Mr Emery

Year 4 Stem Week

24th March 2021 by Mr Emery

This week marked STEM week at Penpol School, a week which celebrates science, technology, engineering and maths

So far, Year 4 have relished the opportunity of being off-timetable and have already taken part in plenty of exciting investigations to whet their appetites.

On Monday, both classes had free reign of Penpol’s grounds and used measurement, distance and circumference to calculate both the age and height of the trees, as well as gaining a better understanding of the beautiful and well-established trees on our grounds. From using the Pic Collage app on the iPads, the groups of students were not only able to record their investigation throughout the day but also use photos to help them create a presentation of their findings and present this to their peers at the end of the day.

On Tuesday, students pulled up their sleeves and happily took to getting their hands dirty and started the morning growing vegetables in mini pots. The next few weeks will encourage them to nurture and care for their seedlings in anticipation of watching them grow. All students were already very excited about planning a nutritious salad bowl upon harvesting their radishes, green salad leaves and beetroots in the next couple of months!

Following a morning of growing, Year 4 then looked at seed dispersal. Following a class discussion on the importance of seed dispersal, we then set out to investigate the question, “How does the flight of a helicopter seed change when a chosen variable, wind strength, is modified?”

Through making their own helicopter seed from a template, each group then tracked 10 flights of their helicopter outside the classroom by measuring the distance travelled. They then compared this to the 10 flights in an environment with no wind (the classroom) and compared the difference between both findings.

Thursday and Friday look set to offer even more excitement, with students being tasked the challenge of building a musical instrument from recyclable materials from home. In addition, they have also been asked to design an innovative spy design which best listens to a secret message. The group which can decipher the message correctly from the greatest distance, wins!

I’m really enjoying Stem week! It’s so fun! Harvey, Class 9

Making helicopters and flying them has been really cool. I like working with my friends too! Josh, Class 10

Year 4’s Remarkable Remote Learning!

5th February 2021 by Mr Emery

These past few weeks, Year 4 have taking amazingly well to the activities set for remote learning. Their perseverance and creativity has been awe-inspiring and it’s been wonderful to see the exceptional work being shared on Showbie.

Having completed the book ‘Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes, this week, we have been focussing on the RSPB’s ‘The Big Birdwatch.’ From creating alluring bird feeders full to the brim of nutritional food to entice birds into their gardens, to keeping a tally of all of the birds that pay a visit to their gardens and then drawing their favourite birds. The children have blown us away with their ingenuity and clear fascination for the wild outdoors. This has been shared by the children through their photos, sketches, collages and models of their favourite birds (as shown below).

In addition, Year 4 have complete a weekly summary quiz of the topics they are studying and this has proven a clear favourite time of the week on Google Meet. Students definitely proved this week that they were up to speed with their Cornish wildlife!

It’s been a great few weeks of learning and it’s clear Year 4 have really enjoyed the taking part in the ‘Big Birdwatch’ – well done Year 4!

Year 4 Go on the Rampage!!

21st October 202021st October 2020 by Mr Emery

Today, Year 4 celebrated the rise of the Roman Empire in true fashion. Armed with shields, swords and Roman legion attire, the excitement from the students entering school was palpable.

To begin with, the Year group were greeted with Roman army commands: Consiste! (Halt!), Laxate (at ease), silentiurm! (Silence!) and Sin/ Dex (Left/ Right!), which would come in hand later on in the day.

Next, both classes were thrown into the melee and had to use their best codebreaking skills in order to crack a hidden message written by the emperor himself, Julius Caesar. The hidden message revealed one of Caesar’s greates quotes to date:

“It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.” Julius Caesar

After exploring this quote and thinking deeper into what Caesar’s quote means, creating is exactly what the students did next. After having designed mosaics the day before, the students were tasked with creating a Roman mosaic. This proved lots of fun and the results are already looking promising.

The grand finale, however, had to be experiencing what it was like to march like a Roman. Led by Mr Wise’s booming commands, Classes’ 9 and 10 both marched up and down the hall, to embed their understanding of Roman commands. Next, the students practised forming the defence shape, which is the ‘testudo’, or the tortoise. This proved an effective barrier against incoming missiles aimed by the teachers, as you can witness in the video below.

All in all, the children had an excellent morning immersing themselves in the Roman life and learning first hand how the Roman army worked.

Year 4 embrace the return back to school!

25th September 202024th September 2020 by Mr Emery

Today, Class 9 took their Maths lesson outside and, it has to be said, they have embraced the outdoors despite the change of weather!

The lesson today was a recap of what they have been learning about this term – Place value. The students showed great teamwork and were able to confidently partition 4 digit numbers, as well as round their chosen number to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000.

In addition, our Topic this term is ‘Romans on the Rampage.’ The class have been busy learning about who exactly the Romans were and what they have done for us. For DT, each of the students were tasked with creating a Roman helmet using paper mache, balloons, cardboard and, of course, the red and gold paint! This was a great success, with all students now learning Latin salutes in anticipation of a Roman Legion army drill in the coming weeks. ‘Dextrum sinistrum!

