Supporting the Hospice of St Francis Christmas Tree Collection

9th,10th,11th January 2026

A reminder that The Hospice of St Francis has set an ambitious goal for its 2026 Christmas Tree Collection: to raise enough funds to cover the salary of a nurse for an entire year.

Bookings are now open, so if you live within one of the postcodes listed on their website (or on the attached flyer) please do consider signing up.

We are incredibly fortunate to have the Hospice of St Francis in our community. Last year, they provided compassionate care to 2,466 patients and their families.

The hospice needs £6 million each year to deliver its vital services yet receives less than 17% of its funding from the NHS, relying heavily on community support.

Please consider supporting this wonderful local charity, and sign up now.

Mrs T Dowling

Into The Sixth Information Evening 

Join us on Thursday 8th January, from 5:30 - 8:15pm, and discover what it means to be part of the Sandringham Sixth Form community.

Explore our school, speak to staff and students, and learn more about the wide range of subjects and opportunities on offer.

There will also be a keynote talk from our Executive Headteacher at 5:30 and 6:30pm.

We look forward to welcoming all students and their families!

The Sixth Form Team

A Final Debate Of The Year

Yr 11 historians ended their term on an intellectual high with a great debate on whether the 'Weimar Republic was doomed to fail'.

Using the Parallel Histories format, students debated the two competing narratives of the Weimar Republic; one, that the Constitution was fundamentally flawed and inherent weaknesses meant it would inevitably collapse, in comparison to the alternative viewpoint, that by the mid 1920s the Republic was stable and the arts flourishing. The students' ability to draw upon their own knowledge and wider historical opinion to produce clear arguments, respond to questions and reach evaluations linking environmental and internal factors was truly impressive.

Well done to Georgia, Maya, Reuben, Diego, Jasmine, Evie, Alexa and Ani.

Ms R Davies

Join the Winter Reads Challenge.

The Winter Reads Challenge is a brilliant opportunity for students, families and staff to get stuck into some great books over the colder months and maybe even discover a new favourite read.

The challenge is completely flexible: you set your own reading goals and complete the challenge at your own pace. Whether it’s trying a new genre, finishing a long-awaited book, or enjoying stories together as a family, every type of reading counts.

By taking part, you’ll also be in with a chance to win an iPad!

• Starts: Saturday 1 November
• Ends: Saturday 31 January
• Open to: Children, teens and adults
• How to join: Sign up at your local library

scan the QR code on the poster to find out all the information you need to get involved.

Stay cosy and inspired this winter - happy reading!

Ms T Dowling

Spring Term Online Parenting Groups 

Family Lives, funded by Herts County Council, is offering a series of free online parenting groups this Spring term for parents and carers living in Hertfordshire.

These programmes provide support, guidance, and practical resources to help parents and adult family members support their child’s growth and development. Participants also have access to Family Lives’ helpline, live chat, and online resources for ongoing support.

Spring Term Sessions:

Less Shouting, More Co-operation

• Tuesday 20 January - 3 March, 7:00 - 9:00pm
• Or Thursday 9 February - 23 March, 9:45 - 11:45am

Bringing Up Confident ADHD/ASD Children

• Friday 23 January - 6 March, 9:45 - 11:45am

Getting on with Your Pre-Teen/Teenager

• Tuesday 3 February - 17 March, 7:00 - 9:00pm

Dads Together

• Wednesday 4 February - 18 March, 7:00 - 9:00pm

Booking & Contact Information:
To book a place, complete the online referral form here or scan the QR code on the attached flyer. For more information, email services@familylives.org.uk or call 020 4522 8701 /020 4522 8700.

Ms T Dowling

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 follow the link on your House Google Classroom (it will be posted on Monday at 8.a.m.) to fill out the Google Form. 

Good luck! Why not play at home and see who is the quickest to get the answer (unfortunately we can only accept answers from students).

Mr J Richardson

Celebrating Dance Achievements

We are delighted to celebrate the fantastic dance achievements of our students outside of the school this half term. From exams and competitions to performances and personal milestones, it’s wonderful to see such dedication and talent being showcased beyond the classroom.

Don’t forget to visit the dance noticeboard outside DC1, where these amazing achievements are proudly displayed.

Congratulations to all involved, we are very proud of you.

Ms F Willmott

Get Ready for a Face-Melting Evening of Music

The Battle of the Bands is back at the Sandpit Theatre on Tuesday 27th January 2026, starting at 6:30pm.

Come and cheer on our talented student bands as they compete for the crown in what promises to be an unforgettable evening of live music.

Tickets are on sale now via the Sandpit Theatre, so grab yours early as you don’t miss out.

Ms T Dowling

Trial Results Day 

As Mr Gray mentioned in his headlines, on Tuesday afternoon, our Yr 11 students received their trial and predicted examination grades, and the results were outstanding.

It was wonderful to see so many happy and proud students. These strong performances are an excellent indicator of the positive results we anticipate in the summer exams.

Congratulations to all of Yr 11! As always, the school is committed to supporting every student every step of the way as they prepare for the months ahead, and we look forward to celebrating their continued achievements next year.

