November 2016 Archives

Sewing Club

14th May 201825th November 2016 by Penpol School

Every Monday after school this term, some of the Year 1 and 2 children have been learning how to sew with Miss Simpson.

They have learnt how to thread needles and tie knots. They have also looked at weaving and how to use different types of stitches. It’s not as easy as it sounds because it requires a lot of patience and concentration. However, the children have risen to the challenge and produced some very creative pieces.

To help them further develop their sewing skills, the children have even been given a piece of canvas, their own needle and some thread to practice at home.

The club has proved to be a great success and the children have really enjoyed the opportunity.

I have stopped watching TV and all the I do is my sewing now. – Elexa

The children are currently working towards making their own Christmas decorations. Keep a look out for their finished masterpieces.

Penpol Year 6 pupils are ‘Hands On’ with carpentry!

29th June 201825th November 2016 by Mark Pollard

This term we have introduced our Year 6 pupils to the exciting world of woodwork and carpentry.

As part of our vocational and creative curriculum, each Year 6 child is being given the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to design and make a wooden bird box.

Before building their bird boxes, the children learnt how to use Technical Drawing skills to produce detailed, three-dimensional and scaled plans of the bird boxes they intended to make. This is quite a tricky process because it involves precision measurements and drawing using t-squares and setsquares.

However, the children have worked very hard and produced some very impressive drawings.

To help make the bird boxes, John Meardon has kindly offered to come in each week and share his expertise in carpentry.

He has been guiding the children on how to use tools safely and teaching them the skills they will need to successfully make their bird boxes. He has also given some really good tips, especially when it comes to the trickier parts of putting the boxes together.

The children have carefully followed their designs using a measuring tape and square to mark out the timber needed for their bird boxes.

Between cutting, hammering, drilling and sanding, they have worked together and produced fantastic looking bird boxes.

The finished products are very impressive and John has commented on how well the children have worked together. He has also complimented the Year 6 pupils on their listening skills, determination and excellent manners.

Woodworking provides children with the opportunity to develop a broad range of practical skills. It enables them to develop eye-hand coordination, their spatial awareness, their sense of precision, and understanding how to use potentially dangerous tools safely.

Hand in hand with these skills goes a wide variety of other concepts such as abstract reasoning, mathematics, problem solving, fine motor skills, respect for tools, and (hopefully) patience!

It also empowers them to become independent thinkers – building confidence, self-esteem, and a range of practical skills that will last them a lifetime!

Class 5 Explore Materials Through Wicker Work

29th June 201823rd November 2016 by Penpol School

In connection with our science topic on ‘Materials’, Class 5 was really lucky to have a visit from Jazmin’s aunty Caroline. Caroline is very creative and she makes absolutely marvellous wicker pieces, from baskets to lobster pots.

During her visit she brought in examples of her craft and even showed us how she makes them. We learnt so much about this ancient craft and are now weaving fish using a wicker frame and raffia. It’s not as easy as it looks, as the children are discovering, we’ll let you know how we get on and will post some photos of the finished product!

Class 5 visit the Maritime Museum in Falmouth

29th June 201823rd November 2016 by Penpol School

In connection with our history topic on the Titanic, Class 5 visited the Maritime Museum in Falmouth to participate in a “Wreck and Rescue” workshop and a model boat making session. We learnt all about Henry Trengrouse, a Helston man, who back in 1807 witnessed the ship wreck of the ‘Anson’ off Loe Bar. An engineer by trade, he was devastated by the loss of life due to a lack of life saving equipment and so went on to invent a rocket life saving apparatus and the early form of the Breeches buoy.

Seth, from the museum set up a mini demonstration out on the balcony and the children were involved in rescuing John Henry, a fisherman using a model of Trengrouse’s invention

The children were able to test their boats on the lake in the museum, Luke won!

Myles has a go on the ‘ look outs ‘ chair used to help them get to the crows nest.

The children were also able to play on modern day rescue apparatus, a R.N.L.I dinghy, jet ski and inflatable life raft.

We all learnt a lot and had a brilliant day!