Finally, the good weather so far was not wasted, with many of our Guided Reading sessions taking place outside in the Gazebo and our first session of Tag Rugby taking place in glorious sunshine.

Enjoy the pictures below!

Team Y4

A message from our Friends in France

14th April 202014th April 2020 by Mr Emery

Here at Penpol, we have a rich community which stretches far and wide, beyond the school gates. For three years, we have been in contact with Madame Jourdain’s Year 5 classes, at Le Bourg primary school in SW France. We have been exchanging letters, information about our lovely school and area, sending over games and passing on cultural differences between the two countries.

One aspect which is very similar between the two countries right now is that French children are now, like us, working from home for the time being, rather than at school.

Maintaining connections during this rather strange time is a powerful thing – be it with family, friends, teachers, as well as our friends over the pond at Ecole Primaire le Bourg- and it gives us all a sense that we are in this together.

The children from Le Bourg primary school have sent messages, some in French and some in English, detailing what they are getting up to during this period outside of the classroom. I am also very excited to send some of our own messages in French/ English to let them know what we are doing during this time. Please feel free to send them in to your teachers if you have anything you would like to share in French…the more, the merrier! Also, if you feel like you need a refresher on some of the topics your teachers have been doing with you, with the help of Mr Woolcock I have uploaded a French and Spanish section with plenty of games and activities to try out and boost your confidence. You can find the French and Spanish section on the home learning section of the school website.

For now, check out the lovely message sent from their teacher, Madame Jourdain, as well as the letters from the Year 5 children below and see how you get on with some of the translations…

Mardi 7 avril, Tuesday 7th April

Chers correspondants, Dear friends letters, coorespondents

Nous aussi, nous sommes confinés et travaillons à la maison.

We are confined and we work at home.

Voici quelques activités que nous pratiquons en dehors du travail scolaire.

Here are some activities we do outside of school work.

A très bientôt. See you soon.

Les élèves de CM1/CM2 Mme Jourdain

Year 5’s friendship with French school grows

10th February 202010th February 2020 by Mr Emery

Each half-term, students from Classes 11 and 12 have written a letter or email to a penpal in France. The aim of the French penpal exchange, which has been running successfully for over two years, was for our students at Penpol to better understand the similarities, as well as differences, between school life in France and at Penpol. This opportunity also offers a platform for our students to use their French for a real purpose, being able to ask their French counterparts any questions they may have about life in France.

As Year 5 have recently been studying reflexive verbs to say what they do on a daily basis, the first series of questions sent to France were based on what time their French penpal got up, started school, finished school and how much homework they received. The responses from the French students provided plenty of discussion. Did you know that French students start school at 8.30am and don’t finish school until 4.30pm? However, though the school day is longer on most days, children in France only have a half day on Wednesday, followed by the afternoon off school to take part in extra-curricular activities.

As well as sending emails, which is first drafted in their books, then sent on to France, the children have also received and sent festive cards.

It’s great writing to someone from another country. It’s a fun way to practise French! Isabella, Class 11

Next up, Year 5 will be creating a guess who game centred on the topic of hobbies. Watch this space for more news about Penpol’s thriving Cornish- French email exchange!

¿Hablas Español?

7th November 20196th November 2019 by Mr Emery

The answer to that question before half term for almost all members of staff at Penpol, including languages co-ordinator Mr Emery, was a resounding ‘no!’ or perhaps a meek ‘un poco’. However, if you were to now ask that question to most of the KS2 staff and teaching assistants at Penpol, you would be met with the confident reply ‘si! Me gusta hablar en español!’

Over the half term break, 8 members of staff from Penpol took part in an 8 day immersion course in Santander, Northern Spain. The trip was only possible after Penpol School was successful in gaining funding from Erasmus+, which is the European Union programme for education, in July. Penpol are now on a two year journey to further enhance the language teaching at Penpol by allowing staff to develop their professional practice, build relationships with international peers and gain fresh ideas from language learning experiences in Spain and France.

The shoes were on the other feet for the teachers of Penpol, with intense but immensely enjoyable 3 hour daily Spanish lessons with experienced and fully qualified Spanish teachers.

It was a really invigorating feeling being a student again in a classroom. Mr Pollard, Class 11 Teacher.

From learning the basic phrases such as ‘¿Como te llamas?’ on day 1, staff completed the week learning the verb conjugations for regular and irregular verbs, as well as regularly conversing in practice role plays in class. The lessons were hugely rewarding and by the end of the week, all staff had grown in confidence ordering in restaurants and even conversing in Spanish with locals.

