Newsletter – 27 June 2025

Dear parents and carers, 

What a fortnight it’s been, with what has seemed like hundreds of exciting events in school, and hundreds more coming up next week! 

Arts Fest! 

A particular highlight of this week was Arts Fest 25, when 65 of our pupils performed at York University alongside pupils from across Excel Learning Trust. The children made Scarcroft so incredibly proud. You’ll see from the photos, there were beaming smiles all round! A great big thank you to all the staff that made it happen, particularly Mrs Pagan, Mr Stevens and Andy Jennings. 

Inclusion Quality Mark

We are thrilled to announce that after our visit from IQM, we have been awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark, and in addition to this, recognised as a Centre of Excellence. We received particular recognition for ‘exceptional’ support for children with English as an additional language, and for our pastoral care. Please have a read of the report on the website here. 

Dates for the diary

Wishing you all a very happy weekend, and look forward to seeing you for netball tournaments, football tournaments, talent shows and sports evening next week!

Best wishes, 

Jen Mitchell

Head of School 

Reception – Fishergate: 95.63%

Reception – Petergate: 94.21%

Year 1 – Gillygate: 97.5%

Year 1 – Stonegate: 95.1%

Year 2 – Castlegate: 94.6%

Year 2 – Micklegate: 97.6%

Year 3 – Coppergate: 95.51%

Year 3 – Whip ma whop ma gate: 94.91%

Year 4 – Swinegate: 96.44%

Year 4 – Walmgate: 95.06%

Year 5 – Colliergate: 97.66%

Year 5 – Skeldergate: 97.33%

Year 6 – Fossgate: 95.45%

Year 6 – Goodramgate: 95.52%

We have been loving Miss Grewers old dance costumes from when she was in Reception! The children have been dressing up and putting on their own performances using music, singing, dance and a lot of sass! The EY garden has never been so colourful!

In preparation for the summer term the children set to work on cleaning, organising and choosing the equipment they wanted for their mud kitchen! They have set up a self service shed full of pots, pans, spades, watering cans, picnic plates and a home made lemonade station!

Recognition Awards

Fishergate 

Louie –  For settling into school life like a super star! You have worked so hard and wear your smile every morning. You have taken to a new routine, new friends and a new classroom with ease. 

Levon – For working your socks off!! You have given  all of your effort to smashing any goal we give you no matter how tricky. You try your best at everything you do and never give up until you are 100% happy with the outcome. You are a star. 

Petergate

Nawaf – For trying so hard with your writing. You have put 100% effort into your independent skills and your formation. You have impressed all of your teachers and friends with your determination! 

Libby –  For your amazing commitment and determination in every lesson. You  are incredible at writing, reading, recalling knowledge and maths. You have worked very hard since your first day in reception. You are a role model!

In our Art topic, we have been making paper sculptures using a variety of folding and curling techniques. We have enjoyed experimenting with paper to create different effects. Now we are building on those skills to create our own tree of life!

On Scarcroft’s International day, we really enjoyed finding out about different countries and immersing ourselves in their culture. We studied Madagascar and Portugal, learned to count to ten in their native languages, and were really lucky to have some fantastic parent volunteers who taught us about their experiences living in different countries.

Recognition Awards

Stonegate

Alma – For fantastic phonics and always setting a good example with her behaviour.

Arthur S – For super reading and extending his learning outside the classroom.

Gillygate

Kim – For her amazing dedication to her maths work and always applying enthusiasm to everything she does!

Lille – For showing exceptional behaviour all of the time and her fantastic listening skills.

Effort trophy – To all of Year 1 for their brilliant hard work during the phonics screening and absolutely knocking our socks off, well done!

We’ve had lots of fun investigating the suitability of materials for an eco-friendly plant pot.

We are just about to start our new class book ‘The Dragon Machine’ so we went on a dragon hunt! We used prepositional language to describe their location. 

Recognition Awards

Castlegate

Isla – for her deep mathematical thinking, making connections, using fabulous mathematical vocabulary and always challenging herself

Sophie – being an all round super star. Sophie throws herself into everything 100%. Whether it’s her amazing work in class that she loves to challenge herself, or all the clubs she’s been involved in this year, or her new responsibilities with being a WoW Ambassador – Sophie always works so hard and with such determination.

Micklegate

Hugo – for his wonderful team spirit. He can always be relied upon for his supportive words and admiration for others when they have done something well. 

Sofia – for always being ready for learning, always working hard with her independent tasks, always listening carefully to the instructions and producing work that is detailed and presented beautifully.

Kindness Trophy – Alisa – for her consistent kindness towards her friends, adults and the environment around her.

History – Egypt

We have continued our Egyptian topic by learning about Egyptian beliefs.  We found out about the role of some key gods and goddesses before learning why death rituals were so important.  We had great fun trying out the mummification process – on a tomato!  We added symbols to protect them in their ‘afterlife’ and are looking forward to seeing whether our technique has preserved them!

Egyptian Art

Continuing our ancient Egypt theme, we have been learning about the role of hieroglyphics, including how they teach us about the past and how modern historians eventually ‘cracked the code’.  We created our own Egyptian scrolls to tell people, even creating our own papyrus-like paper!  Finally, we tried using small pieces of real papyrus to create zines about our learning.

