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.

Half-Term Dining Deals for Families

With half term approaching, we’d like to remind families that there are plenty of restaurants in and around St Albans offering “kids eat free” or discounted children’s meals during the break.

Please see the attached list for details of participating restaurants and offers - remember to book as most of these spots get very busy throughout that week.

Student Services - Important Information

Please find the attached poster with all the important information you need to know from Student Services.

Student Services is the first point of contact for students who are feeling unwell or have been injured during the school day. Students should not use their mobile phones to contact home; if necessary, a call will be made by Student Services. Please also ensure the school is kept up to date with any medical information or changes to contact details.

Student Services is also home to the School Shop, where students can purchase essential stationery items, including book covers, pens, calculators, and clear pencil cases. All exercise books must be covered with plastic covers.

The Uniform Shop offers a selection of used school uniform and PE kits, subject to availability. Lockers are available to rent for £5 per school year and should be used to store valuables, PE kits, and coats securely.

Lost property is held for a maximum of two weeks, and named items will be returned where possible. Families are also reminded to check upcoming immunisation dates, details of which can be found on the poster.

For all the information you need, please see the attached poster or visit Student Services.

HOUSE POINTS

Shakespeare remain out in front as we head into the final week before half term - no signs of catching them for now. 

1. Shakespeare 17,061
2. Turing 14,995
3. Fawcett 14,263

Special mentions this week:  

• I Cobham (8T) (20) – Most points this week
• T Tearle (7S) & I Muriuki - 208 - Highest scoring year 7
• M Altiganer (8F)- 193 - Highest scoring Year 8
• T Somers (9S) - 208 - Highest scoring year 9
• G Birkin (10s) - 139- Highest scoring year 10
• L Jones (11H) - 50 - Highest scoring year 11
• B Stevenson (12S) 45 - Highest scoring sixth former
• 12S - Highest quiz score - 131/145
• Johnson for most house points this week - 447

Holiday Clubs

Barracudas Activity Day Camps, the UK’s favourite school holiday camp for children aged 4 to 14 years, will be open at our school in 2026.

80+ exciting activities including arts and crafts, sports, teambuilding and much more! We also have specialist activities including archery and motorsports offered at our Easter and summer camps.  

Parent discounts: Parents can get £25 off a full week or £5 off a day by applying this code in the promotions box: HSCP26. *can’t be used in conjunction with other codes (apart from our Early Booking Offer)

Ofsted registered, confidence building camps with high staff to child ratios.  

Save up to £125 with their Early Booking offer and your exclusive code! 

Book now at www.Barracudas.co.uk or call 01480 467 567. 

Reminder For Next Week - National Apprenticeship Week 2026

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) is the biggest week in the apprenticeships and skills calendar! It takes place from 9th to 15th February 2026. The week brings together everyone passionate about apprenticeships and skills to celebrate the value, benefit, and opportunity that they bring.

The theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2026 is ‘Skills for Life’. For more information, visit the NAW website, download the NAW toolkit and view the NAW events map. We have highlighted some interesting events that will be going on which can be accessed in the sixth form careers section of the school website.

Happy Lunar New Year Celebrations 

Lunar New Year is coming! Let’s come and celebrate! The Hong Kong community in St Albans is going to organise a Chinese New Year market at St Albans Salvation Army in the town centre on Saturday 14th February, celebrating Lunar New Year - the Year of the Horse.

This family-friendly community event runs from 12 - 5pm and will include lucky draw, Chinese calligraphy writing and a lot of traditional Chinese food and popular street food from Hong Kong.

Free entry and all welcome so please come and enjoy this lovely event with us.

Stay Safe Travelling To School

With the continued miserable weather, we kindly ask families to remind students to take extra care when travelling to and from school.

Several members of staff and the local community have raised concerns about students crossing roads in unsafe locations, sometimes while distracted by mobile phones and unaware of oncoming traffic. Please encourage everyone to use designated crossings, stay alert, and take extra care, particularly given the current weather and visibility.

Thank you for your support in helping keep our community safe.

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).

