Supporting Links is offering a FREE in-person six-week "Talking Teens" course designed to help parents and carers navigate the challenges of parenting 12-19 year olds. It's open to all parents, carers, grandparents, and guardians in Hertfordshire,and will be held on Wednesdays, 7.00 - 9.00pm, from 26th February to 2nd April 2025 at the Gade Community Room, Oakleaf Primary School, Hemel Hempstead. The course will explore the teenage brain, explaining the physical and emotional changes that influence behaviour. It delves deeper into the connection between behaviour and difficult feelings, offer practical strategies for maintaining strong communication, discuss understanding and navigating risk-taking behaviours along with providing effective techniques and tools for conflict resolution. Don't miss this valuable opportunity to gain insights and connect with other parents and carers. For more information and to secure your space please click the links provided.

Emotionally Based School Anxiety Drop-In Sessions.

DSPL7 and Services for Young People, in partnership with The Pioneer Club, are offering free drop-in support sessions (booking required) designed for parents/carers and young people in Years 7-11 facing challenges with school attendance related to Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA). Please do come along to The Community Café, Suets Yard at The Pioneer Club, Heathlands Drive, St Alban, AL3 5AY, between 9:30-11:30am. Sessions are taking place on the following dates: 22nd January, 11th March, 14th May, and 19th June. Further information, including contact details can be found in the flyer.

New School Uniform is available from Smarty Schoolwear. 

Check out the poster for a full list of garment options and pricing. Details on how to order can be found on their website here.

Make sure you come to school in style!

This year we are going to be running parent information sessions delivered by professionals from outside agencies that are centred around various pastoral related issues.

We are delighted to bring you Sandringham Seminars 3 on Monday 3rd February at 5.30pm, with a delivery from Rhodes Wood Hospital and Elysium Healthcare. Rhodes Wood is an expert in the field of supporting young people with extreme mental ill health, and we are very fortunate that they have agreed to deliver this seminar. Rhodes Wood Hospital is a specialist Inpatient Eating Disorder service for children and young people aged 8 up to 18 years based in Hatfield. They aim to identify and understand the symptoms, patterns and origins of psychological distress and help patients manage their condition. The services emphasise not only the mental wellbeing of young people but also their educational, emotional and physical needs. 

This 1 hour session will be held at The SandPit Theatre, Sandringham School. If you would like to book tickets to hear from Rhodes Wood, please book them here. There are 250 tickets available, so please do sign up quickly to avoid missing out.

KS3 Creative Writing club has got off to a flying start this year with students Daniel S, Sergey N, Myles B, Max S, Chelsea L, Kalan P, Aaryan M, Mikhail D and Vinnie C all recently completing short stories. We’ve had everything from WW2 stories to creepy Christmas elves. Students are writing across a range of genres including fantasy, science-fiction, historical fiction and murder mystery. Well done writers!

On behalf of Sandringham School, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for the incredible generosity shown so far in donating vouchers, products, and discounts ahead of our charity raffle. These contributions will play a significant role in making the event a success and helping us raise vital funds for the school’s three chosen charities. The support from these amazing companies has been incredible, and we are thrilled to have lots of exciting prizes on offer. We would also be extremely grateful for any additional donations towards the raffle. If you are able to contribute, please email David Keenleyside at keenleysided@sandringham.aetrust.uk. Raffle tickets will be available to Sandringham families in the next few days via ParentPay. Students will also have the opportunity to purchase tickets in school the week commencing 3rd February. We are anticipating a fantastic response to the raffle and are hopeful that it will become an annual tradition.

As part of our ongoing efforts to raise funds for our school charities, we are excited to announce our upcoming school raffle. This will take place from the 3rd – 7th February 2025. Throughout the year we raise money for Unicef, Youth talk, and Herts for Refugees, and we are proud of our continued support of these amazing charities. We are reaching out to families for support, and would greatly appreciate any donations of raffle prizes or contributions such as: gift vouchers, discount codes for local businesses, hampers or non-perishable food items, gadgets, signed memorabilia, and any other unused items you think would make great prizes. If you would like to make a contribution, please email David Keenleyside by Friday 24th January 2025.

The whole school theme this week is Online Safety in recognition of Safer Internet Day. Safer Internet Day 2025 took place on the 11th of February 2025, with celebrations and learning based around the theme ‘Together for a better internet’. 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 Cracknell where he spoke about responsible uses of artificial intelligence. We encourage all students to be critical of the information they read online and consider what they can do to stay safe online. 

Are you feeling trapped and unable to escape? Do you find yourself frequently questioning social and political systems? Do you feel that there is something catastrophically wrong with the society in which you live? If so, the new Dystopian fiction display in the LRC will provide you with some good company! Our librarians and library monitors have put together a display of popular dystopian novels to suit all ages. Our librarians are always delighted to discuss the books on display and will readily help you to find a book to suit your reading needs.

As mentioned in the Headlines, we were delighted to welcome prospective Sixth Form students to our Open Evening last night. If you would like to view any more of the information, you can do so here. Important dates to note are as follows:

22nd January 2025: 9am – 10.30am: Open morning tours.

