A message from Miss Laing…

I just wanted to write one final post as we come to the end of another year.

I have now been the Headteacher for 5 years and this year really has been the best year for us so far despite the global pandemic.

I am so incredibly proud of how hard all of our community has worked this academic year including staff, pupils, parents, governors, our cleaning team, kitchen team and everyone else who has helped us along the way in order to ensure the very best educational experience for our children.

Together we have smashed this academic year and have supported the children of Carcroft to really be the best version of themselves.

With the support of XP we have been able to develop our curriculum offer so much more than I could have ever imagined. I am incredibly proud of the staff team, who have embraced the expeditionary learning model and have provided our pupils with an engaging and exciting curriculum which has resulted in beautiful products being created for all to see.

Delivering an expeditionary curriculum is no easy task, but our staff have been amazing. They have invested so much time, in order to ensure that children are working on case studies which result in purposeful products being crafted, whilst ensuring that they acquire the knowledge and skills outlined in the national curriculum. Thank you to our Teaching Staff Team for delivering such amazing and memorable experiences for our children.

Not only have our pupils created amazing work to be proud of, this work has been shared with the wider world for all to see including places around Carcroft and very soon UKS2 will have their artwork displayed in the Frenchgate Centre in the Town Centre. In addition, KS1 will have theirs in Flamingo Land, Scarborough! Simply amazing!

Watch this space over the summer, as we are going to be sharing some of the videos from throughout the year to remind us all of the amazing work which has been created right here in Carcroft.

Now for our pupils….. they have well and truly blown me away this year! At Carcroft, we always ensure that our school day is jam packed full of learning, but this year due to the pandemic, we have had to cram in even more. However, our pupils were not fazed in the slightest, they returned with such fantastic attitudes towards learning and have worked hard, to get smart every day! The quality of work produced by our pupils this year is the best I have seen. Children have really shown that they want to be the best version of themselves and have worked hard to achieve this. They are an absolute credit to us as a school, me as a Headteacher and you as parents. I know that in 2021/2022 we are going to achieve even more, as the children’s HoWLs move from 3’s to 4’s because who doesn’t want to be exceptional after all?

And finally, I would like to thank our Parents/Carers. What a year! The global pandemic has caused so many problems for school leaders across the country, however, for us at Carcroft, this was made so much easier with your continued support and co-operation, every step of the way! You have been such a huge support this year, working with us when changes were made etc, bubbles were closed and during school closure- we cannot thank you enough for this.

As we prepare to embark upon our new Chapter as Carcroft School, we have made some changes in order to further improve the quality of education on offer for our school and really try to make our school the best version of itself, as it’s what the children of Carcroft truly deserve.

I understand that at times we are not going to be able to please everyone, but please understand that when making decisions/changes, I only ever do anything to make this a better school for our community and I do believe that together, with your support, that is what we are doing, building a school to be proud of.

As we reopen in September as Carcroft School, leaving Carcroft Primary School behind, I am incredibly proud of all in which we have achieved this year and head into the summer knowing that our staff team could not have done anymore for the children this year.

I, along with the staff team cannot wait to see what the children achieve in 2021/2022 after such a fabulous year this year; we know that they are going to continue to create beautiful work to be proud of.

I am feeling so proud today of all we have achieved and hope that you too can feel proud of your son or daughter’s achievements as you walk/drive home for the last time this academic year! #wearecarcroft

On a final note, I would like to wish our families the very best and hope you all have an amazing summer making memories.

Thank you again,

Miss Laing

Slight change to Carcroft Academic Calendar for 2021/2022

I hope that you are all keeping well and are starting to enjoy some more normality post lockdown as restrictions begin to ease. 

I am writing regarding the school calendar for the academic year, starting in September (2021/2022). You may remember that I wrote to you earlier in the year, sharing that the XP calendar differed slightly to the Doncaster LA calendar, due to the fact that XP Trust pupils finished slightly earlier than the Doncaster Schools in July 2022, however, I took the decision to continue to finish our school year the same week as the Doncaster schools, for 2021/2022, with a view to then aligning with the trust fully from September 2022. 

Unfortunately, after spending a considerable amount of time trying to figure out a way in which we could align with the trust the following year, whilst ensuring that the children and staff at Carcroft still have the same amount of summer holiday days as the rest of the UK in July/August 2022, we ideally need to finish our academic year on Thursday 21st July 2022, ensuring that our children and staff team access the full summer holiday in which they deserve, ready to commence the new academic year on Tuesday 30th August 2022, along with the rest of the XP Trust. 

As mentioned above, we were really hoping to be able to try and align the calendars in 2022/2023, but this would mean us returning to school a week after the XP Trust schools in the September 2022 and with us sharing expedition planning and resources across the primary trust schools, we really do need to commence our academic year for 2022/2023 at the same time as the trust schools in order to ensure that the children experience the same learning as their trust peers across the trust from the off as much of this is going to be joint across the group of schools.

When I wrote to parents earlier in the year, one of the concerns raised was that siblings may not finish until the week after and therefore, parents would possibly require some support with childcare. Therefore, we are going to offer a free summer club for this week which will run during school hours Monday to the Thursday, in order to support any working parents who may require it.

I do hope that this does not cause you any inconvenience and hope that you understand the school’s rationale to align with the trust from this September, opposed to September 2022 as originally proposed. I do always try to ensure that all possible options are carefully considered before making a final decision, hence the delay in this message, in order to try and do the right thing by all stakeholders, however, if you do have any further questions/queries, please do not hesitate to contact the school via email. I have asked Mrs Lythe ( [email protected]) to be the main point of contact if you do have any queries regarding this and she will ensure that they are passed onto myself if she is unable to answer them. 

The new calendar will be posted shortly.

Thank you in advance for your understanding regarding this matter. 

Miss Laing 

Headteacher