Aside from the daily lessons, the days were also packed with challenges which were not too dissimilar from BBC one’s show ‘The Apprentice’. On the first day, staff had to explore the city by foot and find out important facts, cultural information and even learn a joke from a local. There was also a night of learning how to dance, Flamenco- style, to the delight of Mr Peck! There was also plenty of time to enjoy the delights of Santander, such as the Palacio de la Magdelena, the stunning local beaches and experience the plethora of Pintxos (tapas-style dishes) on offer across the city’s many restaurants and bars.

The week was testament to Penpol’s enthusiasm for languages and, after an action-packed week, each member of staff not only graduated with flying colours but also came away with a lots of ideas to bring back into the classroom, as well as the confidence to teach Spanish in a fun and engaging way.

Gracias y hasta luego!

Organic and Mixed Media Art Experience for Year 5!

12th September 2019 by Mr Emery

Year 5 were treated to a week of organic art and mixed media Art with Tracey, an artist from St Ives.

With the amazon being a pivotal part of the Earth’s ecosystem, Year 5 are currently following artist John Dyer as he broadcasts live his travels across the Amazon. His project, ‘Last chance to Paint’ , aims to connect students to the environment and create a global art gallery which highlights what we stand to lose.

In this art session, the students used blackberries, which had been freshly picked by Mr Pollard and Mr Wise, to mimic the Yawanawa tribe’s version of organic art. Using modelling tools, the students created sketches of wildlife in nature, with the results surprisingly pleasant to the eye.

The variety between each piece of work was quite staggering, considering the only ingredients used were blackberries. Mr Wise, Class 12 teacher

Later on in the week, Year 5 were once again treated to another Art session, this time from local artist Tracey from St Ives. Tracey brought in a lot of different materials for the children to use in order to create mixed media art. Using a variety of materials, such as masking tape, coloured paper and doilies, the children were instructed to build up a surface formed from different layers.

I really liked using different colour paper to layer my work and make different objects stand out. Oliver, Class 11

Through lots of experimentation and creativity, both classes then drew different nautical scenes from the surrounding area, with St Ives harbour being a common landscape for the children to draw.
The students used different grading of pencil to add different tones to their work, as well as graphite, pens, pastels and finally paint.

My favourite part was mixing the paints to create the colour I wanted for my drawing! Lydia, Class 12

The final results speak for themselves! The children took great pleasure showing off their art work and it was interesting to see the degree of variety between every piece of art work.
A fantastic effort, check out the results in the gallery below!

Year 5 Mission to Space

24th January 201916th January 2019 by Mr Emery

Aliens…do they actually exist? This is a question which has been at the forefront of space exploration since the first human was launched into Space in 1961. This question is precisely what Year 5 are in the midst of learning about, having started reading ‘The Jamie Drake Equation’, by Christopher Edge, this new term.

Year 5 have explored in Science the ideal conditions for Extra-Terrestrial life forms to exist in our universe, referred to in the book as the ‘Goldilocks Zone’.

The Goldilocks Zone is neither too hot nor too cold.

Once accepting the fact that our universe is incredibly vast, all students were in agreement that in some corner of our universe, life must exist. With this in mind, both classes in Year 5 immediately began designing their own aliens in their French lesson, labelling and talking about them in French. Each one of their creations have been unique in their own way, with exceptional use of French vocabulary which would be impressive even for a GCSE French student.

In Science and Literacy, we have also looked at different attributes which are essential in order to be an astronaut. Year 5 students have completed their own mini astronaut application and were interviewed by their peers on why they would be the ideal candidate to send into Space on a mission to discover alien life form.

This week, Year 5 students will be finalising their applications and delivering a persuasive group presentation on why their group would be the ideal team to be sent into Space. Year 5 students will also be interviewing a NASA employee via Skype over the next couple of weeks in order to find out more about what it would be like to work at America’s Space Agency.

Look out for presentation videos to follow over the next few days!

Penpol Language Stars of the Week- 6 + 13 juillet

17th July 201817th July 2018 by Mr Emery

6 July

Melissa (Class 11), is a very motivated student in French. This week, her excellent knowledge of the topic weather saw her as the overall Language Star of the Week out of the Juniors. Her enthusiasm in class is just one of the reasons why the accolade was hers this week. In addition, the learning in her book, as well as her presentation, has been excellent. A fantastic effort, Melissa, well done!

Erin (Class 2) has been outstanding in French this term. She demonstrated an excellent understanding of food, sports and the gruffalo story. She also volunteered to run the French café in her class and was able to serve her classmates French food, asking what they would like in French. Well done, Erin!

13th July

Penpol Junior French Star of the Week- Amber (Class 10)

Amber is a very motivated student who tries her hardest in all aspects of French. Amber’s spoken and written work has come on very well since the beginning of the year. She delivered an excellent weather forecast in front of her group. She was confident and had fantastic pronunication. Well done, Amber!

Penpol Infant French Star of the Week- Piran (Class 3)

Piran is a very enthusiastic student. His knowledge of vocabulary in French is superb. He tries hard in every activity we do in French and his work is always neat and detailed. Keep up the great work, Piran!

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