Newsletter – 20 January 2025

Dear parents and carers, 

We’ve somehow arrived at the beginning of week 3 of term already, and so it feels a little late to be saying happy new year, but I will anyway – I hope you all had a happy and restful(?!) Christmas break. As ever, January seems to be at least 10 weeks long, but the children continue to bring their energy and spirit to Scarcroft, and have been extremely busy as you will see in their class pages below. It’s a bit of a long letter – please plough on to the end though to see all the fantastic things we’ve been up to at school over the last fortnight. 

Parent show-rounds

We’ve been busy showing prospective EYFS parents round school since October, and we’ve had some fantastic feedback. Not least from this parent who I showed round on Wednesday last week, and whose very kind words I thought I’d share with you, because I think they really sum up the special place that Scarcroft is: 

‘Everyone was so welcoming and friendly. We absolutely loved the school. Scarcroft Primary has such a beautiful feeling of community and the children seemed comfortable and happy. We loved… the vision for the school and genuine care for all children. What a perfect environment for learning.’ 

School Clubs 

We’ve done a lot of work since September on boosting the number and range of clubs on offer in school. I thought you’d be interested to hear what we currently have on offer for Spring term. Keep an eye on your emails for anything new on offer. 

• Hockey
• Football (Girls & Boys)
• Japanese
• Art
• Lego
• Dodgeball
• Netball
• French
• Eco-council
• Sign Language
• Boccia
• Chess
• Coding
• History detectives

Sporting photos – a request! 

In a bid to encourage as much physical activity as possible, and given that one of our core Scarcroft characteristics is ‘healthy’, I would like to make a display in school celebrating children’s sporting achievements from inside and outside school. If your child takes part in any sport outside school, be it tiddly-winks to tight-rope walking, ballet to rock climbing, whatever the sport, we’d love to have a photo for our display. If you have one, we’d be very grateful if you could send it to the main school email address: admin@scarcroft.elt.org.uk Please include your child’s name and class as well. Many thanks in advance! 

Writing competition 

A very exciting writing competition has been launched for children in Key Stage Two and Three across Excel Trust. Class teachers and I have spoken to your children about the challenge, and we’d love for as many children as possible to have a go. So far I’ve had one absolutely STUNNING entry from Lyra in Year 3, and we’d love to have more so we can showcase the enormous talent we have in our midst at Scarcroft. Ideally, entries should be handed in via email to the main school email address: admin@scarcroft.elt.org.uk for my attention. 

Public Meeting

You may be aware that there will be a public meeting on Thursday 23rd January, to discuss  a proposed installation of a multi-use games panel on Scarcroft Green. Please see below an invitation from Michal Czekajlo, Community Officer. 

‘I’m writing to invite you to a single issue meeting with the focus on Scarcroft Green. Following on the recent consultation about the proposed installation of a multi-use games panel on Scarcroft Green, Ward Councillors would like to hold a public meeting to discuss and agree next steps, volunteers’ involvement on the Green and removal of wooden fencing at the Scarcroft Road end of the Green.

The meeting will be on Thursday 23rd January, 7pm at The Bar Convent, 17 Blossom Street, YO24 1AQ.

Please do join us if you have interest in Scarcroft Green.

We will be sending representatives from school to offer our views on the proposal. As you will be aware, we have no green space at Scarcroft, and we would love to make greater use of the enclosed space for PE lessons, particularly during the spring and summer months. Unfortunately many people use the area as a dog run, and therefore we can make very limited use of the area due to dog-fouling. It is our hope that the council can aid us to overcome this problem, to ensure that the needs of our 374 pupils/local residents are taken into account in conjunction with their proposal, which we have no doubt will be very popular with young people in the local area. 

Local historians visit school 

You may have seen our Instagram page, on which we recently posted some images of Scarcroft taken during a visit from some local historians who are writing a book about Sir Walter Brierley, the architect of our incredible school. The co-authors of the book have very kindly sent some of the official photographs from their visit that will go into the book, and I thought you might like to see some of them. Especially impressive are those of the clock tower, and clock mechanism itself. You’ll be very pleased to hear we’re having this fixed by a very friendly local clock enthusiast to whom we are very grateful!

Dates for the diary

Take a look at what all our classes have been up to in the last few weeks.

Wishing you all a very happy rest of the week – stay warm!

Best wishes, 

Jen Mitchell 

Head of School 

Reception – Fishergate:  98.2%

Reception – Petergate: 85.2%

Year 1 – Gillygate:   98.7%

Year 1 – Stonegate:   97.4%

Year 2 – Castlegate:   96.8%

Year 2 – Micklegate:  97.5%

Year 3 – Coppergate:   98.6%

Year 3 – Whip ma whop ma gate:   97.4%

Year 4 – Swinegate:   92.8%

Year 4 – Walmgate:   95.6%

Year 5 – Colliergate:   98.7%

Year 5 – Skeldergate:   93.1%

Year 6 – Fossgate:   95.9%

Year 6 – Goodramgate:   95.6%

This week Reception has been scientists! We have taken advantage of the icy weather in our outdoor kitchen and  have experimented with  freezing and melting. We worked together to freeze different toys and objects in the ice before finding solutions to melt and rescue them!

Reception also became bakers during science this week as we worked together to change a block of chocolate from a solid to a liquid. We took turns to pour, mix and scoop our melted mixture into  rice crispy cakes for a whole class snack! 

Recognition awards

Fishergate

Leo:  For being a kind and considerate friend to everyone. Leo has been a superstar on the playground at lunch times and during provision time in our classroom. He is always ready to help his friends and make sure everyone is busy!

