Preparations for our Summer Showcase for Arts Week 2024 are well underway and we're so pleased to see so many new faces at our clubs! Year 7 Young Actor's Company continue to work on their devised performance which will be previewed before Arts Week to primary schools. Year 8's have just completed their audition for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. Year 9 SAS (Sandringham Actor's Society) have been working on two performances, first an extract from 'Lord of The Flies' and we've just moved onto a play from the National Theatre Connections called 'Tuesday'. Finally our Musical Theatre Club has been busy starting work on one of their three musical numbers, focusing on Grease to begin. You could say it's been a busy half term! We can't wait to bring you the final performances during Arts Week. Watch this space.

In other Drama news, and equally as busy, our A Level and GCSE students are in the throes of their devised and scripted exam performances. Many have opted for a very naturalistic style of theatre this year, so we're asking if any families might be happy to donate some small furniture items to the faculty for use in their performances. We're looking for:

• Old style chairs
• Sofa or armchairs
• Coffee tables or lamps
• Bookshelves or similar

If you have anything you'd be willing to contribute, please can you email me before sending in students with large items! We're very grateful in advance! You can also catch some of the performances in The Sandpit later this term, look out for tickets on the Sandpit website.

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) 2024 is the 17th annual celebration of apprenticeships. The theme this year is ‘Skills for Life’.

We would like to celebrate the value, benefit and opportunity that apprenticeships bring and have picked out some fantastic virtual events you can access each day which can be found in the careers section of the school website. Aimed at Years 10, 11 & 12, the week sees a mix of talks, events, and advice from key figures and a range of employers to help you see how apprenticeships can help develop skills and knowledge required for a rewarding career.  

There are many more events you can access - use the hashtags #NAW2024  #SkillsForLife to search for updates and go to https://nationalapprenticeshipweek.co.uk/  @Apprenticeships @AmazingApprenticeships. 

This week we have been focusing on the House Competition and students have been reflecting on how they can participate further to support their house and contribute more to the school community. Rather than a whole school assembly this week, each house has received an assembly from their Head and House and Sixth Form House Captains. Alongside this, on Friday we mixed up the form classes to a vertical form system with each student getting the opportunity to meet and compete in the house quiz with other house members from other year groups. We hope that students have enjoyed working together with their fellow house mates.

We had a fantastic turnout for House Mathematics on Wednesday evening with 40 students from various years competing in categories such as Maths in Movies, Sudoku Nonograms, Logic Grids and other puzzles. Well done to the overall winners Hepworth who gained an impressive 203 points. The rest of the results are as follows:

1. Hepworth 203
2. Austen 160
3. Johnson 149
4. Shakespeare 144
5. Fawcett 135
6. Turing 130
7. Newton 78
8. Elgar 75

Thanks to everyone who came along and to the staff who helped arrange the event. 

Sandringham School and Hertfordshire Music Service (HMS) are delighted to offer your child a free trial oboe lesson at your school. These will run on the 14th February during the school day. HMS provides the teacher, the instrument, and the music – all you need to do is come along and enjoy the experience of playing a musical instrument! If your child enjoys the trial and wishes to continue, you can take advantage of the Get Playing offer. 

Once your child has attended a trial lesson, they will receive a certificate that details how to sign up for weekly lessons. The Get Playing offer includes: 

• Free trial lesson 
• 20% discount on Spring term lessons 2024 
• Free instrument loan for the Spring term (normally £28 per term for any instrument) 
• Free membership of 1 HMS ensemble starting in the Summer term (normally £59 per term) 

Weekly lessons are available to book starting after February half term – book early to secure your place! 

We know that instrumental lessons can boost confidence and improve academic attainment, so we look forward to teaching your child how to express their musical voice with HMS! Follow the link here for a demo video introducing the oboe and email Miss Stothard by 7th February  to sign up for your free trial lesson.

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?

We are excited to welcome our talented musicians to the Sandpit Theatre once again on Tuesday for the ever popular "Battle of the Bands." The audience are set to enjoy an evening of student bands from rock to acoustic duos as they battle it out to win the title and be crowned the ultimate music band. Taking inspiration from the old rock legends, Led Zeppelin & Jimi Hendrix, or modern-day pop groups, bands of all types playing covers or original songs are invited to get involved. We look forward to bringing you the results next week!

We also still have a few tickets left for our fantastic Spring Concert featuring all choirs and instrumental clubs, including the ever-growing show choir, the famous jazz band, and sinfonia orchestra. Buy tickets at the box office for what is set to be a great night!

We are currently looking for a Learning Supervisor to join our fantastic school. More information is available on our website here.

Please share with friends who may be interested.

