Newsletter – 13th November 2026

Dear parents and carers, 

I hope you’re all well and had an enjoyable half-term break. The children are off to a flying start in school, and are already knocking out some super renditions of our favourite Christmas classics in singing assembly. The twelve days of Christmas, on the 12th day of November, was a particular highlight! 

As we welcome prospective families for our Reception open mornings ahead of September 2027, I have been reminded just how special our school community truly is. Touring the classrooms has filled me with pride – from the focus and genuine love of learning shown in our Reception provision areas, to the warmth and politeness our pupils show every visitor.

If you have a child turning five during the next academic year, we would love to welcome you. View the dates for our upcoming open mornings and book your visit here:

https://scarcroftprimaryschool.co.uk/reception-2027/ 

Welcoming Ofsted to Scarcroft

We are due to welcome Ofsted to Scarcroft very soon, and we are genuinely excited to open our doors and show inspectors just how brilliant our school is. Every single day, we see the warmth, enthusiasm, and dedication of our pupils, staff, and families in action, and an inspection is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the vibrant, inclusive community that makes Scarcroft so special.

When Ofsted visits, they will be inspecting us under their new report card framework. Because this looks quite different from the single-word ratings parents have been used to in the past, we wanted to share a quick guide on what the new judgements mean and how they work.

How the New Inspection Framework Works

Under the previous framework, schools were given a single headline judgement, such as Outstanding, Good, or Requires Improvement. Under the new system, that single overall grade has been removed. Instead, inspectors provide a more detailed report card that evaluates specific areas of school life individually, including Curriculum and Teaching, Achievement, Attendance and Behaviour, Personal Development and Well-being, Inclusion, Early Years, and Leadership and Governance (alongside a clear Met or Not Met check for Safeguarding).

Each area is graded on a five-point scale:

– Exceptional: Reserved for practice that is among the very strongest nationally.

– Strong Standard: Practice that consistently goes above and beyond expectations.

– Expected Standard: The benchmark Ofsted expects a great school to achieve.

– Needs Attention: Specific aspects that require a little more focus to reach the expected standard (not a failing grade).

– Urgent Improvement: Significant weaknesses requiring rapid change.

Why the “Expected Standard” is Something to Celebrate

Because the grading scale has completely changed, Ofsted is very clear that the new grades cannot be directly compared to the old ones. In particular, achieving the Expected Standard is a high bar and a genuinely strong outcome. It means a school is meeting all of Ofsted’s rigorous benchmarks, delivering high-quality education, and providing the care, support, and opportunities every child deserves. While the old Good rating became the baseline for most schools, the new framework sets a much higher, more nuanced bar across every individual area – so a report card filled with Expected (and Strong) standards is a fantastic reflection of a thriving school.

Sharing Your Views

Your voice is a vital part of the inspection process, too. As soon as we receive the official call from Ofsted, we will send out a link to Ofsted Parent View—the online survey where parents and carers can share their thoughts on our school. It only takes a few minutes to complete, and we would be so grateful if you could take the time to fill it in when the moment arrives so the inspectors can hear directly from the families who know Scarcroft best.

TT Rockstars

You may have seen a news article in the last week regarding TT Rockstars – an online platform for children to learn X tables and develop their mathematical fluency. There has been some concerns about the use of the platform encouraging excessive screentime by children. 

In response to the article, TT Rockstars will be making the following changes to school settings by default:

– Curfews between 8pm and 7am to encourage healthier online choices.

– A 20 minute limit per day to reduce time spent on the screen.

– Leaderboards hidden by default – where a school may choose to toggle these on, only rock names will be visible.

These changes will go into effect from the 24th November. Further information, including other ways you can adjust your child’s settings, can be found here: https://ttrockstars.com/digital-wellbeing/

Attendance

Good attendance is at the heart of everything we do at Scarcroft—being in school every day helps children build strong routines, keep up with their learning, and make the most of their friendships. We know we have recently been hit by a wave of chickenpox, and of course, when children are genuinely unwell or contagious, staying home to rest and recover is always the right thing to do. Because of those unavoidable absences, our whole-school attendance currently sits at 96%, which is below where we want to be and needs to improve to reach our 97% target. Now that the worst of the bug appears to be behind us, we are really optimistic about seeing that number climb back up. Thank you so much for your continued support in getting your children into school on time whenever they are well enough—together, we can get right back up to that 97% mark! 

Dates for the diary

Reception – Castlegate: 95.24%

Year 1/2 – Fishergate: 94.47%

Year 1/2 – Micklegate: 89.4%

Year 1/2 – Stonegate: 96.25%

Year 3 – Coppergate: 97.59%

Year 3 – Whip ma whop ma gate: 96.35%

Year 4 – Petergate: 93.2%

Year 4 – Walmgate: 98.65%

Year 5 – Colliergate: 94.11%

Year 5 – Skeldergate: 95%

Year 6 – Fossgate: 94.09%

Year 6 – Goodramgate: 96.31%

EYFS have been learning all about festivals and celebrations. We discovered how Hindu’s celebrate Diwali and why the Bonfire Night is celebrated – all in the first week back! The children made Diya lamps from clay and then painted them beautiful bright colours, they designed their own rangoli patterns using chalk, they made mehndi as well as discovering the story of Rama and Sita.