PeterGate

Libby: For her amazing effort and engagement in phonics! Libby is always ready to learn, brings her positive attitude and is happy to help her teachers and friends with new learning! 

In Year 1 we have been getting stuck into our new Computing topic – Programming using Beebots. We enjoyed tinkering with the robots to enter our own algorithms which we recorded on whiteboards.

Our new Art topic is all about colour mixing. This week we used primary colours to create secondary colours, and recorded the combinations. Can you remember how to make green?

Recognition awards

Stonegate

Otto – For fantastic listening in Phonics and using his new sounds in his writing. 

Arthur – For super maths work and persevering when recording numbers.

Gillygate

Cara – For always being reliable, ready and putting her all into everything she does.

Esmae – For wowing us with her sensible attitude and fantastic behaviour.

Effort Trophy – Leo – For always being on the ball during phonics sessions and pure enthusiasm when working in a small group.

In Writing, we had some suspicious objects left in our classroom. First a chair with different types of sentences and then we discovered a small suitcase hidden underneath. We’re yet to discover who it belongs to but we think it has something to do with our new class book.

In History, Year 2 has been learning about the first flight and the significance of the Wright Brothers’ invention. We acted out that first successful flight of an engine powered aeroplane and imagined how we would feel to be there.

In Art, we’ve been exploring how clay can be shaped. We experimented with clay tools making different marks and patterns and then we had the opportunity to make our own 3D models.

Recognition Awards

Castlegate

Tiffany – for always taking her time and doing her work to the best of her ability.

Elliott BB – for his independence and focus in his learning.

Micklegate

Clara – for trying hard with her handwriting and presentation across the curriculum.

Achievement Trophy 

Liv – for making great progress by always being ready to learn and having a positive attitude to learning.

Science 

We have begun experimenting with forces and have conducted several experiments to test out theories. Our first investigation involved exploring a range of pull, push and twist forces to get a tennis ball into a cup using string only! 

Our second experiment involved flicking bottle tops across the hall floor to test out friction and how rough surfaces can affect the amount of friction the object encounters.

Writing

We started our new writing unit by exploring a collection of objects(flotsam) found within a wicker basket. We were able to categorise these objects into categories of; treasure, nature, picture and creature, providing reasons for our ideas with conjunctions of cause.

Recognition awards

Coppergate

Rory – For his improved focus and hard work, especially in writing.

Ivy – For working so hard to build her confidence in all areas of the curriculum.

Kindness trophy- Evie

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma Gate

Riley– For always being such a bubbly character that cheers up everyone she sees and also having the confidence to share her amazing ideas with us in class discussions. 

Miro– Huge amount of maturity in recent weeks and is really trying to show his full potential in each lesson. 

Recognition

Walmgate: 

Joss – for always, always being ready to learn and being a role model for excellent learning behaviours. 

Swinegate:

Louis – for a massive improvement in his learning behaviours

Mally – for super work in writing recently

Y4 have been composing their own portal stories based on the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. They are loving being creative expressing their ideas

We have completed a new Geography unit all about rainforests and enjoyed making the layers of the rainforest in our books as well as writing letters in role explaining why the rainforests are super important places.

In PE, we have started our Gym unit and are looking like excellent gymnasts!

Recognition 

Colliergate

Isaac H – Isaac is fantastic at his class jobs and always does everything straight away without asking. He really impressed me with his cool, calm and collected nature during our cooking in DT.

Eric – Eric is a role model in our class. He always asks and answers questions and is always ready to learn!

Effort Trophy 

Dottie – Dottie has only just started at Scarcroft but has already blown me away with her effort! Always has her hand up to answer a question and has thrown herself into life at Scarcroft with great gusto!

Skeldergate 

Travis

Thomas

ART

This term, our art unit is drawing with the theme of Space. In our second lesson, we learnt that drawing doesn’t just have to be done with a pencil. We chose a small section of a picture and experimented in our sketchbooks using different materials. We drew with charcoal, pastel, paint and even paper!

PSHCE

In PSHCE we have been looking at Fake News. We arrived in class to find this photograph on the board. It caused quite a stir! Would you have known it was fake?! We discussed why people might make Fake News and came up with our own fake and real headlines. We had to guess which were fake!

PE

In PE this half term, our indoor lesson is gymnastics, focusing on flight. We have been learning some different jumps: straddle; straight; hop and leap; star and tuck. We have also experimented with different turns: quarter, half, three quarter and full. This has allowed us to create a change of direction in our sequences of jumps. We have also learned how to land safely with arms out in front, head up and knees bent. 

History

We are learning about the impact of World War Two on the people of Britain. We will learn about why the war started, the Battle of Britain, the blitz and evacuation.

English

The story ‘The Hidden Forest’ led us to finding out more about Kelp forests.  In this writing project we are writing diaries, non-chronological reports and balanced arguments.

PE

We are enjoying gymnastics inside and tag-rugby outside this term.

Recognition awards

Isla P

Isla could have had this recognition award so many times.  She is always helpful, hard working and eager to be involved with everything at school.  What a super role model to have in class.

Raina

For being a ray of sunshine in the class.  Raina is always so friendly, helpful and caring.  She makes everyone around her smile.

Muhammad

For neat and tidy presentation, particularly in his maths.  Muhammad’s maths is so neat that it helps him to work accurately.

Olive

For a super, hard-working and positive approach to all of her work since coming back to school as well as being a fantastic, positive friend,