We’re Hiring!

Come and be part of our fantastic team here at Sandringham. We’re currently looking for:

- Sixth Form Learning Mentor

If you, or anyone you know would like to be part of our passionate and dedicated team, please visit here for more information and to apply.
 

Visitors From China 

This week, we were really fortunate to welcome 9 teachers from China who were visiting the UK to learn about teaching approaches. Thank you to Mrs Chan, Mr Richardson, Ms Roy, Mr Powell and Mr Lloyd for spending time with the visiting teachers and for sharing their experiences.  We also learnt a lot too, for example how similar the maths curriculum was at A level, but how Chinese students are not allowed to use calculators!  

It's Showtime!

The first performance of the highly anticipated Velocity 2026 show has taken place, and it's safe to say it was out of this world.

To all those coming to see the show over the next couple of nights, you are in for a spectacular treat as you can see from the above.

Congratulation to all our talented dancers, and 'break a leg' for the remaining performances ahead - it's going to be an Eleven out of ten no doubt.

We look forward to reading more about it after the half term break.

Potential Kids - February & Half Term Sessions

As February very quickly approaches, along with half term, Potential Kids will be running all of their regular sessions for neurodivergent children and siblings, along with additional half term activities.

Their teen sessions (ages 12+) have also returned, running monthly on Thursday evenings in a relaxed, youth club-style setting. Free Early Years sessions (under 5s) will move to Wednesday afternoons from February.

During half term, Connect sessions will take place at The Galleria (free, but booking required), and free adult wellbeing sessions will continue on Friday afternoons for parents and carers.

New faces are always welcome - see the attached flyer for details.

Year 10 Revision Hub

Our Yr 10 Revision Hub is running every Tuesday from 3:15 - 4:00pm in D11, providing a dedicated space for students to prepare for the exam challenges ahead. It offers a calm, supportive environment where students can work independently and make the most of their time after school.

All Yr 10 students are encouraged to attend and take advantage of this valuable support.

Jersey Farm Day Centre Go Back To School

We were delighted to welcome the Jersey Farm Day Centre group, as well as their team of volunteer helpers, to the school on Tuesday 3rd February. It was the first time for a few years that many of the group had been in a classroom (although many have relatives who have attended or still do attend the school) but we are pleased to report that they all behaved very well and no sanctions were issued.

Mr Gray was able to welcome the group and refreshments were served by Head Students, Chloe and Noah, ably assisted by Mrs Kemp.  Everyone then thoroughly enjoyed a ‘blast from the past’ in the form of a showing of the 1961 Tony Hancock comedy classic, ‘The Blood Donor’.

The event further strengthens existing ties between the Day Centre and Sandringham School. These have included a number of concerts performed at the Day Centre by groups of students whose musicianship always proves extremely popular by the admiring audience.  The school work with the Day Centre representative, Andy Boxer, and foresee this latest joint venture being the first in a series of visits to the school, which will be of mutual benefit to all those involved. The intention is that Sandringham students will gain first-hand knowledge of the social history of an older generation from conversation with the Day Centre’s clients, the oldest of whom is 108!  Likewise, students will have the opportunity to discuss their own experiences of today’s schooling and social attitudes. All in all, this meeting of the generations should make for some fascinating reminiscences and sharing of views.

Jersey Farm Day Centre meets every Tuesday during school term-time, 11am-3pm, at the Community Hall in St.Brelade’s Place. It offers clients a wide range of activities and entertainment together with a hot lunch and refreshments.  Membership is open to senior citizens living in the area of Jersey Farm, Marshalswick and Sandridge and enquiries are welcomed from anyone interested in joining.  For further information go online to:  https://www.communities1st.org.uk/38469 - or pop in and see us.

