This year, World Book Day will be on Thursday 4th March. Designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, World Book Day is marked in over 100 countries around the globe and their mission is to promote reading for pleasure, offering every child and young person the opportunity to have a book of their own. They hope to encourage a life-long habit of reading for pleasure and for children to benefit from the improved life chances this brings them.

Every student can get a £1 World Book Day Voucher, which will allow £1 off a book (costing £2.99 or more) or which can be used to buy special £1 books below. 

There are also books for younger students - read more about each book here. If you scroll down and click on a book cover, you can read an excerpt from the book. Keep reading!

As mentioned in the STEM article- we have lot of exciting things going on for  British Science Week: 5th – 14th March 2021. You can click here  to view what is happening each day. We hope that the events inspire you!

FRENCH:    Le mot de la semaine      – la prospérité
GERMAN:   Die Wort der Woche         – der Wohlstand/ die Prosperität
SPANISH:   La palabra de la semana  – la prosperidad

Thinking Questions :

• In these translations we can see a number of cognates (a word having the same linguistic derivation as another). How can we use cognates to help us when learning a new language?
• Why are there many cognates between French/German/Spanish and English?

If you want to find out about all the latest Dance news, students can join the DANCE google classroom, code on the student noticeboard.

Exciting Opportunity!

Bee Creative are working with St Albans Museum to create a new Augmented Reality installation. This is an amazing opportunity to take part in something unusual and make history! They are running a FREE 5-day mixed arts project suitable for 11 – 14 year olds where you will see your work turned into an augmented reality production that the public will be able to see post lockdown.

You will talk about what it is like growing up between the years 2000 - 2020 and then, working with professional choreographers, audio-visual artists, producers and creative technologists- take part in movement, sound, film and tech workshops.

This all takes place Monday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd, Wednesday 24th, Thursday 25th and Friday 26th March 2021 from 4:00pm - 6.30pm each day (please note that you will need to attend all five days.) The Installation launch is to be confirmed subject to Covid-19 restrictions.

The project is free of charge to take part in but places are strictly limited to 10 places and priority will be given to St Albans residents. To book, please fill out the form linked below:

https://forms.gle/FyYGFnWgieAQyorz8

This week we are bringing to you our FINAL Sandwich Series recital! It has been wonderful to be able to continue to share these performances with you during the period of lockdown and what a lovely way to celebrate our musicians and their continued dedication. In the final concert we have performances by Sophie B in Year 7, Alex S and and Rohith M from Year 9, Ryan D in Year 10, Gabz F from Year 11 and Freya P from Year 12. Click here to watch. A huge thank you to all the students that have contributed to this series of lockdown concerts and we look forward to seeing you back in the Sandpit Theatre hopefully very soon!

The House Photography Competition is now closed and Mr Cracknell and the team are hard at work deciding the winners. These will be announced next week, but in the meantime here is a small selection of some of the fabulous entries. A big thank you to all those who took part and we hope you enjoyed capturing our beautiful surroundings. 

I15, the main computer room, is named after Grace Hopper, a United States Navy admiral whose pioneering work in the field of computer programming earnt her the nickname ,"The Mother of all Computing."

Hooper was born on 9th December 1906 and from a very young age showed great flair at explaining difficult concepts to other students. She graduated in 1928 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics and Physics and gained a PhD in Mathematics in 1934.

Hopper joined the US Navy during the World War II in 1943 and started her work on programming. She was one of the first people to work with modern digital computers and one of the leading programmers of the Harvard Mark I calculator. Hopper developed the first compiler for a computer programming language and led the work of COBOL (translating the computer language into words we use that the computer will also understand.) This became the universal language for business coding and went on to be used in government, industry, and commerce.

Hopper’s accomplishments, work ethic, and philosophy led her to be known as “Amazing Grace”  and rumour has it that she helped to coin the term "bug" when she was working on a computer and found a moth inside of it. Grace apparently remarked they were “debugging the system” and the phrase stuck. 

In 1991, Hopper was the first female recipient of the National Medal of Technology awarded by President Bush and the US Navy Destroyer USS Hopper is also named after her (only the second US Navy Warship to be named after a woman within the Navy’s own ranks.)  She died on 1st January 1992 at the age of 85 and today, the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference is held every year, encouraging women to follow her trailblazing path in the computer world.

"The most damaging phrase in the language is: 'It's always been done that way.'"

