Newsletter – 16 May 2025

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you’re all well and looking forward to the half-term break. Year 6 have done themselves and us proud this week, with their hard work and determination during SATs week. No-one would have known there were any tests happening, given the excitement about SATs breakfasts every morning. We have no doubt they will have achieved some fantastic results. 

Soft start to the school day

Thank you to those people who have responded to the parent survey regarding the soft start to the school day. We’ve had responses from 36 parents so far. If the last newsletter has been lost amongst emails, please see the link here to respond if you haven’t already.  

Parent forum – smartphones

Thank you to those parents who have shown an interest in our upcoming parent forum regarding children’s use of smartphones. 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. If you would like to attend, please follow the link below:

Parent forum sign-up

Scarcroft International Day

A reminder that we 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

Dates for the diary

Free Family Support for York families this Summer

To sign up click here

For information flyer click here

Or contact Jen for more details : jenwootten@fmy.org.uk; 07393 147259

To sign up click here  

For information flyer click here

Or contact Jen for more details : jenwootten@fmy.org.uk; 07393 147259

To sign up click here  

For information flyer click here

Or contact Jen for more details : jenwootten@fmy.org.uk; 07393 147259

Saturday 28th June

7.30 – 9.30pm 

@ St Giles Church, Copmanthorpe, YO23 3SE

For more information about this event click here or for a flyer click here.

Book your free tickets here. 

Or contact Emma for more details : emmamarshall@fmy.org.uk; 07491 910239

To make an enquiry click here

For information flyer click here

Or contact Emma for more details : emmamarshall@fmy.org.uk;  07491 910239

Wishing you a very happy weekend. 

Jen Mitchell 

Head of School

Reception – Fishergate: 97.98%

Reception – Petergate: 92.88%

Year 1 – Gillygate: 97.65%

Year 1 – Stonegate: 94.03%

Year 2 – Castlegate: 97.33%

Year 2 – Micklegate: 97.89%

Year 3 – Coppergate: 97.61%

Year 3 – Whip ma whop ma gate: 97.7%

Year 4 – Swinegate: 98.46%

Year 4 – Walmgate: 95.56%

Year 5 – Colliergate: 99.28%

Year 5 – Skeldergate: 96.06%

Year 6 – Fossgate: 96.03%

Year 6 – Goodramgate: 96.46%

The boys and girls absolutely loved the minibeasts that were brought into our reception class! They were able to see a snail shell, a woodlouse and even a chrysalis that was very close to transforming into a butterfly. 

We had a big revamp of our outside provision and the children did a fantastic job of exploring the new equipment and toys we put out. They showed us how creative they can be, and even wowed us with their tidying up skills.

We had VE day last week and Reception was focusing on Peace. They came up with some lovely ideas surrounding people’s feelings during and after the war. They then created some beautiful paintings of rainbows using cotton buds as this is a common symbol for Peace. 

Recognition Awards

Fishergate

Mila – For her amazing effort and determination to improve her writing during both whole class input and independently. Well done Mila you are smashing it!

PeterGate

Effort award – Thiya – For giving 100% effort every single day. You never fail to impress all your teachers with your incredible writing skills during whole class input and when you are in provision. Keep up the hard work Thiya! 

We really enjoyed our VE Day celebration in school, especially eating our lunch outside, street party style! In the afternoon we created some beautiful artwork based on the peace sign.

In DT we have been investigating windmills by adding sails to our weighted structure. We used a split pin as an axel and we’re really looking forward to testing them next week!

Recognition Awards

Stonegate

Jemima – For always setting a good example to others with her fantastic behaviour.

Saibh – For always being an excellent role model.

Achievement Trophy – Esme – For using interesting and exciting vocabulary in her writing. 

Gillygate

Alfred – For his sensible hard-working attitude and positive behaviour in all lessons.

Nia – For her dedication to her writing and never settling for anything less than her very best!

Look at our writing! We are in the middle of writing a guidebook linked to our class story – Lizzy and the Cloud. We are using question marks, exclamation marks, noun phrases and conjunctions.

Our plants are coming along nicely!  We are monitoring what conditions seeds need to grow and have been recording our data in a table.

Year 2 loved celebrating VE day. We loved the street party and playing the old fashioned games. We were also really enthusiastic about developing our collaborative artwork based on the theme peace. We created our own olive branches and wrote ‘peace’ in different languages.

Recognition Awards

Micklegate

Claudie – for always demonstrating a fantastic team spirit and being actively involved in our school community.

Elsie – for being a maths superstar and always trying to challenge herself with extra problem- solving tasks.

