This Sunday marks Refugee Day; a day to reflect on the resilience of both adults and children fleeing war, violence and persecution, and to celebrate the contribution refugees make to our communities. Here at Sandringham, we aim to foster an understanding of people in different situations and encourage kindness and empathy.  As such, have a diverse selection of books that aim to explore what it really means to flee your home and begin again in an unfamiliar place with two of our most recent titles below, available to borrow from the LRC, doing just that. 

Boy Everywhere chronicles the difficult journey Sami and his family make from a comfortable life in Damascus to a prison in Manchester, via a smuggler’s den in Turkey. A story of family, survival and bravery.  

Girl. Boy. Sea. is a shipwreck survival tale with an unlikely friendship. Bill narrowly survives the sinking of his yacht in a huge storm off the coast of Morocco. After days alone at sea in a tiny rowing boat Bill rescues a girl clinging for her life to a barrel. Aya, from the nomadic Amazigh tribe, was escaping to Europe when her migrant ship was destroyed in the same storm. We think they are both brilliant books to encourage empathy for refugees and hope you enjoy reading them too.

We are very excited to announce that we will be hosting two online events in the LRC in July. As these take place over lunchtime, we are asking students who are interested to come to the LRC to receive a free ticket to one or both of the events:

On Friday 9th July at 1.30-2.15pm we have a talk by Jonathan Stroud (author of the Lockwood & Co series and his new dystopian action adventure series: The Outlaws Scarlett & Brown)

On Friday 16th July at 1.30 we have a talk by Sophie McKenzie, (author of the Girl, Missing series) who has a new book coming out very soon: “Hide and Secrets”

As these may go into session 5 students may leave at 1.55pm or get a pass for the start session 5 from the LRC. We look forward to seeing you Keep reading!

A3 is named after Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet famous for his rhythmic use of words and imagery, comic exuberance but sadly also his reckless bouts of drinking which led to his early death aged just 39.

Born in Swansea in 1914, Thomas showed an early flair for writing poetry and went on to leave school aged 16 to become a reporter for the South Wales Daily Post. This career was short-lived however, and he reverted back to poetry with his first book, 18 Poems, appearing in 1934 to critical acclaim and introducing himself as a strikingly new and individual voice in English poetry. Unlike his contemporaries, Thomas was not concerned with social and intellectual issues, but instead his writing had intense lyricism, highly charged emotion, biblical echoes and sexual imagery.

Thomas married Caitlin Macnamara in 1937 and the following year they settled in Laugharne, Carmathenshire where they went on to bring up their three children. During the Second World War, Thomas recorded radio shows and worked as a scriptwriter for the BBC. He also made propaganda films for the Ministry of Information and in 1952, he wrote In Country Sleep, And Other Poems which includes his most famous poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night."

Famous in life for his both for his work and his boisterousness, Thomas has become equally prominent posthumously. His portrait appeared on the cover of The Beatles’ 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band , a plaque to Thomas was unveiled in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey in the 80s and a photograph of him was taken into space on board the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1998. 

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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 have a beautiful new display in the Main Hall. Made up of stunning artwork by Emily Darlington, Freya Barker, Sophie Timbs and Flora Mitchell, it highlights our commitment to Sustainability and commitment to what we can do at Sandringham School to implement change. Taking guidance from David Attenborough's key message that "Together we need to rewild the world," we focus on six key strands to make a difference: people driving change, re-wilding the world, restoring the world's biodiversity, building a waste free world, balancing our ecosystem, and reducing our carbon footprint. Thank you to Mrs Warris and Mrs Kelly for selecting and creating the display and the caretaking staff for helping to assemble it. Students can see the beautiful work as they take their lunch daily and hopefully think about the small changes they can make to help look after our amazing planet.

Arts festival 2021 is taking place from the 21st June - 2nd July, with workshops, events, performances and shows. To join in the fun you need to join the GOOGLE CLASSROOM, the code is shown on the student noticeboard. More information will also be given next week in the whole school assembly.

This week we feature four students who have taken time out of their busy schedules to film introductions for some of the exciting session at the World Class Schools Symposium taking place on Thursday 1st July. This is a LIVE event hosted being hosted at Sandringham School with sessions for students and teachers, competition results and motivational speakers. More details can be found in the World Class Schools section of this Newsletter but a big thank you to Sam and Sophia in Year 11 who returned from their summer holiday to be filmed at short notice and to Jamie and Keerthana in Year 10 who came straight from a Chemistry exam for their moment in the spotlight. As always, these students were a credit to Sandringham School with their professionalism, politeness and positive attitudes. We really appreciate their time and hope that students enjoy the event in a few weeks.

