Newsletter – 02 May 2025

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you’ve all had a wonderful bank holiday weekend. School has been a hive of activity this half-term with our Year 5s going on residential to Whitby, Reception class going to Askham Bryan wildlife park, and a variety of sporting events across school. Take a look at the class pages below to find out what your child’s class has been up to. 

Start of the school day

As you know, we’ve changed the way the school day starts. As a staff we have noticed some enormous benefits: 

• School is much calmer first thing on a morning
• Children are more productive, and in many cases are accessing an additional hour or more of learning
• Children who previously struggled with anxiety about coming into school have found the quieter, softer start to school less daunting, and have therefore been able to come into school more confidently
• Staff report having more opportunity to chat to children on an individual basis as they arrive in the classroom 
• Behaviour in communal areas of the school has improved, for example in cloakrooms and up staircases 
• There has been a reduction in lateness to school 

As I said, this is a trial for Summer term, and so I would be keen to get the views of parents as well. Please follow the link and complete the survey if you have time. 

VE Day

As many of you will be aware, this week marks the 80th anniversary of VE day (Thursday 8th May). At Scarcroft, we will be commemorating the day by focusing on the theme ‘peace’ and each year group will be producing a piece of artwork for display. Alongside this, we will be hosting a street party style lunch outdoors (weather permitting). If you have not ordered your child a VE day lunch from school, please ensure that you send them with a packed lunch on Thursday.

Scarcroft International Day

We are excited to announce that the school will be holding a ‘Scarcroft International Day’ on Thursday 5th June this year. The theme of the day will be to explore the locations, cultures and languages of different countries around the world.

As part of the day, we would like to celebrate the multicultural and international links within our own school community. Therefore, we would like to invite any parents who have experience of living or growing up in a different country to come into school to give a short presentation to a class about that country. It would be great if they could bring in photos or artefacts to show the children and explain where the country is, give some basic details about the climate, culture and languages spoken as well as explaining what life is like on a daily basis. 

If you are willing and available on 5th June to do this for your child’s class (or any other class!) please contact Mrs Clark by email: c.clark@scarcroft.elt.org.uk

Parent forum – Smartphones 

Finally, many of you will be aware of and engaged with the debate around children and their use of smartphones. As a parent of young children myself, it is a topic that I feel is extremely important to consider. If you’re the same, and would like to come along to a parent forum about the subject, please complete the form below and add your name. 

The forum will take place on Thursday 22nd May from 4-5pm at Scarcroft School. Myself, Mrs Eddy (computing lead) and Ms Tompkin (PSHE lead) will be in attendance, as well as Vicky Bettney, Trust Director for Personal Development. We aim to be able to tell you about how we address the issue at Scarcroft, but also in the transition to secondary school. Of course we’re keen to hear your views on what we do as a school, and how you think we can further support the school community in this respect. 

Parent forum sign-up

For anyone unable to attend, I will ensure a written overview is provided after the event. 

Wishing you all a lovely four-day week. As ever, thank you so much for your continued support for Scarcroft. Keep a look-out for some exciting FOSS events coming up. 

Very best wishes, 

Jen Mitchell 

Head of School 

Reception – Fishergate: 97.78%

Reception – Petergate: 90.97%

Year 1 – Gillygate: 97.44%

Year 1 – Stonegate: 95.68%

Year 2 – Castlegate: 95.51%

Year 2 – Micklegate: 96.44%

Year 3 – Coppergate: 97.12%

Year 3 – Whip ma whop ma gate: 98.27%

Year 4 – Swinegate: 99.43%

Year 4 – Walmgate: 95.10%

Year 5 – Colliergate: 99.64%

Year 5 – Skeldergate: 96.95%

Year 6 – Fossgate: 96.83%

Year 6 – Goodramgate: 97.13%

The children did a fantastic job in PE this week, practising their ball and bat skills. They showed us how to control the ball with slow movements. They also took turns and worked in partners, showing us how well they listen and work with their friends. 

In RE we have been focusing on special places. The children have been looking at Mosques and why these are so special to Muslims. Then the children made it their mission to create their own special place using the crates, wood, pillows and blankets. 

Recognition Awards

Fishergate

Ayya – For settling into scarcroft so well, following the school rules and making lots of new friends in reception. Also, for showing us how sensible you can be during your learning, using your listening skills and making sure you are being bronze. 

PeterGate

Arthur – For making the biggest change in your behaviour. Being so kind to your friends, listening during your learning and following instructions. You have made us all so proud!

In Literacy we have been immersed in the story of ‘Beegu’. We found a crash site in the library and have been making posters to help us find Beegu. Let us know if you spot any rogue aliens around our school grounds! 

This half term in DT we are making windmills using junk modelling techniques. We began by making the structure stable by turning it upside down and adding dough to add weight to the base. 

Recognition Awards

Stonegate

Raffy – For working really hard in Maths to check his work and taking lots of time and care.

