Newsletter – 17th June 2026

Dear parents and carers, 

I hope you’re well and are enjoying today’s sunshine. It’s hard to believe that it’s only four and a half weeks to go until the end of the school year. As usual, it’s an extremely busy time in the school calendar. Be sure to take a look at the dates for your diary so you don’t miss out on anything. 

Enrichment

We pride ourselves on the quantity and quality of extra curricular and curriculum enrichment opportunities provided at Scarcroft. This half-term has started with a bang, with VR headset workshops for KS2 who took virtual tours through history, healthy wrap-making with Phunky Foods in Y1/2, and gardening for local residents with our Y4 gardening club. Three of our incredibly eloquent Y6 pupils also went over to Millthorpe and won the inaugural ‘ELT Public Speaking Competition’. As ever, your children continue to make us very proud. 

Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram where you can follow us and see what we’ve been up to: https://www.instagram.com/scarcroftschoolyork/

Dates for the diary

Best wishes, 

Jen Mitchell

Head of School

Reception – Fishergate: 95.9%

Reception – Petergate: 93.46%

Year 1/2 – Castlegate: 97.06%

Year 1/2 – Micklegate: 96.94%

Year 1/2 – Stonegate: 96.65%

Year 3 – Coppergate: 97.41%

Year 3 – Whip ma whop ma gate: 97.25%

Year 4 – Swinegate: 94.84%

Year 4 – Walmgate: 96.45%

Year 5 – Colliergate: 93.92%

Year 5 – Skeldergate: 96.68%

Year 6 – Fossgate: 96.25%

Year 6 – Goodramgate: 96.74%

Down in EYFS, the children have been learning how to read and follow maps to locate buried treasure. Using their new map-reading skills, they have been sneaking around the school grounds on exciting treasure hunts, carefully following clues and directions.

Our young adventurers have been on a mission to track down some cheeky pirates before they can steal any more of Miss Gilmour’s and Mrs McDonald’s gold! The children have shown fantastic teamwork, problem-solving skills, and determination as they searched high and low across the school site.

Recognition Awards 

Fishergate 

Tom –  You have continued to put a smile on all your peers and teachers’ faces since you joined us. You are a whirlwind of smiles and jokes, fishergate would not be the same without you brightening our day. 

Matilda – You have blossomed in confidence this half term in both your learning and your play. I love watching you explore new areas, build new friendships and confidently participate in class discussions. 

George – You have made a fantastic start to your journey here at Scarcroft, you have made strong friendships, shown off your incredible reading and writing skills and are a confident member of our Fishergate team. 

Achievement award – Arthur-John – for the incredible effort you have put into your learning this term. Your determination has pushed you to make amazing progress in your reading and writing. Well done Arthur.

Petergate 

Oisin – for is creativity and how he is drawing on all aspects of his learning in play and independently testing different idea.

Claudia – for being so enthusiastic in all her learning and her interest and engagement with other children.

Effort award – Eli – for putting 110% effort into absolutely everything he does whether this is adult led learning or his independent challenges.

On Careers Day, we loved finding out about different jobs. In Micklegate, we found out about the role of a midwife and journalist.  We also enjoyed finding out about a career in fashion from a parent who is a Personal Stylist. We discovered which colours matched their skin tones and eyes.

Science – The children have been learning about plant life cycles after monitoring the growth of the seeds they planted at the start of term.

D&T – The children have been practicing their food preparation skills using a range of equipment. They grated cucumber, cut peppers and chopped chives. This is all in preparation for visitors to come into school and cook with the children.

Alongside the food preparation skills, we have designed our wraps and we can’t wait to eat them on Friday!

Recognition Awards

Castlegate

Emily – Emily has been such a superstar right from the start in September. She is extremely helpful and kind. She works so hard every lesson and is a true role model for the rest of the class. 

Max – Max has done so well settling into Castlegate class. He follows instructions and tries so hard in all his work. He is such a confident child and it’s a joy to have him in our class!

Maddie (Kindness Trophy) – Maddie is such a kind and respectful child! If a new child starts in our class, Maddie is the first to help them and talk to them. She can work with anyone in the class and helps them if they need it. 

Micklegate

Thiya – Thiya always puts so much effort into all of her school and homework. She is diligent and hardworking as well as very friendly and helpful. A model class member!

Libby – Libby has worked really hard on improving her handwriting and presentation skills this term and she can be very proud of the progress that she is making with both!

Ziggy (Achievement Trophy) – Ziggy sets high standards for himself, both in his behaviour and with his learning and he works incredibly hard to reach these standards, which he has achieved every day in Year 2. A wonderful achievement!

Stonegate

Sam – For always being such a kind, caring person in our class. You are always so positive about learning and set such a brilliant example for others. You are so helpful around the classroom and always work super hard. Well done. 

Mila – For settling into Scarcroft so well! You have made lots of friends across the year groups and are starting to show lots more bronze behaviour. Well done Mila.

DT – Castle Design Adventure

Our pupils have been busy exploring the exciting world of castle design! They began by thinking carefully about how to create a castle with features suited to a specific person or purpose, before drawing and labelling their own designs using 2D shapes.