If you would like your son/daughter to be featured in the Sandprint this week then please email Melissa.holian@sandringham.herts.sch.uk with any details and/or photographs that you would like included. 

There have been a number of newspaper articles in the last week highlighting the most common reported symptoms linked to COVID infection which are  headache, sore throat and runny nose.  In younger people the symptoms can be milder and display themselves as “more like a bad cold” although they may not feel very ill, they could be contagious and put others at risk.

The lateral flow tests provided to all students are to identify people who are asymptomatic, if you  have any concerns about your child you should book a PCR test.  Tests are easy to book via the below link and results come back very quickly

Lateral Flow Tests: Testing should ideally be done every Sunday and Wednesday.  It is important to highlight these tests are for people with NO symptoms, and cannot replace a PCR test.  If a student has a positive result from a lateral flow test you should inform the school via the absence@sandringham.herts.sch.uk email address and take the child for a PCR test as soon as possible.

When to Book a PCR Test: If a student is showing symptoms they must get a PCR test as soon as possible, you can book via https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test   Please do not use a Lateral Flow Test as a replacement for a PCR test if someone is displaying any COVID symptoms.

Please let the school know when the result of this test is received by using the email address above, title your email  COVID Notification.

As outlined elsewhere in this edition, the school continues to manage its response to COVID-19 and the impact on school events. Following the decision to delay progression to stage 4 of the government roadmap for reopening, we are assessing which of the events scheduled to take place over the rest of the school year can still go ahead. One definite decision is that the Open Evening, due to take place on Monday 12th July, will not take place as planned. This means there will be no early finish for students on the day nor a delayed start on Tuesday 13th July. The school will run as normal on both days. Further details regarding other events will be shared with families over the next week.

Following the events during a football match at the weekend, we would like to reassure parents about the defibrillator situation at Sandringham school. We currently have 3 defibrillators: one in reception, one in the SandPit Theatre and one outside the Sports Hall should they need to be used. 
 

Congratulations to Year 13 students Niamh C, Caitlin T, and Camryn W for making it into the top 24 finalists of the ICAEW Business Base national competition. The girls beat over 500 other schools to reach the finals which is an incredible achievement.

The finals gave Niamh, Caitlin and Camryn the opportunity to showcase their understanding of business and the skills that employers are looking for by answering a series of questions detailing different business scenarios by major financial employers such as Deloitte and PwC. They did an exceptional job in answering difficult questions posed by industry professionals. All three young ladies showed incredible integrity and initiative throughout the competition final and we wish them well in their future careers in business and finance

Summer Show SPARK

The summer dance show, SPARK, will take place on Wednesday 7th July, which we are extremely excited about as this will be the first time back in the theatre in over 16 months. Due to the current restrictions, tickets will be released according to year groups and a parent mail has gone out to those involved in the show. If you want to watch the live show from the comfort of your own home, streaming tickets are also available for sale on the following link, so don’t miss out! https://thesandpittheatre.ticketco.events   If your son/daughter is taking part in the show please return the consent form before Friday 25th June. 

Dance Uniform

The Sandringham dance uniform is still available to buy from the dance office should your son/daughter wish to purchase a t-shirt, leggings, jumper, tracksuit top or bottoms. Uniform will also be available to buy in the foyer of the dance show on Wednesday 7th July.

Virtual Employer Encounters – Webinars for students

Hertfordshire opportunities Portal (HOP) continues with their webinars aimed at students featuring interviews with local employers.

A webinar on Thursday 24th June 4pm-5pm will focus on Careers in Performing Arts. Four panellists representing Momentum Performing Arts Academy will discuss their own careers and experiences, including different routes into the industry. Registrations are now live and can be accessed here

All previous webinars are available to watch at the above link and includes:  Physiotherapy, Engineering, Life Sciences/Pharmaceuticals, Construction , Film & Media Production, Nursing and Sports Coaching. We hope you find them useful.

Our Summer Soiree concert on Tuesday 29th June is proceeding as planned and is NOT impacted by the government announcements on Monday. This event is an outdoor concert making use of the fantastic new covered area near the Sixth Form block. Tickets are being booked and managed through the Sandpit Theatre box office as usual. It will be a socially distanced event which means that family bubbles attending will be allocated a table and seats as a unit and will not be able to mix with other family bubbles. 

