Well done to Erin C in Year 8 who had a great game in goal for her first match of the 23/24 season, playing a year up for Hertfordshire.The U14 Girls team beat MK Dons 3-1 at the weekend. Amazing work Erin- a huge achievement to be selected for the squad and we look forward to hearing more about your upcoming successes. 

We are aware that several of our students in Year 9 and 10 are studying additional languages out of school as native speakers and may be interested in sitting a GCSE in Summer 2024. Although the exact timeline of next summer’s exams has yet to be confirmed, we would be grateful if initial expressions of interest could be emailed to the admin email address FAO Ms Baikie stating the student name, tutor group and the language they are studying which they wish to be examined in.

The deadline for expressions of interest is Friday 6th October. After this date we will not be able to investigate entries for Summer 2023. Once we have all the requests, we will work with families to see if we can accommodate them. Thank you.

It was fantastic to see all of our Year 12s at the information evening earlier this week. The year group have made a great start and are settling in to Sixth Form life well. If you missed the presentation or would like to see any of the details, you can do so here.

DSPL7 supports parents and carers, staff in early years settings, schools, and further education colleges by ensuring there is a range of provision and support services within the St Albans and Harpenden area for children and young people with additional needs. Each term DLSP7 produces a booklet that outlines the courses that are being run by external providers to support parents and families who have a child or children with additional needs.

Please use the link here to access DPSL7’s parenting support booklet for Spring 2023

Twenty-eight German Exchange students and three teachers from the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Gymnasium in Quickborn, Hamburg will be arriving next Wednesday and we can’t wait to welcome them! Frau Kranz, Frau Läsecke and Frau Schliemann will be joining us with their students for an action-packed week. We would like to thank all the host families in advance for their support at the Information Evening on Wednesday and their part in helping us to bring young people together from Germany and the UK. Further updates in next week’s edition.

For those new to the school, 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?

The LRC has a new Mystery Fiction display showcasing books that feature spies, sleuths, suspects, red herrings and more! Pop along and see if you can find your next favourite read. The LRC is open at break, lunch and after school until 4pm for students who wish to issue and return books, read, or study quietly. Well done to Oliver L 7A who was our first new student to borrow a book at breaktime on Monday 4th September.

Congratulations to Hamaiz H in Year 13, who has been selected to take place in the BVL Model Law Commission Project 2023. This is a 3 month project during which students from non-fee paying schools mirror the work of the Law Commission, by assessing and proposing reform ideas for different areas of law. It is a fantastic opportunity for candidates to engage with law and legal policy and improve on their analytical skills, presentational skills and knowledge of the law. It will involve Hamaiz eventually presenting before politicians and lawyers in January 2024. The competition for places this year was fierce with over 160 applications for only 80 places, so a huge well done Hamaiz on your selection.

If you would like to nominate someone for the student spotlight next week, please contact holianm@sandringham.aat.school with any details and/or photographs to include. 

Thanks to Fo$S, both the English and Drama faculties are delighted to confirm that our subscription to Digital Theatre + will continue this academic year. This learning platform has proved invaluable since acquiring it in July 2022, and students across all key stages have had their taught texts brought to life through watching a variety of high-quality performances, as well as enjoying behind the scenes interviews and documentaries, listening to lectures, accessing digital study guides and so much more. Digital Theatre + is now firmly built into our curriculum and also into our super-curriculum and has enriched our teaching as well as promoting independent learning.

As you would expect, a learning platform of this quality comes at a cost and despite extensive negotiation, the renewal price could not be covered solely by our faculty budget. We approached Fo$S, hoping for a contribution and were delighted when told they were happy to cover the amount in full. Thank you,Fo$S!

Students can access Digital Theatre + through the Sandstorm homepage. To celebrate the renewal, we hope you can select a performance to watch together and recreate the theatre experience in your home!

Well done to Turing house who lead the charge this week with an impressive 1308 points into total . They also have the highest house points overall this week with 752. Special mention goes to Gabs B in 8S and Annabella H in 7T for gaining an impressive 13 house points each this week. 

We look forward to updating you on the results of the Staff Tug of War taking place after school today! Below are the upcoming evernt for October and you can keep up to date on all of our house news @SandHouse

Upcoming Events in October

• AUSTEN & ELGAR CHARITY WEEK – 9th October – 13th October
• Last Choir Standing (Year 7) – Monday 9th October
• Speed Stacking (Year 7) – Tuesday 10th October

This week’s whole school theme is Expectations. Sandringham is a fantastic school and, as we are incredibly proud of our school and the incredible young people that represent us, we have high expectations of punctuality, uniform and behaviour. Since starting back this September, we have reiterated a number of these expectations to improve consistency for all students across the school and the students have responded to this very positively. The whole school assembly was delivered by Acting Deputy Head for Pastoral Care, Mr Allday, where he clearly explained the purpose of a number of our school rules and how pleased he is with how students have risen to the high standards expected of them in the last week. As our school community grows, it is important for student safety, our collective identity and a purposeful learning environment that we all commit to maintaining these expectations moving forwards. Thank you to all the students for their commitment to making Sandringham a fantastic place to learn - keep it up!