Code Club off to a flying start

14th May 201822nd November 2016 by Jacob Woolcock

Last week some of our Year 6’s launched our very first Code Club, here at Penpol School. With support from Mr Woolcock, the team of Year 6 boys have been sharing their coding knowledge with over SEVENTY children who’ve been enjoying Code Club.

Harry, Connor, Morgan and Zak have taken on the responsibility of running the club over multiple lunchtimes, in order to ensure that everyone who wants to has the opportunity to spend half an hour being creative on the computers. Already they’ve had to turn children away though as the queues to get in have been out the door!

“It’s been great fun teaching the juniors coding, particularly the Year 4’s because they are very new to coding.” – Harry, Y6

In Code Club the children are allowed to use Scratch, MicroBits and sometimes even Xcode to create whatever they can imagine. Whether it be a game, a puzzle, a character or even an interactive quiz, our Juniors are showing that there really is no limit to what they can do on the computers.

“It’s been great fun so far, because it’s teaching the younger ones to code and helping me with my own coding skills.” – Connor, Y6

If you’d like to come along to code club then please check the poster below to see which day your year group are invited to.

The Mosquitoes Rock Reception

29th June 201821st November 2016 by Amanda Aspden

The Mosquitoes rocked the reception classes this week with their much anticipated concert. Taking timeout from their busy tour schedule, Paul, Neil, Geoff, Billy and front man Graeme (Sabina from Class 1’s dad) brought the classroom down with their fabulous mix of South American rock with a hint of Cornish punk.

With classics such as Seve Ballesteros and Where’s My Hat, the reception children boogied, jumped, jived and moshed to the upbeat and melodic tunes.

The Mosquitoes energy and enthusiasm was infectious. The children loved learning all about the different instruments and even got a chance to play alongside their heroes. The children strummed along on the guitars, sung into the microphones and had a go at playing the drums. The popular band who are much in demand were headlining Connor Downs after our visit.

The band featured drummer Billy (Kane from class 8’s dad) who saved the day by stepping in last minute due to the usual Mosquitoes drummer being unable to make the gig.

The children from Class 1 and Class 2 absolutely loved the fab five!

“I liked Paul, he helped me play the guitar.” – Phoebe.

“They were really good singers and really good players. I liked the drums. I liked Sabina’s Daddy.“ – Lylie.

“The band was really good. I really love Daddy so much. Daddy was singing really good.” – Sabina.

“There’re the best band I’ve ever seen,” – Felix

“I think it was really good.” – Alex.

“I liked playing the guitars and using the microphones.” – Ethan.

“I liked singing into the microphone.” – Penny.

“I liked playing on the drums and being the drummer.” – Harvey.

“I liked the guitars. I liked Geoff and Neil because they were brilliant.” – Louis.

Surfing’s on the Curriculum at Penpol

29th June 201817th November 2016 by Mark Pollard

We are very fortunate at Penpol School to be situated by the sea next to three miles of glorious beaches and golden sand. In this area of outstand natural beauty, we have some of the best beaches in Cornwall offering fantastic surfing opportunities.

Living next to the Atlantic, however, does come with its own hazards and dangers, especially when it comes to being safe in the sea.

At Penpol School we take beach safety very seriously.

We have a close connection with several of our community partners including the RNLI, Shore Surf and Hayle Surf-Lifesaving Club. These partners regularly present whole school assemblies, discussing the dangers of the sea and encouraging the children to reflect on the importance of beach safety.

At Penpol School we also believe that our children should be taking full advantage of their geographical location and safely enjoying the unique area in which they live. With this in mind, we have made surfing a compulsory part of our curriculum for Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.

Teaming up with Shore Surf School and their fully qualified expert surf-instructors, each pupil has participated in five two-hour surf lessons, working towards Level 2 Shore Surf Award.

This has involved meeting various expectations and demonstrating a number of key skills including:

Changing in and out of a wetsuit unaided.
Working as a team and supporting each other.
Perseverance and determination
Knowledge of water safety and recognising hidden dangers
Developing confidence in the water
Catching a wave
Popping to their feet and surfing for five seconds or more
Demonstrating balance and co-ordination.