Castlegate

Albert – for the effort his is putting into following the rules and routines in a new school

Alisa – for the incredible effort she is putting into all of her work but especially her writing.

Clifford’s Tower Visit

Year 3 had a fantastic time visiting Clifford’s Tower as part of both our Geography and DT projects.  It involved a lot of steps (over 200 to get to the top!). We investigated why a castle had been positioned there, including what natural features were nearby and what had been built around it.  We then discovered what features a castle has which the children have used to give them ideas for their DT project – including the actual first flushing garderobe (toilet!).

DT

We have been using our research to create 3D castles in our DT topic.  From investigating different types of castles and why they have different features, to exploring 3D nets, this topic has been full of fun challenges for the children to explore.  We think they did a tremendous job with their finished products!

Recognition Awards

Coppergate

Lyra – Always a superstar but especially for her kind and thoughtful attitude towards others over the last two weeks.  She has noticeably been ensuring everyone is cared for and supported.  Well done!

Tilly  – For her ever increasing confidence in all her work.  She is beginning to realise what she is capable of and it is wonderful watching her take on more challenges.

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate

Samuel- He has been working really hard in every subject and showed great enthusiasm for his DT project. It was great to discuss his ideas with him and see his determination and creativity. Well done Samuel.

Teddy – He was awarded the kindness trophy for making Miss Street feel really welcome at Scarcroft and always offering support and compassion to his peers.

In History, we have been studying the Anglo Saxons. In the last few weeks we made wattle and daub walls to understand how their houses were built.

For VE Day, we made Peace collages using the idea of a Peace Dove and adding in the flags of countries around the world.

In Art, we have been inspired by the rainforest to create batik-style pieces using PVA glue on calico. We then covered them in acrylic paint and, once they were dry, washed out the glue. Don’t they look ace?!

Recognition Awards

Walmgate

Sam – for his positive energy and mature, calm attitude. 

Jay – for always being so enthusiastic in every single lesson and having a brilliant work ethic! 

Effort Trophy – Megan – for always giving every lesson 100% effort. 

Swinegate

Mila – making a really focused start to the first half of the Summer term

Rafe – his effort in writing as well as his great contributions across the curriculum to add depth to our discussions

Science

In Science we are learning about Life Cycles. This week we looked at the life cycle on a plant and focused on sexual and asexual reproduction in plants. We dissected flowers so we could see the male and female reproductive parts of the flower. We are also investigating asexual reproduction by monitoring the progress of a cutting of a mint plant. We are photographing the plant every day to see progress and measuring root growth weekly.

Learning For Life

In Learning for life we have been thinking about times when we may have lost something and how this made us feel. We freeze framed different key points in a story of losing something to show our emotions.

VE Day

Year 5 made ‘Placards for Peace’ as part of our VE Day celebrations. We then marched them around the hall to spread our messages of peace. 

Recognition Awards

Colliergate

Louis – Enjoyed every last second of Whitby which was infectious and does everything in class with a wry sense of humour and a smile!

Leonore – An always child! Puts 100% effort and diligence into everything she does all of the time. 

Achievement Trophy – Lydia – One step ahead of me all the time and has achieved so much this year. This trophy is for how much I know you will go on and achieve in life!

Skeldergate

Kyla – Fantastic effort in all subjects. Trying her best in maths especially with really good results. Kyla is kind and helpful as well and a super friend. 

Ali – Super start to Scarcroft. !00% effort in all his work. He has thrown himself into every aspect including our residential. He has also made so many friends.

Year 6

Of course, the biggest thing recently has been the Year 6 doing their end of school tests, the SATs. The children really have done themselves proud; they have been calm, collected and hard-working for the week and for the weeks since returning to school from Easter. They have been absolute stars.

We are also working on a new DT project – to design a playground for school that is interesting, fun and safe. The children have designed an idea for a playground, made a scale plan and are on with making a scale model of their ideas.

Our recent PE lessons have focused on athletics and tennis. The children have been improving their aim with forehand and backhand shots, as well as trying to track the score in doubles games.

Recognition Awards

Kindness Trophy – Piper McCabe – Piper is the epitome of kindness in school. She is so helpful around the classroom, doing jobs before I’ve even thought of them. She is also a delightful friend to those close to her but still treats everyone else in school with the same amount of respect and kindness. 

Kitana Aitchison – Kitana is incredibly focused and hard-working and has made such strides in her work this year. She approaches every task in the same way; she thinks carefully about what to do then tries really hard to complete her work to the best of her ability.

Heath Ho – Heath is such a positive force in class; he approaches everyday with enthusiasm, hard work and a smile on his face. His cheeky sense of humour comes across in his work and he is always so keen to do well.