Ziggy – For fantastic behaviour and always setting a good example to the rest of the class.

Gillygate

Camila – For a fantastic start to her Scarcroft journey, fitting in beautifully and always working hard.

Max – Kindness trophy – For working really hard to go the extra mile and helping others when they need support.

This term, we are learning to play the recorder! We are learning to play ‘Hot Cross Buns’.

In DT, Year 2 have designed and built our own fairground wheels. We ensured the wheel moved around the axle. Then we decorated our pods to reflect our local area.

In Science, we are conducting an experiment to see what seeds need to grow. We are ensuring one has no warmth, one with no light and one with no water. We have control seeds which will get warmth, light and water. Over the next few weeks, we will monitor our seeds to see what happened.

Recognition awards

Castlegate

Sarah – for her unfailing enthusiasm and positivity towards everything she does.

Effie – for her attention to detail and thoroughness in her DT project.

Micklegate

Felix M – for being inquisitive and asking perceptive questions

Joni– a great role model for learning and behaviour

Effort Trophy 

Ernesto – for trying very hard and making wonderful progress in reading and writing

Art- Making sculptures

Before the Easter break, we finished off our sculptures based on works by Robert Morris and Anthony Caro.  The children were challenged to make thoughtful, interesting shapes which included an element which could be played with.  They had to think about not only the shape of the cardboard but also the shapes of the negative space in between too.  We think they did a wonderful job!

Geography

This term, we are investigating settlements in Geography.  We have looked at the features in our local area and why they might have been positioned there.  We realised that the river and railway are important landmarks in our local area which everything else has been built around.  We enjoyed getting out into our local area to see some of these features ourselves and did a wonderful job of locating them on our maps.

Recognition awards 

Coppergate

Erin – Not only for her super effort in writing and maths but producing two thoughtful pieces of artwork – even her practise effort would have made a super play sculpture! 

Leyland – For a super start to this half term and for working hard to increase the quality of his writing.

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate

Jose – For his hard work in reading over the last 7 months.  His confidence and ability have grown so much, all because of the effort he has put in.  Well done!

Florence– For being a role model to other children and always having high expectations for her behaviour and learning. Well done Florence!

In science, we have been learning about sound. We invited some of our amazing musicians to bring their instruments into class, play something and explain how their instrument produces and changes sound.

Before Easter, 4 Swinegate earned their 2000 Dojo Reward and did an amazing job of making Easter mini egg cookies. Their teamwork was outstanding during the activity and the results were delicious!

Across school, we have introduced a new subject: Oracy. Here we are strengthening our Social & Emotional Oracy muscles by playing the 1-20 game.

Our Art this half term revisits our rainforest topic and we started it last week by making mood boards which will inspire our final pieces in a few weeks time.

Recognition Awards

Walmgate

James Bridge – for being incredibly focused in lessons and giving every lesson 100% effort. 

Swinegate

Ethan – much improved focus across all lessons this half term

Daisy – great effort in writing, producing some really high quality pieces to be super proud of recently

Lucas – working super hard in every lesson, always being focused and enthusiastic. He is making fantastic progress!

Merchant Adventurers Hall

We had a fantastic morning spent at Merchant Adventurers Hall learning about Shakespeare and his plays, Tudor clothes and Tudor portraits. It was great to apply our knowledge and skills from our History lesson on Tudor portraits to another task.

Whitby Residential

Year 5 had their first residential visit to the Youth Hostel in Whitby and had an absolute blast! We went on boat rides, visited the Lobster Hatchery, climbed the 199 steps, partied as pirates, hunted for fossils, ate ice cream and paddled and played on the beach. It was jam packed and so much fun!

Recognition Awards

Colliergate

Barney – A superstar in our classroom who can be relied upon by everyone!

Hannah – A fantastic member of our class who nails answering questions on a regular basis!

Dottie – A brilliant member of our class who has so much to offer and gives everything 100% always. 

Skeldergate

Praise – 100% focus in lessons. Listening really well. Fabulous speedy answers in maths!

Kyla – Brilliant effort and achievement in Y5. REally impressed with her focus, especially in maths. 

Oscar – Brilliant week. He was on fire. Asking and answering questions. Fully focused. Well done.

In Science, we have started a new topic on the heart and circulatory system.  We wrote our own questionnaires about areas such as healthy eating, mindfulness and exercise.  In these pictures, the children are asking each other these questions and recording the results. We fed back to the whole class generally on all the good things we were doing and then thought about an area we would like to improve.

Our new topic in music is Pop Art! This focuses on variation in music. In these pictures the children are composing different variations of a rhythm to perform to the rest of the class.

Recognition Awards

Arlo – It is great having Arlo in our class.  He loves to know things which means he often has great attention to detail.  His thirst for knowledge will really help him in the future.

Katherine – Katherine never fails to impress us with her knowledge, insight and incredible writing.  She has had a remarkable year.