The concert will feature the Jazz band, Senior choir, Jazz combo and various soloists and smaller ensembles. It promises to be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the musical achievements of our senior school leavers in particular. 

We will require performers to attend at 3pm on the day of the concert for a sound check which should take no more than one hour. We do hope you will join us for what promises to be a special evening as it will be our first face to face concert for almost 18 months.

For the whole school theme this week, we discussed the importance of standards in maintaining a respectful and united school community. Students were given the opportunity to discuss and debate the uniform and equipment standards set by the school. They were encouraged to reflect on the balance between individuality and equality when representing the school, and had some fantastic debates about the policies that the school should have in place. Despite many students finding the strictness of the school standards difficult to maintain, they do understand the importance of having high standards and respect Sandringham’s outstanding reputation. Our students are amazing and deserve to be recognised for all their hard work in maintaining the standards that make our school community a fantastic place to work and learn. 

With the lovely weather this week, unfortunately a lot of students have been really suffering with bad hay fever.  Please can you ensure your child takes the correct medication before they come to school and have a water bottle with them.  Don’t hesitate to contact Student Services if you would like us to hold spare medication for your child, but please be aware that the school can not administer any hay fever medication unless you have provided it yourself.   

DSPL7 are running a free fussy eating Masterclass online at 1pm on Monday 5th July. This is for parents or professionals. Please click here to sign up. 

‘Maus’ is an undisputed masterpiece of the graphic novel form. Representing Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, Spiegelman’s profoundly moving work traces his father’s harrowing experiences of Auschwitz and the challenges of adjusting to peacetime life after an all-consuming ordeal. As the first and only graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize, ‘Maus’ is a brutally moving work of art suitable for students in Year 9 and above. Read more about it here

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine : inconcevable/inimaginable

GERMAN: Die Wort der Woche :  unvorstellbar

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana :  inconcebible/impensable

Thinking questions:

1. How can prefixes on new vocabulary help us to figure out the meaning of a word?
2. What things influence a language and make them change over time?

I is for… inconceivable [adjective]

Definition: Impossible to imagine or believe: not conceivable.

Example: After coming this far, to quit now would be inconceivable.

Synonyms: Implausible, Unimaginable, Improbable

Antonyms: Believable, Reasonable, Tenable

Etymology: From the word Latin ‘concipere’ meaning to take. From ‘in’ meaning not, ‘con’ meaning together and ‘capiō’ meaning to take.  

As previously mentioned, the World Class Schools Symposium is taking place LIVE at Sandringham School on the 1st July. The event is sure to be an exciting and informative one with sessions for students from LinkedIn, Accenture, Trinity College Cambridge, and Motivational speaker Tej Samani. There will also be an opportunity to learn how to become a WCSQM ambassador and the results of the competitions of the Talk Off and Essay competition. Students will be receiving details of the sessions and anyone can pre register to watch the event live or afterwards here and here

A big thank you to Mrs Warris for her amazing artwork, Mr Downs and Ms Carter-Downing for filming all of the segments and to Ms Finlay for co-ordinating the event which is sure to be beneficial to students and staff alike. 

Well done to the Y7/8 boys tennis team of Meesam A, Harrison H, Rory L and Sean S who played Sir John Lawes on Tuesday in the Aegon County league. It was a great performance from the boys to take the win convincingly to 12-0 . Well done boys, this should see us through to the semi-finals against the Group A winners.

On Monday the Y9/10 Boys B tennis team and Y7/8 girls team were in action against Beaumont in the County League Division 2. The boys had some close matches but lost overall with Beaumont’s strong A side having a good 1 and 2. The girls' match was much closer with Chloe G and Lilly B winning their singles and doubles matches, before Chloe and Eda lost the shoot out 10-8.

The final tennis fixture of the week was a Glanville Cup Regional Final. Our Senior boys B team were in action in this prestigious national competition against Coopers School from Essex. It is a huge achievement for any school team to reach this stage, but even more of an impressive feat for a school’s second strong team to reach a regional final. The match was fairly one sided overall, with some of the individual games being very close. Eventually we lost the tie, but the boys did themselves and the school proud. The team of Ivan R, Matthew McC, Angus H and Alex S have played superbly this year and have competed with, and even beaten, some of the best independent schools in the area. Well done boys.

A huge well done to our Year 7 rounders teams who played their first competitive games against Townsend this week. We were delighted to see such teamwork, commitment to learning new tactics and extremely impressed to see these put into play so quickly. In the end it was a close game but well done for winning by 1 rounder! Players player - Eszter.

