Nic Stanlake

Medals for Penpol Sporting Stars!

15th June 201825th April 2018 by Nic Stanlake

This week we’ve had some excellent news from Kian, Sabina and Amelie who have all competed and won medals in their respective sports. Kian is a superstar swimmer whilst Sabine and Amelie are excellent gymnasts. Here they are talking about their wins in their own words…

“I went up to Plymouth for a swimming gala and it was for all of Devon and Cornwall swimming clubs. I swam 100m backstroke and out of 57 people I came 5th! I was amazed because it was my last race of the day and I didn’t think I’d be able to get the medal!” – Kian – Year 5

“I had medals because I’ve done so well in gymnastics. The gold medal was for Vault, which I came first in and the silver was for my Bench Routine. My bronze medal was because I came third out of everyone there!” – Sabina, Year 1

“At Penzance gymnastics club I got my gold medal for my Bench Routine and my silver was because I came second overall! There were about fifty people all together and it felt very surprising but also really nice coming second.” – Amelie, Year 1

Penpol Do Cornwall Proud At South West Finals

25th April 2018 by Nic Stanlake

The extraordinary season for the Penpol School football team continued this weekend as they represented the county at the ESFA Danone South West Primary Schools Finals.

Captain Dylan with the pendant presented to him for winning the County Championship.

Representing Cornwall, they played against fellow county champions from Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Dorset. The standard of football was very very high and the team performed very well.

The results didn’t mirror the determination and effort put in from the boys as they lost their first two games 1-0. Heroic efforts from Caden in goal ensured that the score line stayed at 1-0.

The team began to grow in confidence and started to enjoy the day a little more, the second two games ended with Penpol on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline; with Charlie scoring both goals.

I for one am intensely proud of the team, their team spirit and effort cannot be questioned. They need to remember that they are still champions of Cornwall, a massive feat in itself- Mr Stanlake

Although the boys were initially disappointed however the realisation that they were representing every child who has played school football in Cornwall they left with their tired heads held very high indeed. A massive thank you to all of those who made the trip to offer support and join the 25 strong band of supporters.

Spelling Bee 2018

27th March 2018 by Nic Stanlake

Tuesday brought around the much anticipated Year 5 & 6 Spelling Bee final. Our upper KS2 children have been meticulously going over their spelling words for the last couple of weeks before taking part in a class-based sub competition. It has proved a huge success as it has in previous years. Each class provided 4 finalists, between them spelling over 200 words to book their place in the final.

The final brings around a different challenge with the children standing and delivering many correct spellings including treachery, pronunciation, catastrophe, alleviating and extraordinarily.

Finalists

Class 11- Zara, Emma, Lily and Issy.

Class 12- Piran, Ella, Gabby and Freya

Class 13- Lola, Jake, Ben and Taran

Class 14- Jack, Luca, Finley and Jude

It was a very close competition with the difficulty of words making even the teachers sweat. But the eventual winner came from Class 13 after a very closely fought battle with Jack, Class 14. Well done Lola, this years Spelling Bee Champion.

Year 5 Girls Swim Team Heading To School Games

27th March 2018 by Nic Stanlake

After a super successful swimming gala Zara, Emma, Miranda and Freya have qualified for the Cornwall School Games in June, our first competitors for more than 3 years!

They tasted both individual and team success at the gala where they won 2 individual silvers and 1 bronze and also a silver in the team relay.

Well done girls, were all super proud! Good Luck!

Huge Medal Haul For Our Super Swimmers

26th March 2018 by Nic Stanlake

Over the last couple of weeks our swim teams have been competing in the Penwith Swimming Gala’s at both Year 3 & 4 and Year 5 & 6. As always, it was a pleasure to travel with these children to represent the school alongside 18 others from the area. All children took part in their individual events including, front crawl, back stroke, breaststroke and butterfly (Yr 5 & 6), as well as the relay events. Many of our children placed 1st or 2nd in their heat and qualified for the finals.

Penpol School were very well represented in the finals, present in 23 of the 36 finals collecting many medals in the process.

Year 3 & 4 results

Both Joe and Ronnie picked up Bronze medals for the boys in the front and backstroke with Amber collecting Bronze in the Yr4 girls front crawl.

Out of the 18 teams present our Year 3 girls and Year 4 boys both finished 3rd in the team competition.

Year 5 & 6 results

I returned from the year 5 & 6 gala with a pockets bursting with Penpol winning 14 medals.

Miranda and Zara both won silver medals for their front crawl and backstroke whilst Freya won bronze in the breaststroke. Emma was not to be left out either following up her 4th place in the butterfly with her part in a silver medal relay performance bringing the year 5 girls total to 7.

The year 6’s collected 3 individual bronze’s through Jude, Finn and Eva before the Year 6 boys collected a bronze medal each for the relay.

Overall our Year 6 boys came third for their age group and the Year 5 girls came second and qualifying for the Cornwall School Games in June.

