Mark Pollard

Aidan races ahead with car design!

17th November 2017 by Mark Pollard

After an inspiring trip to see the BloodHound SSC in Newquay, Aidan from Class 14 took it upon himself to design his own supercar! He made it out of K’Nex, which is a plastic material which can click together to make structures and models, so the possibilities for what you can build are endless. We think that he did a great job – well done Aidan!

The hardest part was to connect the back of the car to the front and joining the top half to the bottom half. It broke a few times but I am really happy with the end result. – Aidan

The fabled ’99 Club’ welcomes it’s first members.

15th November 2017 by Mark Pollard

The children in Year 6 have been working towards entering the prestigious ’99 club’ all year and, this week, 3 children managed to enter it.

To achieve this feat, the children must answer 99 questions, based on addition, subtraction, multiplication, adding or subtracting fractions and finding fractions or percentages of a number. All of that, and they only get 5 minutes to do it in (which equates to just 3 seconds per answer!).
However, this did not faze Ben, Ben T or Freya, as they answered all the questions correctly in the allotted time, with Freya, who was the first to finish, completing all of the questions in an incredible 3 minutes and 10 seconds (under 2 seconds per question!).

A huge congratulations to the 3 of them and hopefully they will be joined by other members soon.

I practiced a lot at home and I managed to beat my best time on the day! – Freya

Think you’ve got what it takes? Feel free to have a practice on the sheet below!

Faster than Usain?? – Year 6’s trip to see the REAL fastest man in the world.

23rd June 20183rd November 2017 by Mark Pollard

On Monday the 30th of October the whole of Year 6 travelled to Newquay Airport to meet Andy Green – the man who currently holds the world land-speed record, having travelled at 656mph in 1997.

He is now part of a team that is attempting to travel at an incredible 1000mph in the BloodHound SSC (SuperSonic Car) and we were lucky enough to see the car being put through its paces. Despite a blip (it was expected to reach 200mph in a matter of seconds, but had a fault) it was still great to see it. Alongside this, there was an educational tutorial discussing the science behind the car, which included the recreation of a sonic boom which you could certainly feel from where we were sat.

During the educational event there were lots of experiments and activities to work through, with a real focus and push on engineering. A great day!

I thought it was a really fun day, but I wish that the car had travelled faster! Doing all of the activities in the hangar was brilliant though. – Alex.

BloodHound didn’t travel as quickly as it could, but it was evident that it had the potential. I really enjoyed the whole day and I think I enjoyed working on a stop-gap animation the most. – Taran

Andy Green – The BloodHound SSC driver before the test-run.

What’s been going on this year in Year 6?

27th September 2017 by Mark Pollard

This week the Year 6 children have begun listening to the story of ‘Clockwork’ for their Literacy topic, a creepy tale set 100 years ago in a town in Germany. They have also continued focusing on reproducing artworks inspired by Paul Bursnall in Art and begun investigating just how a go-kart works and how it is made. In Maths, the children have been working on rounding numbers as well as recapping using the 4 main written operations (multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting).

Mr Pollard and Mr Wise were also the proud recipients of a class mascot each, courtesy of the work undertaken in the Junior MacSuite with Mr Woolcock. They will take pride of place on their respective teacher’s tables, one by Aidan for Class 14 and Trystan for Class 13.

It’s great to see it in the classroom. – Trystan – Class 13

I made a cat for Mr Wise as apparently he likes them and I thought it’d look nice on his desk – Aidan – Class 12

Year 6 – Welcome!

29th June 201813th September 2017 by Mark Pollard

Back we are with a new academic year here at Penpol. The new school pupils are busy settling in and the Year 6 children have begun well, realising that they are now the role models for the younger children to look up to. The Year 6 teaching staff, comprising of Mr Wise, Mr Pollard, Mrs Turner, Mrs Keeler and Caroline, are all raring to go also.
This year we have much planned: school camp, the end of year school production and the children sitting their SATS being some of the highlights.
We will begin looking at the story of ‘Clockwork’ in Year 6, a book written by Philip Pullman. We will focus on creative writing and ideas around this story, whilst all listening and reading it together.
In Geography we will be putting map-reading skills to the test and in Science and DT we will be looking at forces in action as we build our own Go Karts!

We are also fortunate to have Computing, Music and Modern Foreign Languages taught by three other teaching experts: Mr Woolcock, Mr Jones and Mr Emery.

It’s sure to be another exciting year that flies by and we are looking forward to it!

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!

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 School Spelling Bee 2016

29th June 20184th November 2016 by Mark Pollard

Spelling Bee Champion 2016 — Josie from Class 12

On Wednesday 2nd of November the culmination of the Penpol School Spelling Bee took place, with 16 supreme spellers from across Year 5 and 6 making up the competitors after defeating the rest of their class in a sub-competition in their respective classrooms.

After a lengthy battle covering over 600 spellings, which included such tricky words as fluorescent, questionnaire and embarrassment, Josie, from class 12 was the outright winner, narrowly defeating William (also from class 12).

The children in Year 5, though at a disadvantage this year, being a year younger, will be given the same list of words next year and we look forward to another highly-entertaining and closely-fought spelling battle.

Penpol Pumpkins awarded Best Innovation Project in Great Britain!

“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.”