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Headteacher
Chris Coyle-Chislett

Email the Office
secretary@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk

Telephone Number
01736 753472

Our Address
2 St George’s Road, Hayle,
Cornwall, TR27 4AH

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

Unlocking the World with Words: Reading in Reception

 Our young readers in Classes 1 and 2 are absolutely loving books! We asked them what their favourites were, and here’s what they said:

“I like the bus book. It turns into a hundred-decker bus!” – Hugo

“I like Bluey books, they make me happy!” – Reuben

Every day, you’ll find us sharing stories with each other, whether snuggled up in our cozy book corners inside or enjoying the sunshine in our outdoor book nook.

I like the book when the banana is a baddie! – Albert

Story time is a super important part of our day. We love getting lost in amazing worlds through books.  Whether we’re revisiting old favourites like The Gruffalo or discovering new adventures, reading together is always lots of fun!  We even get to vote on which book we read each day, taking turns choosing the next story.  Recently, we’ve loved ‘One Snowy Day’ and ‘Emergency!’ during our story times.

 

We also have a great time sharing stories with our parents during “Book and a Bagel” on Wednesday afternoons. It’s a chance to show off what we’ve been learning and enjoy all sorts of stories, from new ones like ‘When Cucumber Lost His Cool’ to classics like ‘The Gruffalo’ and ‘Paddington’.

We read books. I like reading with Daddy! – Autumn

And we can’t forget our awesome reading buddies in Years 3 and 4!  Every week, we get to read together, share songs and learning, and hear about what the older children are up to. We even play games and make new friends!

 

I like to read a book with Leo. They read the unicorn one – Flora

Our Reception classes have had a fantastic time with reading events this year. We celebrated World Book Day with fun costumes, talked about our favourite stories, made bookmarks, and spent time with our reading buddies.

I liked reading stories. I dressed up as a unicorn! – Sylvie

It’s been incredible to watch our Reception children grow as readers. Their excitement for books, their ability to recognize and read new words, and their confidence in telling stories have all blossomed in just a few months.  We’re so excited to see where their reading journey takes them next!

Reception Celebrate Science Week

What an exciting Science Week we’ve had in Classes 1 and 2! The children have loved getting hands-on with lots of fun experiments.

I liked everything! I planted flowers and gave them seeds and water – Hugo

We started off by making magical potions with baking soda, glitter, and food colouring—then added vinegar to create amazing fizzy explosions!

We made bubbles with baking powder, fruit colouring, glitter and vinegar. It made bubbles and exploded! – Ava

We also used Skittles and water to create beautiful rainbows and were amazed as the colours spread across the plate.

When you put the water on, the rainbow came – Ciara

I liked the skittles. The hot water made the rainbow come – Tristan

I like when the potions exploded! – Eryn

As part of our ‘Growing’ topic, we’ve been busy planting sunflowers, cress, and beans, learning all about what plants need to grow strong and healthy.

We put some water and dirt and seeds in it – Oaklyn

We also explored floating and sinking by testing different objects from around the classroom. The children made their own predictions before putting them to the test—there were lots of surprises!

The carrot was sinking and the pen was floating. The pencil was floating too! – Reuben

Our rain cloud experiment was another big hit! We watched in fascination as drops of colored water fell through the ‘cloud.’ We were also amazed by the Coke and Mentos reaction and had so much fun making our very own erupting volcano.

 

To round off the week, we visited the school’s science fair, where we got to see what other classes have been investigating. It’s been an exciting week full of discovery, and we think we have lots of future scientists in the making!

Reception Visit The Tate

Classes 1 and 2 had a great time visiting the Tate in St Ives last week as part of our Super Sculptures project.

We have been learning about Barbara Hepworth and her sculptures in school with the children creating their own sculptures the week before. We enjoyed being shown around the gallery by Helen and finding all the different sculptures with our spy tubes!

The children also got the opportunity to take part in a workshop with artists Steph and Emily as part of our visit. We had lots of fun playing musical sculptures, moving our bodies into different poses each time the music stopped!

After practising making sculptures using our bodies, it was time to recreate them on paper. The children took turns to draw around each others’ shadows before then creating them out of plasticine and wire.

After enjoying a tasty packed lunch we finished off our visit with a trip to the beach and had lots more fun making sculptures out of the sand, before boarding the bus to come back to Penpol.

 

We had a great day on our visit to the Tate and would like to say a big thank you to Steph, Helen, Emily and Rachael!

 

 

Reception Visit Marazion

Classes 1 and 2 had a lovely time last week on our trips to  Marazion beach!

I love the beach! We made sandcastles and I wore my hat to keep my head protected – Zachary

Recently, we have been learning about plastic pollution and how we can help to keep our beaches and seas safe. During our time at Marazion, we searched the beach for pieces of plastic and rubbish that we could put in the bin. We worked as a team to find different items, including bottle tops, odd socks and a plastic bag!

We picked up the rubbish so people and seagulls don’t get it. If sea creatures eat it, they will be very poorly – Heidi

During our visit, we also had a play in the park after our time on the beach. We loved using the climbing frames and the swings, whilst playing with our friends.

I loved the park. I went on the slide. It was very bumpy. I went on the tyres and climbed up the ladder – Harry

As well as the beach clean, the children enjoyed creating sand sculptures of people using what they could find on the beach. We had lots of fun using the seaweed as hair and the shells as eyes, as you can see below! We also made lots of sandcastles, whilst burying each other’s legs and covering ourselves in the sand!