Ms T Dowling

Lessons & Carols Concert - A Beautiful Success 

On Monday, we took 150 musicians and singers to St Paul’s Church for our annual carol service.

The evening opened with a beautiful solo in ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ and continued through a wide range of festive choral and instrumental music, including congregational carols, traditional carols with a modern twist and choral classics like ‘O Holy Night’ performed by our most recently formed vocal ensemble. It even featured a guest appearance from our staff choir and local community choir!

The church was packed and we are incredibly proud of all our students.

Well done everyone.

Ms A Stothard

House Sport Round-Up: Years 7, 8 & 9 

This week saw students across Yrs 7, 8 and 9 take part in a fantastic few days of House Sport. The events were highly competitive and students came with their A-games in  teamwork, resilience and house spirit.

Year 7 Results

Rugby

• 1st – Shakespeare
• 2nd – Fawcett
• 3rd – Elgar

Netball

• 1st – Johnson
• 2nd – Newton
• 3rd – Shakespeare

Badminton

• 1st – Newton
• 2nd – Johnson & Shakespeare

Yr 7 - Overall 

1st – Shakespeare
2nd – Johnson
3rd – Newton
4th – Turing
5th – Fawcett & Elgar
7th – Austen
8th – Hepworth

Yr 8 Results

Netball

• 1st – Shakespeare
• 2nd – Johnson & Austen
• 4th – Elgar

Badminton

• 1st – Hepworth
• 2nd – Shakespeare, Turing & Johnson

Rugby

• 1st – Shakespeare
• 2nd – Turing
• 3rd – Johnson

Yr 8 - Overall 

1st – Shakespeare
2nd – Johnson
3rd – Turing
4th – Austen
5th – Fawcett
6th – Hepworth
7th – Elgar
8th – Newton

Yr 9 Results

Netball

• 1st – Turing
• 2nd – Elgar
• 3rd – Austen

Badminton

• 1st – Hepworth
• 2nd – Johnson
• 3rd – Elgar, Fawcett & Shakespeare

Rugby

• 1st – Johnson
• 2nd – Shakespeare
• 3rd – Newton

Yr 9 - Overall 

1st – Shakespeare
2nd – Elgar
3rd – Hepworth & Johnson
5th – Turing
6th – Fawcett
7th – Newton
8th – Austen

A huge congratulations to all students who took part and represented their houses. Well done to Shakespeare for a consistently strong performance across the year groups. Dominated!

Ms T Dowling

Holiday Reading - Not Just For Our Students.

While the LRC team are committed to students’ reading, they are also really committed to all staff too! Why not pop up to the LRC before the end of term and borrow a book for the holidays. Attached are just some of the amazing books for staff, and please see a message from the LRC team below.

A reminder that staff are welcome to borrow books from the LRC for Christmas. Any books borrowed this week are not due back until the 22nd January. The LRC has a fantastic range of fiction, non-fiction and memoir, and many more!

Dr C Creaby

Charity Day - A Festive Finish to the Term

Today marked a wonderfully festive end to the term as we celebrated Charity Day in true Sandringham spirit. Staff made a brilliant effort dressing up as animated characters, bringing smiles and laughter across the school. Pupils enjoyed a range of fun activities throughout the morning, including Pin the Tail on the Reindeer, gingerbread house making, and the ever popular Heads or Tails quiz.

It’s safe to say everyone has had a fantastic half day, and is now more than ready to check out of school and head into the Christmas holidays. We wish all our families a happy, safe and restful break.

Ms T Dowling

A Very Merry Christmas!

Following last week’s article in Sandprint, we now wanted to share the official Sandringham Christmas Card 2025 that has been shared with our wider community. 

We would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a heartfelt Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thank you for your continued support throughout the year.

We wish you a joyful festive season, and look forward to the new year ahead.

Ms T Dowling

Mental Heath Services Directory 

It’s important for students, parents and carers to know that help and support are always available should you need it. Hertfordshire’s Children and Young People’s Mental Health Service Directory brings together a wide range of services that can provide help with emotional wellbeing, anxiety, stress, behaviour challenges and more. 

You can view and download the full directory here:Link

The directory lists a variety of services, including early-intervention and specialist support such as:

• School nurses and duty lines
• Counselling services
• Youth wellbeing support
• Mental Health Support Teams in schools
• Digital and online support tools
• Single Point Access for professional assessment and referrals
• and more to help when you need it. hwehealthiertogether.nhs.uk

There are also services you can contact directly without a professional referral, including free and confidential support for young people in Hertfordshire. So please don’t hesitate to reach out for support when you need it.

Ms T Dowling

A Must-See Christmas Collection

If you haven’t already, make sure you head to St Saviour’s Church on Sandpit Lane to see their beautiful Christmas Tree Festival, running until 22nd December.

We’re especially proud that some of our Yr 8 Sandringham students have a tree on display, the ‘Colours of Christmas’ which is a truly stunning creation that reflects this festive time of year.