This is the second year our pupils have taken part in surfing and it has proved to be a great success.

Pupil comments –

I found the past five Thursdays the most enjoyable days of the week and that was because of the surfing – Zehava

I enjoyed surfing very much this year. I think I have learnt so much in the five weeks. I stood up for the first time ever and caught some really cool waves. The instructors were very kind and taught us how to do some impressive tricks – Erin

I loved going surfing this term even though sometimes the waves were huge! We learnt very quickly how to stand up and then how to go faster, as well as slow down on a wave. Soon after this we were taught to turn and dismount safely – Tilly

I enjoyed surfing so much this term that I think we should go again next term. I think surfing should be on the curriculum because we live by the sea and we learn how to be safe in the water – Jake

Penpol Give Hockey A Go!

14th May 201817th November 2016 by Nic Stanlake

Nine of our budding hockey players made their way to Penzance Hockey Club on Wednesday to represent Penpol School in the Penwith District Hockey League.

Motivated by the recent success of the England Ladies gold medal winning hockey team, the children took part in hopefully the first game of a long hockey career. The team performed magnificently in all three games that they took part in against local teams, unfortunately only managing to gain one draw.

But enjoyment was the aim and there were bags full of it to go around. With three games under our belts we now look forward to taking our experience into the next round of fixtures.

Micro:Bits have arrived at Penpol!

14th May 201812th November 2016 by Jacob Woolcock

This term we’ve bought a whole classes worth of BBC Micro:Bits to use with Year 5 and 6!

These tiny computers are incredibly clever and already we’ve had classes using them to make compasses, thermometers and little pocket-sized games. These Micro:Bits have proved such a hit in the last few days that we’re going to make sure everyone in Key Stage 2 gets the chance to learn to code with them this year, starting with Year 5 and 6.

While the children are used to coding using Scratch on the computers, being able to make programs which run on these little devices is even more exciting as they can be taken outdoors and used just about anywhere. Over the year we’ll be using our Micro:Bits for science experiments, music lessons and more. We’ll also make sure they’re available to use at lunchtime Code Club incase anybody wants to try making their own ideas into reality using the Micro:Bits.

Amazing homework from Class 5 & 6!

18th October 201810th November 2016 by Penpol School

In connection with our Science and Geography topics this term, the children in Year 2 were given some suggestions on what they could do for optional homework. These ideas included:

Making dinner for the family at home.
Making an igloo.
Making a Christmas table decoration

Dinner for the family

Eloise decided to show off her very talented cooking skills by making a delicious pasta dish for her family.

“I really like cooking and everyone loved their dinner and ate it all up.” – Eloise

Eloise decided to share her amazing recipe and wrote down a detailed list of instructions.

Igloo’s are very cool!

Several pupils decided to have a go at making an igloo. The children were very creative and came up with very inventive ways of building their igloos.

Myles’s dad kindly helped him to make this amazing model, complete with fishing line and ice blocks.

“It took about half a week to make and I think its really good.” – Myles

Eloise made a smaller one out of clay and painted it, complete with a fierce polar bear! She said she really enjoyed making it.

“My sister helped me but clay is a bit messy and it got everywhere!” – Eloise

Thomas’s igloo was made out of cotton wool and papier-mâché. It took most of an evening to make and even has a little light in it which looks like a fire.

Stunning Christmas table decorations

Christmas is fast approaching and one of the options for homework was for the children to make a table decoration.

Jazmin, Myles and Samuel all made these amazing centre pieces which will proudly grace their tables on the big day!

“I only needed help with the glue gun, it’s good!” – Jazmin

“I needed help with the sand in the jar as it was a bit tricky, it’s definitely going on my table at Christmas!” – Myles

“I did it all by myself except for the glue gun bit.” – Samuel

Penpol Panthers

“Penpol pupils are curious, creative and courageous learners. Our school community believes in authenticity as the foundations of deep-rooted learning. Through our rich and relevant curriculum, we nurture community-minded, forward-facing international citizens of the future.”