Newsletter – 10th July 2026

Dear parents and carers, 

What a few weeks it has been at Scarcroft with trips, visits and enrichment activities coming out of our ears: forest school, The Globe, York Uni eco-council, Woodland Adventure – the list goes on!  I hope you enjoy reading the class pages below and will write at length next week to wish you all a wonderful summer break. 

Have a lovely weekend. 

Best wishes, 

Jen Mitchell 

Dates for the diary

Reception – Fishergate: 96.44%

Reception – Petergate: 95.04%

Year 1/2 – Castlegate: 95.96%

Year 1/2 – Micklegate: 94.66%

Year 1/2 – Stonegate: 96.62%

Year 3 – Coppergate: 97.67%

Year 3 – Whip ma whop ma gate: 97.36%

Year 4 – Swinegate: 94.58%

Year 4 – Walmgate: 95.3%

Year 5 – Colliergate: 91.98%

Year 5 – Skeldergate: 96.33%

Year 6 – Fossgate: 96.89%

Year 6 – Goodramgate: 97.49%

EYFS have a fantastic day at Askham Bryan Wildlife park! Our children truly sparkled from start to finish, showing so much curiosity, enthusiasm, and excitement as they explored the amazing animals.

EYFS have also been very busy staying cool in the hot sunshine! We enjoyed icepops, waterplay and lots of splashing…We love summer!

Recognition Awards 

Fishergate 

Jidenna – For your amazing effort and positivity every single day!

Lia – For settling into life at Scarcroft like a star! You are so confident Lia, it feels like you have always been part of our team:)

Kwame –  For being a STAR. You are creative, kind and determined in everything you do.

Kindness Trophy – Camila –  For helping our newest friends to settle into life here at Scarcroft! You have helped make our newest friends feel welcome and valued. You are a kind, caring friend cami. 

Petergate 

Kip – For your enthusiastic attitude to learning, especially on the carpet during group times. You have thoughtful and insightful answer which you generously share.

Colton – For always making the right choices and joining in our learning so confidently and enthusiastically.

Arthur W – For working so hard in our phonics lessons. You are making such good progress – well done!

Milki – For being an absolute superstar and a ray of sunshine. We are really proud of you and are really going to miss you.

Castlegate class went on a fantastic trip to The Woodland Adventure Company. They worked in teams to create shelters for their clay creatures, fired water balloons, went on a nature treasure hunt, drank hot chocolate and then toasted marshmallows to top it off!

All of Y1/2 had a visit from some fabulous storytellers. They wove a fascinating, environmental tale about a giant ant who ate the internet, and a York tansy beetle who saved the day.

In Science, we have begun a topic on Ocean Habitats. We created rock pools in the playground then surveyed the animal and plant life in them.

In Science we also looked at life cycles and found different ways to group the pictures.

Recognition Awards

Castlegate

Noah – Noah is such a superstar! He tries hard in everything he does and produces beautiful, creative and well thought out ideas. He is also such a helpful, kind member of our class.

Levon – Levon is such an enthusiastic, spirited learner! He is always keen to know more and loves participating in class. I love his curiosity! He is especially eager to learn in our writing lessons!

Micklegate

Kaia – Kaia is a wonderful, creative and kind member of our class. She is incredibly polite and thoughtful and is always ready to help others. Her presentation is superb and all of her work books are immaculate!

Eloise – Eloise is such a creative, inquisitive and enthusiastic member of our class. We love her energy and determination. This award is particularly for the great compassion and kindness that she showed to a fellow pupil who was having a sad day.

Finley – Finley is such a hard worker and puts his best into everything that he does. He listens really carefully and can be proud of how well he completes his independent tasks and presents his work, well done!

Nikolai – Effort Trophy – Nikolai is such a friendly, smiley and happy child and always puts his best effort into everything, whether it’s school work or being a good friend. The effort he has made to improve his writing is excellent and he can be very proud of the progress he has made in all of his learning in Y1.

Stonegate

Amelia – For being a role model to everyone in Year 1/2 . You are such a kind, helpful and intelligent young lady. You are so ready for year 2 and already incorporate so much of the year 2 learning into your work. Well done for all your hard work and effort this year!

Tilly – For being much more independent with your learning tasks in the mornings. You have been using more language to comment, like when you are planning on moving locations. You have been super creative with Miss Anderson, creating volcanoes and a recreation of a Lady Bird Heard. Well done Tilly!

History – Egyptians

We have thoroughly enjoyed our history topic studying ancient Egypt, culminating in our own mummifications of tomatoes.  Our children have found this topic particularly thrilling, with exploration of hieroglyphics and our VR journey into the depths of the pyramids.