The results of the combined competition proved how success the gala had been for Penpol School as we came in 3rd behind the very competitive teams from St Ives and St Uny. However, 3rd placed out of 18 teams is an outstanding achievement.

Well done everyone, and good luck to the Year 5 Girls team at the school games!

School Council Newsletter Spring Term 1

14th May 201816th March 2018 by Nic Stanlake

Penpol Become ‘Supermovers’

8th February 2018 by Nic Stanlake

The BBC have recently launched a new scheme called ‘Supermovers’ which aims to increase the physical activity levels of children in schools with the help of children TV stars and Premier League football mascots. This is done through a series of videos based heavily around areas of the curriculum and involve singing and dancing.

For example there are videos that support the teaching and learning of; times tables, word classes, measures, shape, fractions, punctuation marks and much much more. As a school we have been trialling the videos through KS1 and KS2 with great success. Not only have the videos proved to be a very good teaching resource but also allow the children to be active in the classroom.

Physical activity helps with academic achievement, behaviour, concentration and self-esteem. Research has proven that just five minutes of moderate exercise can significantly improve engagement in lessons – BBC Supermovers

Below are some of our Year 4 children taking part and enjoying learning about verbs and adverbs.

It helps us learn – Amber

It helps me improve my movements and its really fun! – Lewis

In Year 5, Class 11 have been perfecting their 6 times tables with the help of Manchester United’s very own Fred The Red.

I love doing these videos as they are really fun and have helped me with my 6 times table – Connah

Its great, they help with times tables but also with getting us moving in the classroom! – Melissa

The catchiness and simplicity of the songs allow the children to be fully engaged in their learning whilst developing not only their times table knowledge but also their physical literacy. But most importantly they are actively learning with a smile on their faces – Mr Stanlake

CLICK HERE to have a go at all of the amazing videos with your children at home.

After a very successful introduction we hope to continue using the ‘Supermover’ videos alongside our daily wake and shake and in class use of ‘Just Dance’ to engage the children physically as well as mentally to both improve their wellbeing and academic achievements.

Space Day For Our Budding Year 5 Scientists

24th May 201820th December 2017 by Nic Stanlake

This week the children (and teachers) in Year 5 have celebrated their learning within science this term by taking part in a Science themed Space day. The day was split into three activities including rocket building, space themed art and movie making.

Working in pairs, the children created an iMovie film sharing what they had learnt over the term. This involved collating facts, pictures and pieces of work before organising them into a short two minute film. The movies included their own music, headings and direction.

I loved using the iPads to make movies, I’m definitely downloading the app on my iPad at home! – Emi – Class 12

Whilst some of the children were busy planing and directing their own short movie, the rest were designing and building working rockets, which are set to be launched next week. Using lots of recycled bottles, tubes and pieces of cardboard, the children ‘junk modelled’ rockets which will be powered by water and air pressure.

I tried to make my rocket as streamlined as possible so it had the least amount of air resistance possible, and it worked! – Sam – Class 11

What was particularly pleasing was the effort children put into making their rockets aerodynamic to limit the amount of air resistance, something they had learnt about in their previous science topic on forces.

Due to poor weather, the launching of the children rockets has been postponed until next week where hopefully the conditions will be more favourable.

The third task for our Space Day required the children to ‘Space themselves up’ by adding their photos to a space scene; either in the form of an astronaut on a space walk, or steering a rocket to space. Some examples can be seen in the below.

We rounded off the day with a ‘space walk’ of their very own, down the catwalk as we held Penpol’s first space themed fashion show for the children (and adults) to show off their costumes.

Advent Boxes for Hayle Food Bank

19th December 2017 by Nic Stanlake

Over the last month each class has been preparing an advent box for Christmas. However, these advent boxes are difference compared to those most children have at home because instead of taking a chocolate or treat out like traditional advent calendar, the children have been bringing food into class to add into their class advent boxes.

Across our fourteen classes, children have been generously bringing in lots of different foods to donate to those in need of a helping hand at this busy time of the year.

The boxes have since been collected by the Hayle Food Bank and are ready for redistribution to those who are supported by the great work done by one of our most local charities.

On behalf of the Hayle Food Bank and those who will receive these wonderful donations, we would like to thank parents and families for their very generous and kind support.

Poppy’s Christmas card sent to No.10

18th December 2017 by Nic Stanlake

In November, Poppy H in Year 5, entered the George Eustice MP Christmas Card competition. Many children from schools take part and the winning design becomes George Eustice MP’s Christmas card that he sends to his colleagues, including the Prime Minister Theresa May.

Poppy’s design, although not the winner, was runner up and her Christmas card features on the back of the card sent out. Mr Penhaligon, on behalf of George Eustice MP, came to school to congratulate Poppy and give her a copy of the card, a personal letter and a special present.

Congratulations Poppy! Your design will be sat over the roaring fire on the mantelpiece at No.10 Downing Street.

Merry Christmas!

London’s Calling 2023

“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.”