The class also investigated how castles are built in 3D, constructing geometric shapes from nets and adding special features to make each design unique. Using a variety of recycled materials, they created impressive facades and thought carefully about the best ways to make their castles both eye-catching and sturdy.

As part of the project, the children evaluated their own work and that of others, comparing the finished product with the original design and suggesting improvements. They learned that wide, flat-based objects are more stable, and that strength and stiffness are essential in structures. They also discovered the purpose of important castle features such as towers, battlements, turrets, moats, drawbridges and gatehouses.

Careers Day

 What a fantastic morning we had in Year 3 for our Careers Day! The children enjoyed hearing from a brilliant range of visitors who shared their jobs, experiences and inspirations.

We were delighted to welcome a mathematician and physicist, a solicitor, an author and an employee of the FA. Each speaker helped the children to discover more about the many different careers available and the skills needed to succeed in them.

The children were especially interested to learn that organisation and communication skills are important in every job. From solving problems to writing, advising and working as part of a team, these skills really do make a difference.

It was an exciting and inspiring morning that gave our pupils plenty to think about. A huge thank you to all of our visitors for making the event so memorable and for helping to broaden the children’s aspirations for the future.

Shakespeare Week

In our final week of the half term, we had a lot of fun exploring a famous Shakespeare play – Much Ado About Nothing.  Our children enjoyed playing games to learn the story, discovering how to work as a “company of players” and using freeze framing to tell the story.  What a fantastic group of thespians!

Recognition Awards

Coppergate

Elsie – For her fantastic overall attitude to learning.  She has worked hard on editing her work so it always of the highest quality.

Effie – For being the powerhouse of learning that she is!  Whenever we have a topic, Effie goes over and above to find interesting facts or objects to share.  We love your curiosity Effie!

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate

Serenity – Serenity has come back with such an amazing attitude to learning, even when things haven’t gone to plan she’s still found a way to bounce back and keep smiling! 

Adira – Adira has had an excellent year and she is one of those ‘always’ children that we talk about, she always does her best, always joins in, always sets an excellent example for behaviour and is always smiling! 

Achievement Award – Isaac – Isaac has recently been picked for the Yorkshire Under 9 district team! Well done!

In science, children have started a new topic on electricity and circuits. They explored what a circuit is and the advantages and disadvantages of mains electricity versus battery.

Recognition Awards

Walmgate

Rahwa – for bringing her enthusiasm and fantastic manners to Scarcroft. 

Jose – for his new mature and organised attitude.

Effort Trophy – Rosie – Rosie has been giving one hundred percent effort in all of her work and because of this she is making incredible progress.

Swinegate

Dylan – for always coming up with such interesting and well thought out answers in class discussion. 

Ezra – for trying so hard in his learning and being such a kind member of the class.

In Science we have been learning about unbalanced forces. When learning about water resistance, we investigated the enquiry question ‘Does surface area affect the time an object takes to sink?’. We found that the most streamlined object, shaped like a missile, was the quickest and that the large circle took the longest. We concluded that the larger the surface area, the longer the object took to fall.

We also looked at air resistance. This time we made parachutes with balloons.We also found that the larger the surface area, the longer an object took to fall through the air. 

In Geography, we have been learning about deserts. Here we are giving speeches about the benefits of the Mojave desert. 

Recognition Awards

Skeldergate

Robin – for just ALWAYS putting 100% into everything she does.

William – for being curious and always asking excellent questions

Benji – For being a silver superstar!

Colliergate

Olivia – For having a flying start to her time at Scarcroft. She has really impressed with her enthusiasm and hard work.

Johanna – For always putting in 100% effort and being a fantastic learning role model.

Theo – For striving to excel in whatever he does, whether it’s classroom learning or playing sports.

Kindness Trophy – Sam – For being so incredibly helpful around the classroom, whether it’s doing jobs or listening to another child read.

LEAVERS HOODIES!

We were all really excited to receive our Leaver’s hoodies on the Friday before half term. Only 5 weeks to go at primary school!

ART

We planned and finished our murals on the first week back after half term. Our use of scaling up was excellent, helping us to create some high quality finished pieces.

SHAKESPEARE WEEK

Either side of half term, we studied the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. The children played lots of different games to help them understand the text and the old-fashioned language. We spent one lesson acting a Benedick and Beatrice, feuding lovers, who spend the whole play insulting each other. Each class also acted the whole play out in ten scenes. The level of acting on show has us pretty excited for the end of year play!

DT

This week, we thought about playgrounds we have visited in order to determine what made them successful. We then designed our own and started to model them.

Recognition Awards

Fossgate

Isaac C – for being more settled in class and working with better focus

Dexter – for being a friend to everyone in the class and shearing his talents and skills confidently 

Amber – for all the writing progress she has made this year

Goodramgate

Zeke – for a real shift in his approach to writing over the course of Y6. Zeke really works hard during writing and produces some fantastic pieces.

Lucie – kindness trophy – Lucie’s level of empathy literally is a superpower! She cares deeply about everyone.

Stan – for really engaging with feedback in writing and generally being keen to learn more and to improve his independent work.