We were thrilled to welcome back NYT to Sandringham on Wednesday, albeit via a different platform. 15 students from Years 10- 13 took part and did themselves utterly proud. It was fantastic to see different year groups collaborating online and we wish all those participating in the audition process over the coming weeks the very best of luck!

Next week, 1st -  6th March, is National Careers Week. A virtual careers fair will go live on Monday and can be accessed by using the following link https://ncw2021.co.uk/. We will be showcasing other opportunities throughout the week for students through posts on year group google classrooms and on our social media.

Year 12 have started the ‘Futures and Careers’ unit in Personal Development this week. We are going through the different options for their next steps beyond school, and advising students about where to find information to think through what they would like to do next. This week, we heard from a speaker from ‘Amazing Apprenticeships’ and students were able to engage in a live Q&A. Forthcoming sessions will look at university research and how best to choose courses and institutions, and how to prepare for an excellent application. We also have some optional online talks organised, each one running through a live Google Meet at 4.00pm. They are as follows:

Applying to Oxbridge - Professor Michael McMahon, University of Oxford (15th March)

Law - Kathryn Knight, ex-student and graduate in Law from the University of Cambridge (17th March)

Medicine and the Ambulance Service - Benji Watkins, ex-student and current third year student of Medicine at Imperial College (24th March).

Mr Tattersall is also continuing his online STEM talks, with four talks remaining between now and 11th March (please see the STEM article or all details are on year group Google Classrooms).

Talks and links will be shared with Year 12. If students from other year groups would like to attend, please email Mrs Mouncey to obtain a place.

PLEASE NOTE THAT STUDENT SERVICES WILL BE CLOSED ON FRIDAY 5TH MARCH DUE TO TESTING OF STUDENTS.

REPORTING ABSENCES: If your child is unwell or unable to attend any of the lessons of remote learning on any particular day, please email absence@sandringham.herts.sch.uk by 9am informing us that they will not be attending lessons, giving a brief reason for their absence.  

REPORTING POSITIVE CASES: If your child needs to self-isolate due to being in contact with someone who tests COVID positive or if a student themselves tests positive please advise the school by sending an email to absence@sandringham.herts.sch.uk. Please title your email - COVID Notification; include the students full name, tutor group, dates of isolation and if they have had a positive COVID result, the test  date and when symptoms first appeared.

STUDENT SERVICES OPENING HOURS:  Student services is open for Resource Collection on Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9-11am and Monday and Wednesday 9-12pm for LRC Collection. 

What: ‘Tune In’ Challenge is a guessing competition in which students listen to a sound clip and guess what it is. The sounds are all things that you would hear in your house.  

When: The competition runs from Monday 1st March until Friday 26th March and winners will be announced each week during that time by Ms Malherbe.

How: Each week your teacher will post a sound clip onto your Drama google classroom. You will then have 5 days to decide what the sound could be. When you think you know, email Ms Malherbe with your name and guess in the subject header of the email.  

Who: The competition is open to anyone in Year 7 to Year 13. They look forward to seeing your entries. Remember to ‘Tune In’ each week.

We are approaching British Science Week 2021, which this year runs from 5 - 14 March. Here is a link to the BSW organisation and a range of activities that families can participate in at home. 

At Sandringham we are calling the week STEM Week rather than Science Week, and this year’s theme is Biodiversity. Thanks to the Design Technology department for this excellent logo! Science, Design Technology, Computer Science and Mathematics teachers will be running challenges and activities in Key Stage 3 lessons on the theme of biodiversity, and students will learn more about the worrying state of nature around the world and what can be done about it. You may like to look at this resource with your child; it is the interactive globe that some of the KS3 students will be using to learn more about the issues.

A reminder that students are welcome to join any of the remaining STEM talks from professional scientists, and they will be of particular interest to Years 11 and 12:

Students can sign up here for STEM talks which are shown below or you can contact Mr Tattersall, STEM coordinator (tattersalld@mysandstorm.org) for more details. 

Weds 3rd March 4pm: Olivia Cavlan MD: So you want to be a Biotech Entrepeneur

Tues 9th March 3.10pm Dr Paul Williams Topic TBC

Weds 10th March 3.10pm Nicola Aspinall: Making the World Cleaner, Healthier, Safer

Thurs 11th March 3.10pm Shahida Mallah: Biodiversity

There have been a few House competitions running in the background this term as well as the addition of some last-minute Christmas points (Mr Gray’s Christmas Kahoot), which has seen a few changes in the House Cup at the end of this half term.