Psychology

This week, the Psychology department have been supporting ‘Our Year of Reading’ by sharing book recommendations with all Psychology classes. One of the books recommended has been Matthew Syed’s ‘Bounce: The myth of talent and the power of practice’. A popular non-fiction book, Bounce makes the argument that dedicated practice is more influential on achievement, rather than ‘natural talent’.  The book explores mindset, environment and the role of psychology in achievement and success.  Matthew Syed is a journalist and former sportsman makes this a fascinating read! This recommendation has given psychology students the opportunity to discuss with their peers the books they like to read.  As ever, we hold a wide and varied stick of books in the LRC and would welcome all students to borrow books and request any that aren’t currently in our collection.

Fledgling, by Lucy Hope.

A dark, gothic adventure set deep in a Bavarian forest, with angels and owls and magic and a boy who isn't all that he seems to be... A cherub is blown into Cassie Engel's bedroom during a thunderstorm, triggering a series of terrifying events.

Cassie must discover if its arrival was an accident or part of something more sinister. With a self-obsessed opera singer for a mother, a strange taxidermist father, and a best friend who isn't quite what he seems, Cassie is forced to unearth the secrets of her family's past.

As the dark forces gather around them, can Cassie protect all that she holds dear?

Katarina H in Yr 7 has recently read the book and has written a very considered review:

“I really like this book and I would recommend more people to read it. I really enjoyed reading it as the story line was full of twists. Every chapter varied in emotion and every sentence would keep you turning the page.  The book was filled with adventure and mystery, but also friendship and joy. Every character was beautifully described as well as the settings and   Lucy Hope got the feeling across perfectly.”

The LRC’s new Valentine’s Day display Fall In Love With A Good Book is now up and ready for viewing!

We have many books in the very popular romance genre, including a large number of LGBTQ+ stories, so if you’re in the mood for rom-com, a new romantasy title or a classic romance, we should have a book for you! We would like to  encourage all students to visit the LRC next week to make sure they have a book to read over half-term. If you’re not sure what to read, our team of librarians are always on hand to help.

Thank you to Mrs Posner for creating our fantastic Wildlands display downstairs in K block for our Whole School Read launch.

It’s been lovely to speak to so many KS3 students, during their library lessons, who are reading Wildlands. Keep up the good reading at home! We know everyone is very busy but we believe most students should be able to manage ten minutes reading a day. Have you read Wildlands yet? Students who have read Wildlands should let a librarian know so we can award their Whole School Read Award on epraise. They can also collect a badge! Happy weekend reading.

French: équivalent

German: gleichkommen

Spanish: equaliver a algo

Thinking Question: How do languages evolve over time? Why do some languages ‘die’?

T is for… tantamount [adjective]

Definition: Equivalent in seriousness to; virtually the same as.

Example: The resignations were tantamount to an admission of guilt.

Synonyms: Equivalent, Identical, Parallel.

Antonyms: Different, Opposite, Reverse.

Etymology: From Italian phrase tanto montare (‘amount to as much’), via Medieval Latin.

Yr 11: The Y11 Basketball team go out in the last 16 of the @bballengland Dynamik U16 National Cup against Sale. The boys played well in a tight game that saw us push the opposition close in the 3rd quarter with a great defensive performance, but lost by 11

Yr 9: Another win for the Yr 9 Basketball team last weekend in a comfortable performance over Beaumont. The team all got lots of minutes as we rotated the bench. A big week for the team this week, so good to get another win on the board with one game left to play in the County League.

Year 11: This week the U16’s played Beaumont in the county cup. Allowing our opponents back into the game after a 20 point lead was tough, but after a disciplined final quarter, the boys came away with a 71-68 victory. Well done boys 

Yr 10 Girls: An excellent composed display of football from our U15 footballers tonight. The opposition came into the game early with a 0-1 lead but the girls worked hard and after a solid second half ran out 5-1 winners! Special mentions to Anais on her Hat trick & Erin for making some superb saves.

Yr 7: A great effort from our Yr 7 Netball team this afternoon. Everyone played fantastically and showed great determination throughout the whole game. Beaumont managed to pull away in the final quarter but lots of great play from Sandringham throughout. Well done!