Do head over to enjoy this lovely community event.

Ms T Dowling

LRC staff have enjoyed a busy autumn term of all thing bookish. Since September we have issued an impressive 4,267 books with the most popular titles being A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, One of Us is Lying and the ever popular Hunger Games series.  

Our year 7 reading challenge is going from strength to strength and we have had some great discussions about the books that have been read. Two students have obtained their diamond award after reading an impressive thirty five books since they started at Sandringham (well done Katie and Selena!) but more importantly, over half the year group have finished five books to secure their bronze award.  

We have encouraged as many students as possible to borrow some books to read over the Christmas break and are looking forward to getting some new recommendations from our users in the new year!

Whilst we are closed, the Marshalswick library may be able to help with any ‘must have’ reading needs – Christmas opening hours can be found here.

Ms S Thomas

French: odieux/euse

German: schrecklich

Spanish: odioso/a

Thinking Question: How many languages do you think are spoken by students and staff here at Sandringham?

Ms F Baikie

The LRC's Top Choices This Christmas

Three chilling festive reads to curl up with over the holidays.  Emily Critchley’s The Undoing of Violet Claybourne is set in the Christmas holidays too and is right at the top of my Christmas reading list….! 

KS 3: Murder at Christmas, by Fleur Hitchcock

After another dreary term away at school, Grace is desperate to see her mum and brother again. Excited to spend Christmas with them, she arrives in Bath full of expectation and happiness. But the family’s time together is suddenly interrupted when a shocking murder at their hotel throws everything into chaos. And when Grace’s mum disappears soon afterwards, Grace trusts nobody. With her mum missing and younger brother Billy in tow, Grace enlists the help of new friends Olive and Doug. Streetwise and clever, they help Grace and Billy come up with a plan to find out why Mum left the hotel and what happened to her. Full of twists and turns, the mystery takes the four friends on an adventure. And as they start to uncover the truth behind the murder, they wonder if anyone at the hotel is really who they say they are.

KS 4: You Better Watch Out, by Sarah Naughton

Every day in December, a gift is left for Eleri in the abandoned tower block opposite her flat. At first, she can't help but be flattered, hoping that her Secret Santa is enigmatic Ras - a boy she has history with. But with each day that passes, the gifts get darker and more dangerous. Is this a harmless bit of festive fun? Or does this have something to do with Nina's disappearance last year? If so ... will Eleri be next?

KS5: Christmas is Murder, by Val McDermid

From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to a classic detective duo solving a historic case as the lights go out across Europe, and an exclusive Tony Hill and Carol Jordan story, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous.

Ms S Thomas

O is for… odious [adjective]

Definition: Extremely unpleasant; repulsive.

Example: Mr Birling could be viewed as an odious character.

Synonyms: Repulsive, Repugnant, Objectionable

Antonyms: Pleasant, Agreeable, Charming

Etymology: From Latin odiosus (‘hateful’), from odium (‘hatred’), from odi (‘I hate’).

Ms A Wiggett

I'm sure everyone is looking forward to a well deserved rest over the festive break. A slower week at the beginning of January 2026 to ease everyone back into the swing of things. 

Mrs T Dowling

Yr 11 Boys: A trip to Barking in round 4 of the National Cup brought plenty of excitement. Sandringham were the better team in the first half, but couldn’t capitalise on their possession. With 15 minutes to go, Sandringham went down to 10 men, conceded a penalty and had it all to do at 1-0 down. A L Daniel's brilliant goal took us to penalties. Unfortunately, Riverside kept the cool and won 5-4 on penalties. Well played boys, we look onto the next game.

The PE Team

Yr 7 Boys: Well done to the U12s on their 3-2 victory vs Rickmansworth. Goals from Ross, Ethan and a great strike from Ted were enough to seal their place in the Quarter Finals. MOTM - Calum. Well done boys.

The PE Team

Sandringham Swimmers Excel 

Sandringham School have won the prestigious Liz Hartley award for the Most Improved Team in the ESSA Secondary School Swimming Championships. This is calculated as the team that has shown the most improvement between the qualifying rounds and the national finals in Sandwell, Birmingham.

Well done to our junior boys' team who made this happen!

Swimming club is on every Friday morning from 7.30am - hope to see many more of you there.

Mr D Smith

Sandringham School Dance Department invites you to step Into the Upside Down

This year, the theatre transforms into Hawkins, Indiana, where nothing is quite as it seems. As you enter, be prepared to cross the boundary between worlds and embark on a thrilling journey inspired by the secrets, shadows, and supernatural energy of Stranger Things. From the neon pulse of the ‘80s to the eerie echoes of the Upside Down, our dancers will guide you through a story where courage, friendship, and mystery collide.

5th - 7th February 2026

We are offering a Velocity 2026 VIP Package, which includes:

• Priority front row table seating
• 2 programmes
• Games on your table
• Stranger Things themed cocktail/mocktail
• And a few surprises from the other side…

Tickets are now on sale here - be sure to get yours quickly to avoid disappointment. This is one show not to miss!

The Sandpit Team