STEM clubs have been started this week and it is great to see students enjoying all that the school has to offer. We are delighted to say that there is a new Programming Club led by Mr Goff in G2 every Wednesday lunch time. Students have started their exploration about artificial intelligence and machine learning by using the Google teachable machine to train and build up their first machine learning model. If you are interested in programming and advanced technology such as A.I. and machine learning, please come and join us on Wednesday.

As mentioned in the Headlines, this week, we held our inaugural Sixth Form Student-led Societies Fayre. It was attended by hundreds of Year 12 and Year 13 students. Like a Freshers’ week society fayre at university, each society had a stall and the presidents for each society were on hand to meet and talk with Sixth Formers interested in joining. Sandringham School has over 20 Sixth Form societies which are run by students for Year 12 and Year 13 students. These lunchtime societies include Bookclub, Engineering, German, Sport and Wildlife Garden. It’s a great way to pursue interested and make new friends. If your child is in Year 12 or Year 13 and cannot see the type of society they want to join, they can always speak to the Sixth Form Enrichment Tutor, Ms Griffiths Plunkett, about founding a new one.

Cast t-shirts for Little Shop of Horrors are now available to purchase! All information is on Google Classroom. Deadline is Wednesday 20th September. Don't miss out!

We’ll be posting behind the scenes interviews and photos on our Arts Team Instagram page, so make sure you're following to get behind the scenes access! Instagram: sand_artsteam

We're still on the hunt for any old, unwanted blazers or trilby style hats. We'd be very grateful for any donations!

Finally, tickets for the show will be available on the SandPit website shortly, watch this space. Performances take place between 16th-18th November.

We are delighted with the progress we are making on Sandringham School’s Wildlife Garden as part of our school’s sustainability efforts. Last summer term, lots of students volunteered to help revamp our garden and we now have a beautiful gravel circle seating area thanks to donations from Ayletts Nurseries and Carpenters. There are also now picnic benches for students to sit at and a newly painted storage shed. This year, we have lots of ambitions to renovate the garden including raised beds and creating a small orchard with donations of Fo$$. Improving this space will enable more outdoor learning for our students about sustainability and gardening.

A sweeping epic fantasy full of romance and adventure, House of Earth and Blood uncovers a terrifying conspiracy amidst the hotspots of the decadent Crescent City. Eleanor W 9J who has recently read the book says, ‘I was shocked by the plot twist at the end. The characters were all really interesting and I enjoyed the romance.’ House of Earth and Blood is available for Year 9+ to borrow from the LRC. 

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: banal

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche: gewöhnlich

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: banal

Thinking Question:

• Here the English and the Spanish have ‘stolen’ the French word. How many other French words do we have in English?

B is for…  banal [adjective]

Definition: Lacking originality as to be obvious and boring.

Example: He just sat there making banal remarks all evening.

Synonyms: Boring, Tedious, Uninspiring

Antonyms: Inspiring, Poignant

Etymology: First meaning ‘compulsory’: from the French word ‘ban’  meaning proclamation.

Please see above for upcoming fixtures. You can follow all of our sports news @SandringhamPE

Our 1st XV had a good win against St Edmunds today in the U18 school vase. Well done to all involved- we are looking forward to the upcoming season.

Thank you to STAHS  for hosting some great friendlies this week in preparation for the U14, U16 and U19 county tournament on the 30th September. An exciting season awaits us!

We have made a great start to our Cross Country campaign this season, with over 20 students representing the school at a fixture last night. The squad pictured here featured debutants, top 10 finishes & a couple of winners. Great job all- we look forward to reporting more results in future editions.

The critically acclaimed creative team that brought you ‘Hansel & Gretel’ are back with more fun-fuelled pantomime madness; a joyful new twist on another old story, it’s not to be missed. Rapunzel saves the day (and herself!) in this action packed, magical musical pantomime adventure. Let down your hair with a cast of kooky characters as they dance and sing through this unusual, tangled tale; where people live in giant old boots and tall towers, where frog boys rap about enchanted ponds and girls with long hair battle more than split ends! Tickets cost £10-£17.50 and you can buy them here.