in The Gambia, there is still plenty of time to get involved and just some of our upcoming events are: 

• Year 7,8,9 Home Alone - Sandpit movie night, Friday 22nd November - get your ticket on parent pay today. 
• All years - Gambia golden ticket chocolate bar raffle - get yours on parent pay now for the chance to win up to £50 amazon vouchers - a guaranteed galaxy bar with every purchase! 
• Visit our stall at the Christmas fair on Saturday 7th December

Please head over to parent pay to support us today!

We would like to give a huge D&T Shout-Out to Eleanor H in Year 8. Miss Hussain says "Eleanor, your dedication and hard work have truly paid off with the creation of your incredible board game in D&T! Your commitment, both in lessons and in your own time, is so impressive. The level of detail you’ve achieved is absolutely amazing, and the unique, professionally designed characters on your cards are a testament to your creativity and skill. Your project is not only a masterpiece but also an inspiration to everyone around you. Well done, Eleanor—keep up the fantastic work!"

Fo$S would like donations of any school uniform which can be sold at the Christmas Fair on Saturday 7th December. Please take any good condition unwanted school uniform or sports kit to 15 Skyswood Road.

Hepworth still on TOP this week with 6128 points. Turing and Austen are not far behind with 6051 and 5845 points respectively. Special mentions this week go to Eleanor W (7J) with the most house points this week (13) , Johnson for winning this weeks house points (403) and Leo K (7F) for leading the school with 98 points. Well done as well to 8J for winning the House Spelling Bee and 10N/10E for winning the GCSE mixed netball competition.

 UPCOMING EVENTS   

• Year 7 & 8 house rugby – Monday 25th November
• Year 9 & 10 house rugby – Wednesday 11th December
• House swimming
• SLT day – Tuesday 19th November
• Fawcett & Hepworth Charity Week – 2nd -6th December (Including disco, cake sale, clothes donation and food donation)
• Staff bake off – Tuesday 10th December
• Sixth Form Quiz – Thursday 12th December

Fo$S are still looking for help with their Christmas Fair being held on 7th December 11am - 3pm at Sandringham. This event has always been popular with parents, students and local residents; it features a lovely Christmas market to do some Christmas shopping, tombolas and interactive games for the students, plus festive food and drinks. It promises to be a great day, but we need your help!

Volunteers are needed to help cook, serve food and drinks, run the tombola, plus help clear up afterwards.  If you can spare an hour or more of your time you can sign up through the link below, which splits the jobs by time slots volunteersignup.org/AHAQY

Donations for Tombola and Raffle:  All donations of sweets, chocolates or drinks would be very gratefully received.  You can either drop off your donations to the main reception (please note: if donating alcoholic drinks they must be brought in by an adult), or you can donate to our tombola money pool and FO$S will purchase items to go on the tombola. You can do this here. Any prize donations from companies would also be most welcome.

Face painters wanted:  Unfortunately our usual face painter is unavailable. So we are looking for someone who has the equipment and could run the stall. If you are interested please email  friendsofsandringhamschool@gmail.com or contact Tara on 07921001591

We were delighted to share our performance of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child with Year 7 on Wednesday. The Year 7's were a fantastic audience and their feedback was very helpful before the final shows this week. After the show, we received an array of excellent reviews from Year 7's and we are pleased to share two excellent reviews below.

Isla C: This was a brilliant, magical experience, the cast really out did themselves and the weeks of practice really paid off. Brilliant for any age, maybe not for under-fives. I will give the show 5 stars. The graphics, music and lighting were incredible, nothing I wouldn't change to be perfect. The wand dance and Death Eater dance were wonderful. The choreography was outstanding. Bravo to anyone who thought of the incredible moves. Harry Potter was a very good look-alike and Dumbledore was something I would never forget. The twist in Act Two was brilliant, I won't include any spoilers, don't worry. Well done to whoever did the lighting it must have been very tricky and whoever did the fireworks please remember whoever is reading this, FIRE IS DANGEROUS !!! P.s - thank you to everyone who put their time and lives into this performance. 

Deni  7N: I really enjoyed the show. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. All the effects and lights made it look really good and everyone knew what was going on and they knew all their lines. The set was made really well and I think that learning the lines, building the set and managing all the effects would be really hard but the crew managed to do it perfectly. I also really liked how they used the things around them, like when they were doing the scene with Dumbledore they used the frame from the lights at the top of the set. Overall the show was AMAZING, the acting was great even if the actors made a mistake they'd fix it like nothing ever happened and they performed really well with each other.

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?

Well done to Samuel C in 7J who took part in Tiska National Coloured Belt (Kyu Grade) Championships on Sunday 10th November. He succeeded in winning a 2nd place in the Team Kata and 3rd place for Individual Kumite (Sparring) Samuel currently has the brown belt and this was his second time at the championships. Last year he won 2nd in the Individual Kata and 3rd in the Individual Kumite so he is continuing to do brilliantly in these challenging disciplines. Keep up the amazing work Samuel.