The Year 9 team also took on Townsend earlier this week and impressed us with their game knowledge and tactical awareness. Despite the heat, the team were keen to win and showed that with excellent communication you can! Well done for winning by 3 rounders!  Players player - Martha

On Tuesday, the U14 boys' played at Roundwood Park. Winning the toss and bowling first, we did not have a good start and some good batting from the opposition, combined with some generous bowling and fielding saw Roundwood on 81 after 10 overs. At that point Tommy E was called to bowl and displayed one of the best bowling spells we have seen. Tommy ended up with 2 wickets for 9 runs off 4 overs and this was followed up by another good spell of bowling from Rohith M – taking 3 wickets. This bowling slowed the run rate down and gave us a chance as Roundwood ended up posting 135.

Our batting didn’t get off to the best start, losing early wickets. We recovered, thanks to some good batting from Harrison Smith and this left us chasing 71 runs from 60 balls. Henry G came into bat, his debut no less, and was superb. A couple of boundaries and good running kept us in touch with the run rate. Unfortunately, however, the start of the match cost us. Sandringham finished on 126- a timely reminder that in the game of Cricket, every single run is crucial. Overall, it was a wonderful match with both teams playing in the right spirit on a warm Summer afternoon. There is real potential within this year group to do well next year should they commit as a group to training and fixtures. I look forward to seeing how they progress.

Monday 21st June - County League Athletics Match 4 @ Westminster Lodge for Y8 and 10

Wednesday 23rd June – English Schools Track and Field Cup for Y8 and 10

A huge congratulations to Bryce B who is the South of England Pole vault champion. Here he is on his way to 4m50 and the gold medal yesterday. This puts him 5th in the UK and should see him go to the English Schools Champs in July! Well done Bryce.

We are open! We look forward to welcoming you back through our doors and remember we are a socially distant venue so seats will disappear very quickly so do not miss out and get your tickets now!

Following Government guidelines, you must wear a face covering while attending The SandPit Theatre unless you are exempt as stated in these guidelines. If you do not wear a mask you will be refused entry and your ticket will be forfeited. Our café will be open during these screenings for drinks and snacks but please note we will only be accepting card payments. Alcohol is available for sale 30 minutes before the shows begin.  The box office is open from 11.30am – 3.30pm Monday to Friday. Alternatively, you can call us on 01727 799565 or visit www.sandpittheatre.co.uk

We now sell and accept Theatre Tokens!  You can use these tokens to purchase tickets for any of our shows or buy them as gifts to be used at over 260 venues nationwide and in the West End all while supporting theatres including us!

Following its record-breaking, sell-out run in London’s West End and national tour, the critically acclaimed musical Funny Girl comes to a cinema near you, featuring Sheridan Smith in “an unforgettable star turn” (The Times).  Funny Girl is semi-biographical, based on the life and career of Broadway star, film actress and comedienne Fanny Brice (a role made famous by Barbara Streisand on Broadway and in the 1968 film adaptation), and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nick Arnstein. Tickets £13.50/£10

The new 25th Anniversary show catapults Riverdance into the 21st century and will completely immerse you in the extraordinary and elemental power of its music and dance.  25 years ago, 7 minutes changed the face of Irish dancing forever.  The Eurovision interval act performance gave millions of people a new and exciting glimpse of the future of Irish dance.  Now 25 years later, composer Bill Whelan has re-recorded his mesmerising soundtrack while producer Moya Doherty and director John McColgan have completely reimagined the ground-breaking show with innovative and spectacular lighting, projection, stage, and costume designs. Tickets £13.50/£10

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet is a passionate and contemporary re-imagining of Shakespeare’s classic story of love and conflict is set in the not-too-distant future in the ‘Verona Institute’.  Here ‘difficult’ young people are mysteriously confined by a society that seeks to divide and crush their youthful spirit.  Our two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together. Tickets £13.50/£10

Sandringham Dance present their annual summer dance show. An evening of student choreography, exam work and pieces from the resident companies; SYCD, Tuxedo HipHop Company and TripleEdge.

Parents of Year 11, 12, and 13 get priority booking until the 21st of June.

Tickets available by calling 01727 799565. £8 per ticket in person or £11 to live stream per household

Sandringham Music Faculty presents: Summer Soiree!  This is an outdoor concert below the new Sixth Form Canopy, behind The SandPit Theatre, featuring live performances from soloists, choirs, and orchestras in the summer air! Tickets £5/£3