Recognition Awards

Coppergate

Fergal – For his exceptional hard work across all his subjects.  He maintains focus in the classroom and ensures he does his very best work.  He also working hard on his handwriting too.  Well done Fergal!

Thomas – Thomas has worked exceptionally hard over the last few weeks.  He has rocketed through his phonics with Miss Heath and has applied it brilliantly in his writing too.  We are so proud of you!

Kindness trophy – Olivia – Olivia is always generous and kind in the classroom and on the playground.  She makes sure everyone is ok, sharing her equipment if she knows someone needs something and offers support if she spots someone who needs it.  What a great role model!

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate

Marnie – For having a great first term at Scarcroft and displaying a resilient, positive attitude. It has been great to see you make so many new friends and we are so glad you joined us.

Vinnie – For making a great effort in writing and determination to improve your work. The hard work is paying off, keep it up!

Meera – For always being a role model and working hard. I have really enjoyed reading your writing this term, well done.

Dylan – For a great attitude to learning and for always displaying exemplary behaviour. We all enjoy your sense of humour and creative ideas!

Iris – For bringing enthusiasm to everything you do and writing a fantastic Ancient Egypt narrative. Keep up the great work!

Effort trophy – Shannay – For always trying your hardest and displaying resilience in your learning. Well done!

In PE, we have started our Athletics unit and have been practising our javelin skills.

For Arts Fest, those who weren’t involved in the show used its theme of Music from the Movies to work together with Year 5 and create their own stop motion animations.

At the Arts Festival, we all really enjoyed the workshops and we rocked out!

Recognition Awards

Walmgate

Michele – super, new mature attitude 

Orla – Achievement – for her super TT Rockstars efforts, determination and achievement. 

William – for super effort and a new mature attitude

Swinegate

Mila – for her wonderful, confident performances at OAE and in the Y3/4 Talent Show auditions

Mabel – for really working hard to complete every task to the best of her ability and being an all round super star!

Music

In music, we have been focusing on how to represent music using colour. We thought about what colour we would use to represent different pieces of music then extended this to creating graphic scores. These are our graphic scores for ‘It’s Oh So Quiet’ by Bjork.

Science at Millthorpe

Year 5 had a fantastic session at Millthorpe carrying out different science experiments. We made electromagnets, made electrical circuits with fruit and vegetables, tested whether different substances were acid or alkali on the pH scale and looked at different cells under a microscope. The children enjoyed all of the activities and it was great for them to get a flavour of what secondary school will be like.

Recognition Awards

Colliergate

Lydia – An absolute Scarcroft superstar. Always gives everything 100% and does everything with a smile on her face.

Georgiana – A fantastic member of our class who gives everything 100% all of the time and is kind, helpful and curious. 

Florence – Has such enthusiasm for learning and a brilliant work ethic. You will go far Florence!

Skeldergate

Melissa – Fantastic learning behaviour all year. She has made super progress in all subjects. Especially reading where she has skyrocketed! 

Lucie – Fabulous role model in the Nest. Works really well and helps others. Thank you form Mrs Gibb-Kirk and Mr Bastow

Achievement Trophy – Ellie – Her hard work and determination have meant she has soared in Reading and arithmetic this year. Keep it up Ellie!

Effort Trophy – Hattie – Fantastic effort all year. Hattie puts 110% effort into everything. Both in the classroom and around school. Well done.

Science

We have been studying the heart and blood in science. Here, the children are making a simple model of the many different parts that make up blood then explaining what each part does.

Writing

All of the Year 6s have worked incredibly hard on creating some portfolios of their writing, ready for the end of Year 6. They should be really proud of their efforts and here is a very small sample to have a look at.

Upcoming dates for Y6 (see last newsletter for general end of year dates):

• Wednesday 2nd July – Transition Day – All children will visit their secondary school for the day. You should have had information about this from your child’s secondary school.
• Tuesday 8th July – Crucial Crew – A North Yorkshire Police afternoon at York College. Children will be back by 3.15ish (we might be a touch late!). Lunch arrangements as normal so anyone who has ordered a school lunch that day will get one still.
• Thursday 10th July – School of Pop, leavers’ play – we will perform the play at 2pm and at 6pm. Further info to follow.
• Friday 11th July – Leavers’ Disco – 6pm, at school.
• Monday 14th (6G) and Tuesday 15th July (6F)  – York Unlocked visitor and historical walk around York. Lunch at school as normal.
• Friday 18th July – Leavers’ Assembly – 9am – A short assembly with songs and photos (and, if previous years are a guide, tears!).

Recognition Awards

Olive Scott – the complexity of Olive’s writing has really come on over the last few weeks. She includes so much interesting, creative detail and really tries hard to match her writing to the task given, endeavouring to make it sound just right.

Clara Pierce-Hirst – Clara has blown me away in her recent appearances on stage, both for her talent show audition and her part, Miss Bouncé, in our school play. For someone who can be quiet in class, she is incredibly loud and confident when acting and signing. What a star!

Isla P – We are always impressed with Isla, but recently she has hurt fingers – but this hasn’t stopped!  Isla has a natural ability to overcome obstacles with positivity and perseverance.  

The Whole Class – Mr and Mrs Roper’s class have risen to several challenges over the last few weeks admirably.  They have impressed us with their adaptability and perseverance and we are tremendously proud of them all!