If you would like to nominate someone for the student spotlight next week, please contact holianm@sandringham.aetrust.uk with any details and/or photos. We would love to hear about any students who are going above and beyond.

We would like to celebrate one of our amazing members of staff, Ms Ward, who I has a solo art exhibition, starting next Thursday. Ms Ward has been studying part-time over the last two years (whilst also working at Sandringham) and has recently achieved a Masters Degree in Fine Art. Details of the show are on the poster attached and all are welcome. We do hope that you can go along to support her on what is sure to be a fantastic showcase of her work.

We are thrilled to announce that our Production of 'HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD' has been nominated for the following awards at the NATIONAL SCHOOL THEATRE AWARDS this year! 

⚡️BEST PLAY 
⚡️BEST ENSEMBLE 
⚡️BEST ACTOR (To be revealed soon!)

What an achievement! Keep your fingers crossed for us and enjoy the shows!! 

The whole school theme this week was ‘World Kindness day’. This was to celebrate the interventional celebration of World Kindness Day which took place on Wednesday the 13th November. The day was first established in 1998 as a means to encourage acts of kindness across the globe, and prove how these sweet gestures can have a greater positive impact on individuals and communities. As a school we are dedicated to building a culture of kindness, and students are regularly encouraged to not only be kind in their daily lives, but to engage in random acts of kindness with the school community. This week students received an uplifting assembly from some of our Sixth Form students, in which they collated a range of examples of how people can be affected by small acts of kindness that are shown for them, as well as sharing examples of how being kind can have a genuine positive impact on not only the people who are being helped, but also the person who is being kind. 

The first project of KS3 STEM Club came to an exciting end on Monday with our rocket launch day. Students launched their rockets using a foot pump to increase the air pressure inside the bottle until the water was forced out, causing the rocket to go flying! 

Our next project will be working on a series of smaller challenges to plan for surviving a zombie invasion! Sign up on SOCS if you’d like to join us!

Thank you to all of those who have already donated towards Children in Need Day today. It was great to see students in spotty attire and supporting such a worthwhile charity. Last year's total donations in the UK helped to fund nearly 1,500 charities and children’s projects in the and support well over 400,000 children. If you would like to read more about what the charity does, you can do so here and if you would still like to contribute you can do so via ParentPay here. 

An update from Treeasy to say that "If you're wishing a weekend slot for delivery we recommend booking very soon! The 6th is now full and the 1st & 7th December are nearly full too."

A reminder that Treeasy are a fantastic company who provide excellent quality tree delivery and removal, whilst also raising money for the school. They specialise in only the very best top grade trees, the non-drop Nordmann Fir Christmas tree, and for every tree sold through Sandringham, donations of between £3.50 and £6.50 (size of tree dependant) are given to Fo$S. 

Ordering is simple- just go to www.christmastreeasy.co.uk and follow the instructions. Or for more information you can call 07710 407149 or email enquiries@christmastreeasy.co.uk. Please make sure you mention your school in all correspondence to ensure a donation to your school.

The Dance department formally invite you all to join us on February 6th, 7th, 8th to our production, Velocity 2025. This year’s theme is ‘The Oscars’, and we are so excited to share with you all the amazing dance pieces. The dance club leaders have done an amazing job preparing pieces, and also those who attend clubs and companies, and Y9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 dance students all working super hard in lesson time.

VIP Velocity group ticket package on offer this year which includes 4 table seats, drink, 2 programmes, surprise gift and more! This amazing package can be bought on the Sandpit website

See you on the red carpet in February!

Calling all families! We are looking for volunteers to assist with our mock interviews for year 11s on Thursday 23rd January.  The interviews will run from 8:30am – 1:30pm and the students always say that they have gained a great deal from the day.  If you have experience of interviewing and are able to help us, please contact eadyc@sandringham.aetrust.uk.  Thank you for your time and support.

We are delighted to share with you a Ted x St Albans Talk from one our fantastic Year 13 students, Tolu R. In it she explores what teenagers really think about adults telling them to be more resilient. She brings her own youthful experiences and shares an exploration of what resilience really is and how teenagers can practically achieve it. Tolu is studying 3 A-levels including Psychology and Philosophy and Ethics and is an active member of the psychology club. She has a keen interest in the psychology of the workings of the human mind and behaviour and we are sure that you will find her talk both interesting and inspiring. You can watch the full episode here. Amazing work Tolu.

Everyone knows the Ivies: the most coveted universities in the United States. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is. Five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I'm one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions...amongst other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business. And in some cases, it's deadly.

Juliette D in 7F has read the book and says, “I have just finished reading this book and it is incredible! It is very similar to the trilogy A good girls guide to murder, so if you enjoyed that you'd definitely enjoy this! Ruthless, clever, thrilling and Twisty, I couldn't put it down!”

