Nic Stanlake

On Wednesday, the Year 6 children boarded the bus and headed off to Flambards with sick bowls in hand! With the drizzle falling in Hayle, we were fortunately greeted with cloud-breaking sunshine on our arrival in Helston. There is a slight lack of photos from today due to 3 different reasons. One, a misbehaving camera. Two, the difficulty of capturing faces as they whizzed around, back to front and upside down and finally, I spent most of the day on the rides with the children!!

Some children decided to ease themselves in gently with the tea cups and some decided to avoid the queues they expected later in the day and head for the crown pleasers; The Thunderbolt, The Hornet, The Skyraker and Skyforce!

Some action shots!

Some children found the day/ combination of rides and sugar too much to cope with! However, another great day was had by all children (including the big ones!)

Tuesday brought about a trip to Tehidy woods, again an excellent day right on our doorstep!

We set off in the hunt for the illustrious lesser-spotted Tehidy Treacle Bear, but had to bid our time with a morning of activities: den building, raft making and a blind trail.

On the children’s arrival, we were fortunate to find an already constructed blind trail (thanks Mr Peck!) Navigating this took excellent team work and careful communication and on reflection, I know who I’d not want to be leading me through the woods with a blindfold on! The children had to work in pairs to guide each other around a roped route…with varying success!

Next on the list, deep in Treacle Bear territory, was den building. Most woodlands are a brilliant places to build dens but Tehidy may be the best around! We, as adults, had the opportunity to sit in on in-depth planning meetings where floor plans and designs were discussed before witnessing the children building some breathtaking structures (none of which resembled the plans!)

After no successful sightings of the bears we headed down to the stream to craft some prototype rafts, less planning this time round, just more elastic bands! Races were had, races were lost and races were won and then there were the racers who cheated and gave it an extra throw down stream. Competition aside the children had great fun splashing in the stream! I wasn’t the only one to get wet feet!

With everything prepared for our final venture into the depths of the woods, Mr Peck made the children aware of the various animal actions (just incase we spotted anything) and we donned our camouflage war paint (some needing encouragement) and set off on a wet and wild adventure!

Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our quest to spot the wildlife we were hoping for, we had plenty of false alarms as well as a host of French squirrels and insects in the river, legs flailing helplessly! However, a lot of fun was had and we headed home tired, wet and smelly (and I mean SMELLY)

Year 6 kicked off their activity week in style as they spent the day exploring Paradise Park. There was much to do, see and find including the breathtaking bird displays, dinosaur trail as well as an opportunity to create some enrichment treats and toys for the birds to enjoy!

The day kicked off early with EXCLUSIVE use of the Jungle Barn where many fears were conquered and slides were slid down by the children… and adults! Keep up!

Once we’d sweated out the morning blues we headed outside to talk about some of the birds and how we could provide them with their daily entertainment! Oskar demonstrated his ability to talk to animals as he held and fed one of the exotic birds; the lads also got to experience one of the bird’s party tricks albeit not as pleasant!

We then had an opportunity to explore the park. So much to find and see as well as the obligatory ice-cream and train ride! All aboard!

A wonderful day to start our activity week and great to be supporting a (very) local business who do such a brilliant job for endangered birds around the world! Thank you Mr Reynolds and team!

On Friday 14th February, Penpol School raised nearly £300 for The Cornish Air Ambulance though selling cakes and wearing something red. The Air Ambulance is a wonderful charity that provides life saving support all across the county.

More information on the Air Ambulance can be found here.

The long awaited announcement of this year’s first crop of ‘Super Six’ pupils took place this week with the awarding of 5 ties and certificates. Becoming a ‘Super Six’ is not simply about academic success but more so recognising excellent role models that demonstrate the shared values and ethos of the school.

The first five pupils have been presented with a certificate signed by all members of teaching staff as well as the Year 6 team. This means that the children’s awarding of the certificate must be agreed by all, a wonderful achievement and one to be very proud of. The children have also signed a contract to show that they now fully understand the responsibilities for their new role.

These particular children share a tremendous work ethic and constant drive to succeed and improve. Through both homework and classwork they have shown immense effort and diligence and we are wholly confident they will continue to set an excellent example for children at Penpol School as they wear their new ties with pride.

We look forward to seeing these children continue to develop and flourish at Penpol as well as looking forward to the opportunity to present more awards to deserving children. For any Years 6 wishing to find out what they need to do, they need look no further than the attached contract.