Yr 9: Well done to the U14 Netballers, who put on a fantastic display against RPS. There were many outstanding performances, but OPM went to Flo F for amazing defence and CPM to Amelie A, who commanded the defence with tactics and to Hannah K who was all round brilliant

Senior Performance Squad: Congratulations to our amazing Senior Performance Squad Netball Team, who beat Berkhamsted School in the semi-final of the County Cup, progressing into the final. Everyone was fantastic, from the pressure in defence to slick attack, every player made an impact. OPM Charlotte

Year 7 Boys: Last weekends fixture was against Verulam with both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams playing at home. The ‘A’ team fought back from 3-1 down to take a 4-3 win, with the ‘B’ team unfortunately finishing the wrong side of a 6-3 loss with some great passages of play throughout. Well done lads.

Yr 8 Boys: The Y8 boys football team lose out in last weekends friendly vs Verulam. A battling performance what can only be described as a ‘mud bath’. Hudi was voted MoM

There are no signs of slowing down from our sports teams - basketball, netball and football dominate the fixtures in the final week before half term. Good luck to everyone involved. 

Yr 8 Boys: The Year 8 Boys team are once again into the County Semi - Final after a 3-1 victory away vs Parmiters School. Goals from Seb, Rory & Nathan. Mom Seb. Well done lads.

Yr 9 Boys: Our county plate run comes to an end despite dominating possession and creating good chances. We failed to capitalise at crucial moments and came up against an excellent player who scored all 5 of Bushey Meads goals. Final result, 1-5. GS Oliver H, MOM Oscar HB

We are so proud of all our students who wore the number 52 vest at this weeks Hertfordshire School Cross Country Championships.

Tough conditions but all ran superbly!

Official results to follow but some standout performances from:

Ollie B (Senior Boys) - 5th
Zoe H (Senior Girls) - 12th
Georgia T (Inter Girls)- 13th
Toby P (Inter Boys) - 4th
Guy R-J (Junior Boys) - 4th
Ross B (Pre Junior Boys) - 5th

Senior Boys: The Senior Boys football team are through to the County Cup Semi Final after a 3-2 away win vs HABS. Goals from Dracos, McCree & Lister.

Yr 11 Boys: A comprehensive win v Beaumont in the District Cup finishes 6-1. Anfield (3), Novotny (2) & Daniel score as Sandringham dominate possession and create plenty of chances. A good start in their attempt to retain the title for the third year running.

Senior Boys: A fantastic and dominating display of Tennis from our Senior Boys team in the LTA Regional Competition, with all 4 boys winning their Singles and their Doubles games. Well done! Onto the next round!

Yr 7 Sportshall Athletics: A first taste of some athletics for our Yr 7’s as they compete in the District competition.

Our girls finish 8th whilst our boys take 3rd! Sandringham finish 6th Overall.

Some promising individual performances from both groups as we move closer to the outdoor season. 

It's a Green Good Time

Beauty is in the eye of the ogre in Shrek The Musical JR., based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film and fantastic Broadway musical.  It's a "big bright beautiful world" as everyone's favourite ogre, Shrek, leads a cast of fairytale misfits on an adventure to rescue a princess and find true acceptance.  Part romance and part twisted fairy tale, Shrek JR. is an irreverently fun show with a powerful message for the whole family.

Once upon a time, in a faraway swamp, there lived an ogre named Shrek.  One day, Shrek finds his swamp invaded by banished fairytale misfits who have been cast off by Lord Farquaad, a tiny terror with big ambitions. When Shrek sets off with a wisecracking donkey to confront Farquaad, he's handed a task – if he rescues feisty princess Fiona, his swamp will be righted. Shrek tries to win Fiona’s love and vanquish Lord Farquaad, but a fairytale wouldn't be complete without a few twists and turns along the way.

With abundant opportunities for imaginative sets and costumes, and a host of over-the-top roles for an expandable cast, there's a part for everyone in this dazzling adventure story.

The show date is the 14th March with a 1PM and 6PM showing.

Science Spectacular!

Sandringham School's Science Faculty presents their annual Chemistry Show!

Expect exciting experiments, funky facts and lots more.

4th March @ 6pm 

Book your tickets here now.