| Sandringham School | |
| Coordinates: | 51.7707°N -0.3078°W |
| Motto: | Everybody can be somebody |
| Established: | 1988 |
| Head Label: | Head Teacher |
| Head: | Alan Gray |
| Chair Label: | Chair of Governors |
| Chair: | Anna Cox |
| Address: | The Ridgeway |
| Postcode: | AL4 9NX |
| Urn: | 136609 |
| Ofsted: | yes |
| Enrolment: | 1640[1] |
| Lower Age: | 11 |
| Upper Age: | 18 |
| Houses: | Austen Elgar Fawcett Hepworth Johnson Newton Shakespeare Turing |
| Colours: | Red, Yellow and Black |
| Publication: | SandPrint (weekly) |
| Free Label 1: | Precursors |
| Free 1: | Marshalswick School Wheathampstead School |
| Website: | http://www.sandringham.herts.sch.uk/ |
Sandringham School is a secondary school with academy status in Marshalswick, St Albans, Hertfordshire. It was established in 1988 following a merger of two local schools, Marshalswick School and Wheathampstead School. It occupies the former Marshalswick site, adjacent to Wheatfields Infant and Junior schools. The former Wheathampstead site was used as a training centre by Hertfordshire County Council until 2007, and has now been redeveloped into housing.
The school works in partnership with two neighbouring schools to enhance post-16 educational provision. This partnership is known as "BeauSandVer" and consists of Sandringham School, Verulam School and Beaumont School.[2]
Sandringham school primarily serves neighbourhoods in the north east of St Albans (Marshalswick and Jersey Farm) and the villages of Sandridge and Wheathampstead.
The two schools which became Sandringham School were Marshalswick School and Wheathampstead School. The Marshalswick school buildings were built in the 1960s, and the school expanded in the 1970s.[3] [4] Wheathampstead School opened in 1965 and closed in 1988.[5] [6]
The school was inspected in February 2024 and given the highest verdict of Outstanding in every area.[7]
This was the first inspection by Ofsted since it became an academy in 2012.[8] Before academisation, its last inspection was in 2008, with the judgement of Outstanding.[9]
The school has specialisms in Arts, Science and Leading Edge.
The school has also been awarded High Performing Specialist School status by the SSAT on three successive occasions. It has received the School Achievement Award.
The school is an Accredited Initial Teacher Training Provider (AITTP) which offers QTS through the GTP programme.[10]
The school has hosted a world record attempt for the largest lesson.[11]
On 8 January 2016, pupils from the school made the first amateur radio call to a British astronaut at the International Space Station, contacting Tim Peake as part of his Principia mission during Expedition 46.[12]
The school introduced a house system in 2005 with 6 houses named after famous people. These were called Brunel, Descartes, Einstein, King, Shakespeare and da Vinci.
The names were changed in 2012 to Boudica, Darwin, Erikson, Knight, Seacole and Van Gogh.
Most recently, in 2017, they were changed again, to British figures:
The new seventh house was named Shakespeare.
As of the 2019-20 Academic year, a new house was introduced - Hepworth House, named after the famous sculptor.
Each house is led by two Co-Heads of House (staff) assisted by House Captains and a House Committee (students). The Houses compete against each other to win annual events such as sports day, house drama, house music, house dance and house photography. Students are also awarded House Points for high quality work and conduct in lessons.
The total number of points for each House is used to determine which house is the winner of the House competition. The winners of the house competition thus far:
The School has used its specialism in the Arts to build and maintain a professional quality theatre on site. Opened in 2001 (at a cost of £1,000,000) the SandPit is used by the school and community and hosts productions and charity events. The SandPit is also used as a teaching space and as a venue for school assemblies.