As of last week, the House Cup Totals stand as follows:

Johnson continue their lead at the top, whilst there is a shuffle of houses further down the league table. Without attendance figures, a much larger number of rewards and consequences and our usual extra-curricular participation figures the points increase has been minimal but still sufficient to keep the Cup exciting moving into Spring. The top 4 are as follows: 

Johnson (10285) Newton (9693) Fawcett (9590) Elgar (9476)

The Virtual Year 9 into 10 Options Evening took place last night and it was a fantastic chance to hear from Mr Gray, Dr Creaby and Ms Semple about the process for the current Year 9 students. The presentation and all of the information regarding subject choices can be found here and as a reminder, the following dates are of importance:

Tuesday 2nd March: Year 9 Virtual PTC 2pm-7.45pm

Friday 5th March: Deadline for options form online

March: Options interviews with Deputy Headteachers

It's always a delight to see our wonderful Drama students putting their skills to good use! This was certainly the case for our latest House Competition, Movie Madness! Students were tasked with re-creating iconic moments from films. We had a range of entries from different year groups and it was fab to see so many different imaginative ideas. You can see all of the pictures on our SanDrama website 

It was so tricky to pick a winner as every entry was brilliant and each student clearly put a lot of effort and thought into their re-enactment, however we are excited to announce that the winner is Isla F (7S) who re-enacted a scene from The Hunger Games. 2nd place goes to Mia C(12H) for her ET movie moment! You can see that her dog has kindly featured in the picture and there is a rather good video that you can view on our website. 3rd place goes to Soraya E (8A) for another fantastic Hunger Games moment. Congratulations to you all! Every entry has received 5 house points, so well done for taking part and representing your houses. 

The OLLIE Foundation are running a free 2 hour workshop looking at the science of goal-setting and how we can apply that science to our own goals. This course shares proven methods and the science behind them that you can use to reach your goals. Whether you are planning to achieve BIG aspirational goals around studies, career, travel etc or, are thinking about those obstacles that are getting in the way of life – anxiety, anger, self-harming etc, they look at how you can plan to move past those issues.

For teens and adults. To find a date to suit you and to book your place, click here

The past few weeks have been particularly busy for Tenacity, the company ran by 23 year 12 students under the Young Enterprise Company Programme scheme. Since last year, the team has been working hard creating a business plan, taking on directing roles, designing, and marketing their product as part of the competition that culminates in the European Company of the Year finals. 

The 12th of February marked the team's first product release, making their downloadable Activity Pack of English, Maths and Science activities available for only £1.99. Tenacity created the product conscious of the enormous task facing parents of taking on the role of teacher while juggling a home-work life. Since the launch of the Activity Pack the team have been featured in the Hemel Today, the Herts Advertiser and recognised by the family lifestyle blogger ‘What the Redhead Said’.

This term Tenacity will be releasing more editions of their Activity Pack and are working hard to progress further in the competition. We would like to thank all the parents who have offered us their support in our business so far and invite you to visit us at on website to find out more https://tenacity-store.webflow.io/ 

Omegle is an app and a website which you may have seen reported on in the news over the past week. If you are unsure as to what Omegle is, essentially it's a place which openly advertises 'come in and talk to a stranger'. You simply click a button and you are randomly placed in a video chat room with a completely random person. There's no age verification for using this site.  Whilst Omegle claims to be moderated – it has a reputation for unpredictable and shocking content. Global child protection groups are increasingly concerned about predators using the site to gather self-generated child sexual abuse material.

Over the past 12 months there has been an increase in the usage of this site, particularly among teens and younger children. According to new research collected by data analyst Semrush, Omegle grew globally from approximately 34 million visits a month in January 2020 to 65 million in January 2021. In part this growth in usage has been linked to high-profile influencers talking about it on TikTok. Recent analysis shows videos tagged with Omegle have been viewed on TikTok more than 9.4 billion times.

More information about this platform and recent findings from a BBC investigation can be found here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56085499.

As ever, the advice we would give parents/carers is to have age appropriate open discussions about platforms your son/daughter is using and what content they are sharing.