Art – Egyptian

This half term, our class has been exploring the fascinating world of Ancient Egyptian art. The children discovered why art was so important in Ancient Egypt and how it was used to tell stories, honour important people and record daily life. They carefully observed examples of Egyptian artwork, identifying the distinctive colours, patterns and shapes used by ancient artists. They then experimented with different drawing techniques, created sketches to develop their ideas and produced a final piece inspired by Ancient Egyptian designs. Alongside their artwork, they also created an informative zine, showcasing interesting facts and images while demonstrating their creativity, artistic skills and enthusiasm throughout the project.

Recognition Awards

Coppergate

Abel – For his fantastic writing over the last few weeks.  He has worked to use the techniques and support he has been given to produce good quality work.  Well done!

Sophie – For two great reasons: her fantastic effort in writing, ensuring she has included all her targets and for working so hard on her confidence all year.  You should be really proud of yourself!, 

Jimmy – Effort trophy – Jimmy has really worked with determination to do his best work, thinking about what he needs to do and taking part in extra practice with bucket loads of enthusiasm and focus.

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate

Indie – She has had a fantastic year! She is a spirited, creative and kind child who always gives 100%. Indie sets a super example for the rest of the class to follow. 

Xander – Xander has grown tremendously as an individual throughout the year. He has become a much more confident and self-assured member of the class, and his progress across all areas has been wonderful to see!

Creating circuits in science has proved to be fantastic fun with children showing great strengths in problem solving in order to achieve a complete circuit as well as learning all about how to carry out a fair test.

Our current Year 4’s enjoyed their transition day to their Year 5 classrooms and teachers! They did some ‘Under the Sea’ artwork to introduce their first topic.

Recognition Awards

Walmgate

Eloise – for consistently giving 100% effort and having great manners 

Max – for his incredibly mature and awesome attitude to school

Trophy – Achievement – Ivy – for mastering her times tables and punctuation skills this year

Swinegate

Mia – for working so hard to improve her focus and use the tools around her to support her learning. 

Edgar – For the incredible effort that he puts into all his learning.

Trophy – Effort – Logan – for outstanding effort in all her learning.

Science

In Science we have been looking at unbalanced forces. We investigated the question ‘Does weight affect braking?’. We increased the weight of objects in a tub and measured how far it travelled. The children were excellent at deciding on their control variables and then they evaluated what else should have stayed the same and how to improve it if they did it again.

Millthorpe Science

We had a great morning at Millthorpe for our Science sessions. We looked in microscopes, made electromagnets, tested the ph of different household liquids and made a battery out of fruit! We particularly liked putting on goggles and feeling like proper scientists!

Prime VR

We loved journeying into space through the Prime VR goggles. We explored the solar system and even got to watch a moon landing!

Recognition Awards

Skeldergate

Effort Trophy – Raneem – For putting 100% effort into the whole curriculum and everything else school has to offer. You’ve never stopped putting in that effort from the beginning of September to now. This will stand you in such good stead in the future!

Ribika – For settling in to Scarcroft so well and embodying our ‘curious’ school value.

Cooper – For quietly surprising me across the curriculum. Your knowledge and curiosity are amazing – make sure people know about it!

Colliergate

Kayla – For embodying the Scarcroft THRIVE values in everything she does.

Indigo – For working hard across the curriculum and pushing herself in her learning.

HISTORY

We have spent a really interesting couple of weeks learning all about the Sikh Empire. In particular, we found out about Ranjit Singh, who created the Empire and discovered why Lahore was such a busy city for trading.

DT

We have finished off our playgrounds to a really high standard, using all of our DT skills from our time in primary school.

GEOGRAPHY

We have been Geographers and used fieldwork to answer an enquiry question: how does graffiti impact our local area and the people who live in it?

Recognition Awards

Fossgate

Wren – to recognise the work that she has put in this year and the difference that has made to her confidence and belief in her abilities

Max – for a massive shift in attitude since half term. It’s been lovely to see him make more and more choices that allow him to enjoy school and fulfil his potential across a range of subject again

Molly – for working with enthusiasm across all subjects for all teachers. Her sustained effort has made all the difference this year.

ACHIEVEMENT TROPHY – Miko for using all of the tools available to him to learn so well to prove what an intelligent and thoughtful learner he is.

Goodramgate

Hannah – For a huge increase in confidence since I first met you in Year 4. You are so settled and put your hand up in lessons for lost of different teachers.

Ellie – For really taking every chance you can to make sure you have succeeded at your learning in Year 6. I know how hard you have worked. Well done!

Bea – For generally being an absolute star in class all of the time – hard-working, friendly, supportive, knowledgeable and more and more confident as Year 6 has gone on.