Planning for Year 10 Work Experience Week is underway.  All students will have the chance to attend a place of work from 17th – 21st June 2024.  Please can all families and students refer to the emails received on Thursday 25th January, which detail how to record private placements on Unifrog and how to get support with this process.  Thank you.

The Athletics season has not yet started- but we thought we would share out display which is looking fabulous with the new updated School records. With 20 records broken last year , and lots of silverware won, we look forward to another exciting season ahead!

FRENCH: Le mot de la semaine: robuste

GERMAN: Das Wort der Woche:stabil/stark

SPANISH: La palabra de la semana: robusto/a

Thinking Question:

• This week the French and Spanish translations are very similar - why might French and Spanish have many similarities?

Amari Peters knows three things. Her big brother Quinton has gone missing. No one will talk about it. His mysterious job holds the secret. So when Amari gets an invitation to the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs, she's certain this is her chance to find Quinton. But first she has to get her head around the new world of the Bureau, where mermaids, aliens and magicians are real, and her roommate is a weredragon. Isaac L 7S who has recently read the book says ‘I really enjoyed Amari’s adventure. I liked that she can see ghosts and monsters  when other people can’t. This book was really cool.’

R is for…robust [adjective]

Definition: Strong and healthy (of a person), or (of an object or system) strong and unlikely to break or fail.

Example: They were a robust pair of walking boots.

Synonyms: Strong, Durable, Tough

Antonyms: Fragile, Feeble, Delicate

Etymology:  Deriving from the Latin ‘robustus’ meaning of oak, hard, strong.

A successful week for our footballing teams! Well done to our amazing U16 girls' team who have qualified for the next round of the county cup. Goals from Eda P (2), Jasmine R (3) & Mimi G. Pom- Eda P.

A huge congratulations to the U13G Football team on making it to the 1/4 finals of the National cup with their 4-2 win over Wyvern St Edmunds. The girls played amazingly and should all be very proud. Goals scored By: Nell M x3 and Phoebe x1

Last Saturday was also a busy morning with all years playing fixtures against Simon Balle. Year 7: It was brilliant to see lots of boys representing the school for the first time with the eventual results a 5-0 loss & 5-3 win in the two matches. Year 8: A well fought match with some great performances- special mention to Sanjeev S for a number of outstanding saves in goal. Year 9: Our boys put in a dominant performance to come out 3-0 winners and finally our Year 10 boys put in a great effort to win 2-0. Well done all

Our Year 11 boys also had a County Cup match vs JFK and after a slow start which led to a 3 goal deficit, Sandringham managed to pull it back to 3-2. There was plenty of possession and chances but it wasn’t to be this time. 

And finally, our U15 girls fell to a 2-1 defeat against Roundwood in the district cup. Rachel K with the goal to put us ahead to start but we couldn’t hold on on the end. A great effort however.

An AMAZING week for our netball teams!

Huge congratulations to our U19 squad who are 4th in the region! We are so proud of this team and what they have achieved this year. Hard work, determination and so much belief! They have represented Sandringham so well and inspired all of our younger squads! Well done girls.

And also to our incredibly hard working U15 team who won the semi final of the County Cup vs Habs 27-19 this week. OP - Sophie B, CP - Ella CL, PP - Daria B and Bea T (equal votes!). Onto the finals in March! 

Finally, the U19B Netballers played their hearts out against an incredibly strong St George's Team on Wednesday, but after a promising start, St George's pulled away to win the game. MVP Mae

The U15 Girls have had a busy week of basketball resulting in a loss to Dame Alice Owens 30-12 and a Good win against JFK 18-6. POM Beatriz and Rachel C respectively. Well done team!

Our Year11 basketball team had a fantastic win 77-55 win over Westcliff High on Wednesday to see them through to the National Quarter Final. Awesome work!

We had our first winter net session this week. Looking forward to the season ahead! 

Enjoy an evening of student bands from rock to acoustic duos as they battle it out to win the title and be crowned the ultimate music band.  Taking inspiration from old rock legends such as Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix, or following modern-day pop groups - bands of all types, playing covers or original songs, are invited to get involved.  Please contact the Music Faculty at Sandringham School for further details.

Who will win?  Have your band got what it takes?  Let the battle begin!

Tickets are on sale here and cost £4 / £5

An evening of Fleetwood Mac and Cheese performed by Big Love UK!  Featuring a 5-piece tribute to Fleetwood Mac, plus some familiar cheesy dance floor classics!

Tickets are on sale here and cost £20

Sandringham School presents their annual concert.  This features all their choirs and instrumental clubs, including the ever-growing show choir, the famous jazz band and sinfonia orchestra.

Tickets are on sale here and cost £5 / £4