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: judicieux

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: umsichtig

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: juicioso

Thinking Question:

Firstly, thank you to our native speakers in the MFL faculty and Frau Kranz in our German exchange school for this week’s translations. The French and Spanish words focus on being wise and making smart choices showing a clear link to the Latin word judicium  . By contrast, the German word incorporates the word ‘sicht’ meaning vision. Would this suggest German speakers use this word to show the importance of thinking ahead and seeing the bigger picture?

J is for ... judicious [adjective]

Definition: Having, showing, or done with good judgement or sense.

Example: The department made a judicious use of public investment.

Synonyms: Wise, Thoughtful, Considerate

Antonyms: Careless, Inattentive, Irrational

Etymology: From the Latin judicium  meaning ‘judgement’

A late match report from last week- The U16 girls played played Haileybury last week with goal scorers spread across the team Congrats to U15 players Nell McK, Brooke B & Emma D for securing minutes a year young!A busy week for our football teams!

This week has also been a busy one! Our Year 8 boys put in a solid performance to progress into the next round of the county shield with a win over Thomas Alleyne.

Our Year 9s girls also had a convincing win against Vandyke Upper School in round 3 of the National cup. All girls played very well with some great saves being made by Flo R and some stand out performances by Emma D and Lilia C Goals from:Nell M, Anais S-B. Our Year 9 boy didn't fare as well however, playing Haileybury in the ESFA. Despite putting in a strong performance to hold themselves at 0-0 for most of the game- the final few minutes saw a flurry of goals from the other team to result in a 2-0 loss. 

Our Year 10 boys time had a good 4-0 win against Simon Balle to keep the boys' unbeaten start to the season in tact. They now go into R3 of the county cup. Lewis D (3) & Daniel N the scorers. MOM Nathan P for his organisation and commanding performance in defence.

Our senior boys also knocked the current holders, SJL, out of the County Cup in extra time. A good performance from the team taking the game 3-1 after extra time. Goals from Jonah H and MOM Vicente Luciani. It was also nice to see Noah and Vicente representing the county team again and progressing in the National Cup.

Well done to our U14 & U16 girls who took part in the District tournament this week. With some really strong teams on show our older girls finished 5th whilst our U14’s came out on top and are crowned DISTRICT CHAMPIONS! They will now go through to the County round. Amazing work everyone!

A busy morning of rugby last Saturday with all of our teams playing Verulam with mixed success. Year 7 put in a strong performance to win convincingly. It was great to see more debutants and the tries shared amongst the players. Sam H took MOM for his brilliant game awareness and teamwork. Year 8 put in another great performance.A lot of tries scored as the boys continue to grow in confidence both in and out of possession. POTM: Matthew H for some important recovery tackles. Year 9 put up a competitive display but narrowly lost out and can take plenty of positives moving into their final game in 2 weeks. Year 10 had a great game of rugby but lost out to a very strong Verulam team. Try scorers Diaz x2 Andrews x2. 

There was also an excellent performance to Tuesday from our Year 11 team beating Berkhampstead B/C team 28-19. The boys should be proud of a gutsy, hard working team display. Tries from Luke C, Reuben M, Emil U & Harry W. We wish Berkhampstead A’s best of luck in the next round of the National Cup.

Great work from our Year 7 netball players on Tuesday resulting in a 7-7 game against Roundwood Park. Lots of excellent play shown from each player who took to the court! Well done girls!

Well done also to the U15 netball team who won in the District League against STAGS. CPM: Bea who was fantastic out of position in attack OPM Aoife for great defence. Big thanks to Livs G and W for stepping up and playing

And finally a great win for the U19 Netball Team who beat Haberdashers in the County Cup. OPM: Maddie W CP: Sophia P

Please see above for our upcoming fixtures. Good luck to all of our teams

Our Year 10 team had their first fixture of the county league group stage on Monday, winning the game 76-60. POTM: Sam M for another high scoring game

Sadie S and Henry Y both attended the St Albans Athletics awards evening this week and picked up awards for their sporting efforts. Well done to any Sandringham students for nominations and awards! Amazing work.

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

Award winning production company, Limitless Productions, are back in St Albans and this time they've got backup!

Welcome to the wild streets of 1920s New York, where gangsters run the show in Bugsy Malone! Join the charming Bugsy as he dives head-first into a thrilling turf war between rival gangs - Dandy Dan’s slick crew and Fat Sam’s lovable misfits. With whipped cream pies flying and laughter echoing, Bugsy navigates chaos while trying to win the heart of the dazzling showgirl Blousey Brown.

As the stakes rise and friendships are tested, Bugsy must step up to save his pals and outsmart the competition. Bursting with catchy tunes and high-energy dance numbers. From the team behind 'Little Shop of Horrors', 'Grease' and 'The Addams Family', this musical is a rollicking adventure not to be missed!

Tickets are on sale here and cost from £17.00