28th January 2025: 9am – 10.30am: Open morning tours.

7th February 2025:  Deadline for Sixth Form applications.

25th & 26th June 2025: Compulsory Sixth Form Induction.

We are looking forward to our first ELD of 2025 on Thursday 23th January with year group activities as follows:

• Year 7: Maths Day 
• Year 8: Musical In A Day 
• Year 9: Imperial War Museum Duxford
• Year 10: Neasden Temple Visit
• Year 11: You're Hired!
• Year 12: Enrichment

We hope students will enjoy the opportunity to connect as a year group, enriching their learning beyond the classroom.

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?

HOUSE POINTS

Hepworth on top but the gap is closing! Less than 15 points between second and third place... edge of your seat stuff!

1. Hepworth 10,903
2. Austen 10,154
3. Newton 10,141

Special mentions this week:  

• Leo K (7F) (17) – Most points this week
• Marcus L (12F) for the quickest answer on the ‘puzzle of the week’
• Hepworth for winning ‘puzzle of the week’ Half term 2
• Hepworth for winning this weeks house points – 580
• Hepworth for leading this months house points - 1026
• 7A for the highest average points in their tutor group (98.2)
• 9E & 9H the highest quiz score total – 81/1

Congratulations to the everyone on their hard work this week.

If you haven't already been it is worth going to see The Museum of the Moon artwork by artist Luke Jerram which arrived at St Albans Cathedral for the first time.

The moon is visible to everyone during Cathedral visiting hours (9am - 5pm daily). There is no charge for entry to the Cathedral, although a donation is encouraged which will help support future events and installations like this one. 

They also have a few special events under the moon, and you can find out more details on that by visiting the website here.

Sandringham School has a vacancy for a Teaching Assistant and Teaching Assistant (Visual Impairment Support)

If you would like to join our team of passionate, dedicated staff, visit here for more information and to apply.

We look forward to hearing from you.

A huge thank you to everyone for their efforts in raising an incredible £4,651.24 for Herts for Refugees. Angus Clarke, CEO, has reached out personally to let Sandringham know just how valued and important their fundraising achievements are: "On behalf of all of us at HfR, we're truly stunned by the incredible support and generosity we receive from Sandringham, thank you so very much for everything you do for us. We would very much like to come back for another assembly or similar at some convenient time in the near future, I hope that will be possible.Thanks and very best wishes." Lets keep up the amazing work on supporting these fantastic charities. 

Darren goes to a banned freak show with his best mate Steve. It’s the wonderfully gothic Cirque Du Freak where weird, frightening half human/half animals appear who interact terrifyingly with the audience. Darren – a spider freak – ‘falls in love’ with Madam Octa – an enormous tarantula owned by Mr Crepsley. Darren determines to steal the spider so that he can train it to perform amazing deeds. But his daring theft goes horribly wrong and Darren finds himself having to make a bargain with a creature of the night.

Kalan P and Vinnie C, Yr 7, who have recently read the book say: ‘This is such a good book. We loved the sense of the unknown and that the book doesn’t stick to regular vampire themes. It’s a light, fun, easy read but also has depth as you really understand what the character is going through. We would definitely recommend it.’

·  French: quotidien

·  German: alltäglich

·  Spanish: cotidiano

THINKING QUESTION:

Although the word quotidian exists in English, we prefer to use the word daily which is linked to the German word alltäglich. On the other hand, in French and Spanish there aren’t any single word alternatives.

What do you think this tells us about the roots of these languages?

Q is for… quotidian [adjective]

Definition: Of or occurring every day; daily.

Example: The car sped noisily off through the quotidian traffic.

Synonyms: Ordinary, Common place, Trivial.

Antonyms: Exciting, Unusual.

Etymology: Derives from the Latin quotidianus, earlier cotidianus, from cotidie ‘daily’.

Another busy week ahead for the sports teams. Good luck and looking forward to seeing all the results on the socials and in next weeks edition.

A lovely Wednesday afternoon spent with our U16 Futsal team at the district tournament. Topping the group and qualifying for April’s county round - well done girls, excellent effort all around.

Huge congratulations to our U14 Futsal champions! A team who went undefeated at Thursdays district tournament. They join the U16s with a county tournament qualification.

Good Luck to both teams, county tournament next stop!

A fantastic performance from the Year 11 Netball Team, who beat Beaumont in the District League! OPM - Holly W and CPM - Sophie B. Well done all, a brilliant team performance from a team of stars.

Year 10 Basketball: A very good evening away at Watford Grammar. After being 5 points down at the end of the first quarter, the boys turned it around to win the game by 9. They have now qualified for the county semi-finals which will be played in March. Congratulations boys, great determination from you all.

Another win for our senior basketball boys in their group game V St George’s RC away in N London. A tough game but our fierce perseverance saw us through to keep the perfect record alive. Onto the next…

Watch out for these students fully immersed in a game of table tennis on a Friday morning! With multiple games happening at once and some very official umpiring, it’s the perfect way to kick off the last school day of the week

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