As well as learning about Guy Fawkes’ plot, the children discussed how to stay safe around bonfires and fireworks.

On Remembrance Day, we observed a two-minute silence, read a story called ‘Where the Poppies Now Grow’ and created our own poppies.

We have been investigating different weather, especially those we see in Autumn. Our favourite challenge was making ‘wind ribbons’ and investigating which direction the wind was blowing.

Year 1/2 have enjoyed getting creative whilst composing short ‘Superhero’ tunes with chime bars!

Year 2 children have been learning to play the ocarina. On Monday, they started to play Jingle Bells on it.

We had lots of fun working in groups to build stable, free-standing towers this week in Design and Technology. We looked at famous structures around the world and decided that we needed to make our bases wide so that they didn’t topple over.

Recognition Awards

Marnie – Healthy Award – Marnie has a wonderfully positive mindset and she has a lovely attitude towards learning and life at Scarcroft School. Her positive outlook is a real asset to our school community.

Isobel – Isobel should be incredibly proud of the effort she puts into her learning. She always approaches her work with positivity, determination and perseverance. She is always willing to challenge herself!

DT – Eating Seasonally

We have been learning where different foods grow and why those climates are best for producing fruits and vegetables.  We also learned why prioritising foods which are grown seasonally can support our environment.

On Monday, we practised our chopping and peeling skills and challenged ourselves to taste all the vegetables we had prepared.

DT – LEAF visit

As a part of our DT topic, we had a visit from LEAF to learn where our food comes from and sustainable farming.  We really enjoyed learning how far some of our food travels, where we can find this information and what ingredients are hidden in our daily food.  We were all surprised to learn that chickens outnumber people in the UK!

Science – Movement and Nutrition

We have really enjoyed learning about the bones in our body and why they are so important.  We were surprised to learn that not all animals have skeletons, that some have exoskeletons (on the outside) and that joints work in different ways.

Recognition Awards

Coppergate

Audrey – For making leaps and bounds in working with greater independence.  She is choosing tools to support herself in both maths and writing. What a super star!

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate

Nell – For being an exceptional writer and making her work truly leap off the page. She takes such pride and care in everything she does, and it really shows in the quality of her writing. Well done! 

Trophies

Gabriel – Spirited – He brings enthusiasm, energy and courage to everything he does, and his positive attitude makes him an absolute joy to have in the classroom.

Ziggy – Kindness – He is naturally and quietly kind in everything he does. Whether it is holding doors open, asking if someone needs help or making sure everyone else is looked after before himself, his thoughtfulness shines through in the little things he does every day. 

Writing – The Varmints

This week, we planted our seeds that the secret gardener left us last half term. We also wrote instructions for how to plant them to help other people fight the Varmints and regrow the wilderness!

PE – Hockey

The children have loved our new hockey unit this half term! We’ve been practicing dribbling and passing so far.

Science – Electricity 

In science we’re learning all about electricity! The children have compared mains and battery powered devices as well as investigate what is required for a complete electrical circuit.

Recognition Awards

Petergate

Tiffany – received the recognition certificate for her kindness to everyone in class. She is always willing to help others and does so in such a calm, helpful way. 

Anvi – who is new to Scarcroft, has settled in so well and I’ve been blown away with her bravery, confidence and positivity.

Walmgate

Oscar – received the recognition award for his incredible curiosity. He is so interested in everything we do and likes to share things from home. He is also very interested in people and this will get him far in life!

Clara – has shown such excellent learning behaviours over the course of the two half terms. She is really showing me that she is always ready to learn, contributes brilliantly in class and puts full effort and focus into her work. Keep it up Clara.

In science, we have been studying the properties of materials. In one lesson, pupils investigated the hardness of several object, placing them on a scale. 

We enjoyed our residential to Peat Rigg. We went caving, ziplining, abseiling and crate stacking to name a few.

Recognition Awards

Colliergate

Lydia – for her amazingly positive attitude to learning every single day! 

Creative Trophy – Vinny for his excellent problem solving whilst on our residential. 

Skeldergate

Eloise – fabulous effort in all subjects, especially in her writing.

Science

We have just wrapped up a unit of work about the circulatory system and healthy choices. The children learned about how the heart pumps blood around in two loops (a double circulatory system), took their own heart rates and measured just how much they change with exercise. Just this week, Mr Cole also dissected a heart for both classes (drawing the short straw as one of a few vegetarians in the teaching team!).

French

Excitingly, we all wrote a letter to a french pen pal last week. They are on their way to a school near Paris and those of us who are lucky enough to be going on the Y6 trip will even visit the school.

Recognition Awards

Fossgate

Mabel – for her enthusiasm for all things English. Her 500 Word story was a joy to read and it was so kind of her to lend Mrs de Simone a book that she has loved reading.

Goodramgate

Nell – for being a wonderful student in all of the ways but, most particularly, for her curiosity about the world. Nell is full of wonderful, complex ideas about things and brings them into our lessons.