My person had big seaweed arms. I used stones for the eyes and nose and seaweed for her hair. My person is called Ella – Nyah

The children also enjoyed having a picnic together on the beach. We cooled off in the heat by having a  ice lolly which went down a treat!

My ice lolly was yummy! I ate it quickly so it didn’t melt! – Ivy

During the day, it was refreshing to cool off in the water and paddle our feet in the sea. We enjoyed splashing and jumping in the gentle waves.

 

After all of our excitement on the beach, we headed back to Penpol with shoes full of sand and lots of great memories made by all! We are even more excited to continue our ‘Under the Sea’ topic this term.

 

Out and About with Class 2

In Class 2, we’ve been enjoying some school trips recently.

Earlier in November, we visited Standing Stone stables where we learnt all about the horses and how to take care of them. We practised grooming the horses and even gave one a unicorn makeover!

I liked riding on the horses and I put glitter on them and brushed them – Ivy

 

We also enjoyed having a ride on a pony as well as taking it in turns to lead them around the arena.

 

Last week, we visited Tehidy Woods for a ‘welly walk’ as part of our 360 curriculum. We had great fun jumping in the muddy puddles, taking part in a scavenger hunt and even meeting the friendly squirrels!

I liked jumping in muddy puddles and playing with my friends – Sennen

 

We’ve loved our adventures and are looking forward to seeing where we go to next!

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Fun At The Beach with Class 2

Class 2 had lots of fun visiting Marazion last Thursday. The children were very excited for their first trip in the minibus and to visit the beach and marshes down at Marazion.

Upon arriving at Marazion, we enjoyed visiting the park before making our way down to the beach.

Once we reached the beach, we split ourselves into two groups ready for one group to play some beach games and another to visit Marazion Marshes.

We went across the bridge. I took binoculars and we went past flowers – Bobby

 

Children on the beach enjoyed creating a portrait of themselves using what they could find on the sand. There are some great creations as you can see below! The children also had lots of fun building sandcastles, digging holes and burying their legs in the sand!

I liked digging holes and I liked playing with the rocks and I really liked going in the sea! – Jude

We also enjoyed dipping our toes in the water!

It was cold! I splashed the water with my feet – Erin

 

Meanwhile the group visiting the Marshes enjoyed taking part in a scavenger hunt and using their senses to explore what they could find.  The children were set a special challenge by Mrs Allen to remember the name of the flower ‘Scarlet Pimpernel’ that we spotted on the marshes.

I liked looking through the binoculars. I saw some birds and some flowers – Vera

Once all children had visited the marshes and the beach, it was time for lunch and an ice lolly to cool down!

Then after a few more games, it was time to climb back on board the minibus for our journey back to Penpol with shoes full of sand and a great time had by all! We are looking forward to our next trip later on in the term!

 

Class 2 Visit the Yurt

On Wednesday, Class 2 enjoyed their first visit inside the new yurt on the school field.  The children enjoyed sharing stories with each other as well as listening to a story altogether and even found time for some cloud gazing!

Inside I liked it because it was big and I liked seeing the shapes on the wall. I liked seeing the clouds – they looked like a bunny, a unicorn and a heart! – Aggie

I liked lying and looking up and seeing the clouds. I read Hickory Dickory Dock – Elowen

We’re looking forward to our next visit to the yurt again next week!

 

Brilliant Balance Ability

Reception have been enjoying some great Balance Ability sessions since coming back after Easter.

I like letting go when we’ve held the bikes and then we go very fast down the hill – Jude

The children have enjoyed the challenges set for them to ride the bikes around the cones, practise gliding and have learnt about how to keep safe when on the bikes.

When you glide you have a big push off and then your bike moves – Niyah

I like gliding because the bike moves by itself – Suki

Reception have also enjoyed using the bikes in the afternoon and have been showing off what they have learnt.

I like the balance bikes because you can ride them in the afternoon. I like pedalling my bike at home – Seth

Well done Reception, we’re looking forward to seeing your bike skills grow over the next few weeks!

Class 2 STEM Week

 

Class 2 have done some great learning as part of STEM week and enjoyed becoming scientists, engineers and mathematicians for the week.

On Monday, after listening to the story of The Three Billy Goat’s Gruff, the children were set the challenge of building a bridge for the goats to cross, using only spaghetti, masking tape and teamwork! Once built, the class tested their bridges to see which was the strongest and came up with ideas to improve their bridges next time.

On Tuesday, we took part in an experiment using skittles and watched what would happen as water was added. After waiting a few seconds, the children loved seeing the patterns that emerged and looking at how different the other patterns around the class were.

On Wednesday came one of the children’s favourite activities of the week – making volcanoes! In small groups, the children were challenged to build a volcano using whatever they could find around the classroom, making sure they left a space for the volcano to erupt.  Once the volcanoes had been constructed, it was time for them to be filled with lava (a mixture of baking soda, vinegar and red food colouring) and to erupt!

The children put their maths and engineering skills to the test on Thursday by creating ramps for cars and measuring how far each car travelled. They predicted how far each car would travel and then tried raising and lowering the ramp to see if that would make a difference. After recording our results, we then talked about what might have affected how far the cars travel as a group.

Finally, on Friday we created some artwork using a swinging bottle/bucket and watched the different patterns it created when the children pushed harder or gentler on the bottle. We’re really pleased with how the artwork came out and hope to have it up on display in our outdoor area for you all to see soon!

Well done Class 2 on some great STEM learning, it was brilliant to see you enjoy becoming scientists/mathematicians/engineers and artists!