# Sandringham School

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.
Sandringham school primarily serves neighbourhoods in the north east of St Albans (Marshalswick and Jersey Farm) and the villages of Sandridge and Wheathampstead.

## Predecessor schools

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. Wheathampstead School opened in 1965 and closed in 1988.

## Inspection judgements

The school was inspected in February 2024 and given the highest verdict of Outstanding in every area.
This was the first inspection by Ofsted since it became an academy in 2012. Before academisation, its last inspection was in 2008, with the judgement of Outstanding.

## Achievements and recognition

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.
The school has hosted a world record attempt for the largest lesson.
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.

## House system

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:
* Boudica became Johnson
* Darwin became Newton
* Erikson became Austen
* Knight became Fawcett
* Seacole became Elgar
* Van Gogh became Turing
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:
* 2005-2006 Descartes
* 2006-2007 Brunel
* 2007-2008 Einstein + King
* 2009-2010 Einstein
* 2010-2011 Brunel
* 2011-2012 Brunel
* 2012-2013 Brunel
* 2013-2014 Darwin
* 2014-2015 Darwin
* 2015-2016 Van Gogh
* 2016-2017 Van Gogh
* 2017-2018 Newton
* 2018-2019 Austen
* 2019-2020 Austen
* 2020-2021 Johnson
* 2021-2022 Fawcett
* 2022-2023 Austen

## SandPit Theatre

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.