UN Change Conference UK2021

We have been extremely impressed with the outstanding entries submitted so far for the UN Creative Earth Competition during our virtual learning delivery. Creative Earth is an art competition for people aged 16 and under from across the UK, run by the UN COP26 Climate Change Conference in collaboration with WWF. As part of the Together for Our Planet campaign, they are inviting young people to get creative and show global leaders the world they want to live in.

For further information about how to take part:

Whether it’s green forests and garden cities, clear skies and wind turbines or oceans teeming with life – we want you to paint, draw or design a piece of art that shows how you’d like our planet to look in the future. The UK is hosting COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, bringing together world leaders to tackle climate change and ensure a better future for us all. There is still time to enter the competition to be in with a chance of having your artwork displayed at COP26 and show the rest of the world your vision for the future.

For further information please follow the link: https://together-for-our-planet.ukcop26.org/creative-earth/

Student testing for COVID-19

Mr Gray has outlined the approach to the first test of each student before they return to school. Following some enquiries, we did want to clarify that the expectation is that students will wear full school uniform when they come on site for the test. Full details on the arrangements for each year group will be provided to families in a separate communication.

Once three onsite tests have been completed, families will be provided with home testing kits. These will be delivered to school and we will arrange for distribution to the student body (along with the instructions for use).

 COVID-19 vaccinations

With the rollout of the vaccination programme, we are aware that students have begun to receive their first jabs. All families will receive an email from the school with a link to a google form to record the date of the vaccination(s). Thank in advance for completing this information.

Inspired by her stay at the real Jamaica Inn on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall, ‘Jamaica Inn' is a novel by the English writer Daphne du Maurier, first published in 1936. It is set in Cornwall in 1820 and the main character is 23 year-old Mary Yellan who lives on a farm in west Cornwall. She is a quiet but determined young woman who plans to remain single forever. She has watched men subdue her friends, turning them into housewives with no voice or opinions. She doesn’t want the same fate for herself. A Gothic classic,  ‘Jamaica Inn’ has been described as ‘Wuthering Heights’ meets ‘Twilight’ - why not read it and see what you think? 

Jamaica Inn Guardian Article

Well done to Rhys P and Kristian H from 7N for carrying out their half term pledges with both students working on their nature photography. As you can see from some of the pictures here, they have done a fabulous job. Rhys also carried out cycling throughout the week and Kristian is learning to make pies this weekend, which we look forward to seeing in form time next week. Well done to all of the students in 7N who completed their pledges last week.

Saracens Women's Rugby are running a 5-week Girls Resilience Programme for girls aged 13 to 18. The course is fully funded by Premiership Rugby as part of #ProjectRugby, and is therefore is FREE to attend. This is a fantastic opportunity with inspiring guest speakers and important topics such as Staying Connected, Raising Resilience, Positive Actin and Supporting Others covered. The course will run virtually via zoom each Wednesday throughout the month of March from 6pm to 7pm. This is an accredited learning course that you will receive a certificate of completion once tasks are completed and signed off by course leader.

To register please click here:  https://forms.gle/qYzTnrFunKno2hCS6
Deadline to register Tuesday 2nd March 2021 at 5pm.

For more information please contact Charlie White (Development Manager - Inclusion) on charliewhite@saracens.net

Every week the Mathematics Faculty publish a puzzle for you to try.  For every entry you will receive 1 housepoint, if you answer correctly you will win 2 housepoints and if you are the fastest person to answer the puzzle correctly then you will win 5 housepoints!  To enter, simply scan the QR code and fill out the google form.  Good luck!

We welcome students back this half term with a whole school theme that celebrates a new beginning, Chinese New Year. The new year started on Friday 12th of February to align with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and it ends on the first full moon of the lunar calendar, 15 days later. According to the Chinese zodiac, 2021 is the Year of the Ox, meaning this year is going to be lucky and a time to focus on relationships. Chinese New Year is a time to celebrate the return of spring and pray for blessing, longevity, health, and peace for the year to come. With this week’s news about how lockdown will be lifted in the coming months, we hope the whole school community can get into the spirit of celebrating the year ahead and looking forward to reuniting with friends and family. We, of course, must still be cautious but we can be hopeful that we have a fantastic year ahead - Happy Chinese New Year!

P is for… prosperity [noun]

Definition: The state of being successful usually by making a lot of money.

Example: It was a period of prosperity for our nation.

Synonyms: Affluent, Flourishing, Fortunate

Antonyms: Destitute, Failing, Impoverished

Etymology: From the Latin root ‘prosperus’ meaning doing well’.