Front Page News | Carcroft School

Crew White – are they nice…or nasty?

4th September 2026Thomas White

This week, Crew White put their place value knowledge to the test by playing the NRICH game Nasty or Nice.

Using dice, the children had to decide carefully where to place each digit to create the best possible number. Every roll brought a new decision: should they play nicely and help their partner, or be nasty and make their challenge much harder?

The competitive element brought plenty of excitement and motivation, but the real challenge was thinking strategically about the value of each digit. We then adapted the game by setting our own rules, exploring how small changes could make it fairer, trickier or even more tactical.

A brilliant session filled with mathematical thinking, discussion and just the right amount of friendly competition!

Our first week back…

4th September 2026Geoff Hewitt

At XP, our first week back looks a little bit different. Across our Trust, students and staff have been working hard to build and reestablish the most important part of our culture – Crew.

Sharing our Stories: 04/09/2026

4th September 2026Geoff Hewitt

Beautiful work this week

Here’s a selection of beautiful work from across the XP Trust!

To read about other stories from across the XP Trust, visit xptrust.org.

Top of the Blogs

Class 12 | WW2 Crafts @ Green Top

Appreciating Kindness @ Plover

Crew McGlone – Tough Runner @ Carcroft School

Focus and Deep Thinking in Year 8 this week @ XP

Hook week day two @ Norton Infants

Crew week = complete! @ Norton Juniors

G29 first week back! @ XP Gateshead

Crew DCU @ XP East

Share your stories with us!

We now have a new dedicated news email so that you can send your stories, updates or ideas about potential news articles directly to us in Comms.

It might be something you or your students have achieved, a charity you’re supporting or anything at all that deserves a wider audience.

Write to us at [email protected] – we want to hear about it, write about it and celebrate it!

Year 4- Change makers

3rd September 2026Shannon Colclough

A huge congratulations to Louie and Nandi, our newly appointed Change Makers in Crew Colclough! Every pupil did a fantastic job preparing and delivering their speeches, articulating with confidence why they would excel in the role. We are so proud of everyone’s hard work, and we can’t wait to see the positive impact Louie and Nandi will make. Well done!

Year 3 Step Back in Time for Our WW2 Hook Day!

3rd September 2026Hannah McLoughlin

Year 3 had an exciting day stepping back in time as we began our new World War Two topic!

Some of us got into the spirit of the day by dressing up, helping us imagine what life might have been like during the 1940s. We certainly looked the part!

We started our morning by watching the opening of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. This helped us to understand what it might have felt like for children who were evacuated from their homes during the war. We then put ourselves in the shoes of an evacuee and wrote our own WW2 diary entries, imagining what it would have been like to leave our families and travel somewhere unfamiliar.

But our day wasn’t finished there! Suddenly, an air raid siren sounded, alerting us to danger. We had to think about how people would have felt hearing this sound during the war. We also had the chance to listen carefully to Morse code and work out the hidden messages being sent.

Then it was our turn to become secret codebreakers! We learned how messages could be communicated secretly and created our own secret messages for others to unpick.

It was a fantastic day of learning, imagining and investigating,and we can’t wait to find out more about World War Two as our expedition continues!

Bikes and scooters on school grounds

3rd September 2026Stuart Longley

Please can children not ride bicycles and scooters on the playgrounds when entering and leaving school.

Please can they walk with their bicycle or scooter when on the school grounds.

This is a health and safety issue as children are riding and scooting fast around the playground when parents and children are waiting to enter classrooms.

We have had a few near misses with children nearly being knocked over.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Toy Afternoon

2nd September 2026Nicola Robson

To conclude our day of play we enjoyed a toy afternoon.

I was so proud to see children sharing their toys, using manners and engaging in purposeful play.

Hook Day- Year 4

2nd September 2026Shannon Colclough

Yesterday, pupils fully immersed themselves in our new expedition, “Lest We Forget: How Does War Change Lives?”, during an engaging Hook Day. Step back in time, the children dressed as World War II evacuees and tackled a series of hands-on challenges: deciphering secret messages in Morse code, crafting authentic diary entries, and taking on a 20-minute STEM challenge to engineer paper bridges strong enough to hold a toy tank. It was an inspiring start to a powerful unit of learning.

Toy Box Through Time

2nd September 2026Laura Godley

Crew Godley have been stepping back in time to explore “Toy Box Through Time.” We have been discovering how toys have changed over the years, exploring some fascinating old toys and learning about the history of much-loved favourites, including dolls and teddy bears.

We also discovered a special local connection as we learned about the history of Paddington Bear and the Paddington Bear factory in Adwick!

The children enjoyed comparing toys from the past with the toys we play with today and thinking about how and why toys have changed over time. It has been fantastic to see their curiosity, questions and excitement as they became toy historians!