Jacob Woolcock

A lovely morning for some Bingo!

3rd November 201924th September 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

Welcome back to the new term at Penpol School!

As a fun starter for this year, Mr Woolcock and his classes played a game of ‘Summer Holiday Bingo’ using the new Outdoor Classroom area and our iPads.

This game proved quite the hit with the pupils, who spent a good half an hour trying to fill their game cards before everyone else could.

The game itself was very simple – each child had to take a selfie with another child who had taken part in a particular activity over the summer holidays. For example, “rode a bike’, ‘went on an aeroplane’ or ‘watched an amazing film’.

The only catch was that they couldn’t get a photograph with the same child twice! This didn’t seem like a big deal at first, but soon proved quite tricky…

It quickly became apparent that some of the bingo squares were harder to find that others and that only a couple of children had completed some of the activities. This led to some rather hasty rearranging of selfies to ensure every box was filled.

This activity was a great chance to get outdoors with the iPads, but also to get to know our new classes and catch up with old friends.

Music in the Marquee 2019 – The Movie!

11th February 202018th August 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

This year we had our fifth Music in the Marquee concert here at Penpol School, this year featuring the amazing Leanne Kyte as The Ariana Grande Experience. As is fast becoming a tradition, we’ve made a very special short film of the evening to bring back all of those amazing memories!

As always, these events are held to help raise money for the Penpol Friends Association (PFA) and this year I’m thrilled to say that we’ve raised nearly four and a half thousand pounds – all of which will go to supporting Penpol School in the years to come.

Thank you all so much for supporting our school through events like these.

Year 5 have been learning about the Ancient Greeks

20th June 201920th June 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

This term both Year 5 classes have been learning about the Ancient Greeks. As part of this learning they have built their very own Greek Temples using Keynote on computer and have created these gorgeous animations for you to enjoy.

Each child took a different Greek figure and designed a temple just for them. They then did some research online to create a short fact card for each person.

So sit back, relax and enjoy learning about famous Greek figures whilst marvelling at some stunning animations. Well done Year 5.

00:00

Teamwork and Cooperation help Class 8 race to success with LEGO Race Cars

10th June 201910th June 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

Year 3s have started using LEGO WeDo 2.0 robotics sets for the first time this week! After much excitement and anticipation, Class 8 have been building race cars for their first project. From building with LEGO bricks to writing the code on screen, the children have demonstrated fantastic teamwork and perseverance to overcome obstacles, locate missing pieces and connect the robots to their iMacs.

The key to success here was good teamwork and cooperation, something which Class 8 realised from the start. Working in pairs they set about co-ordinating their approach so one had the instructions on screen whilst the other built the model, often switching roles as the process went on.

In forty minutes we all had race cars built, but then it was time for the biggest challenge of all – getting the cars connected to the computers and moving by themselves!

Of course we had to have a race to finish the lesson, check out the breathtakingly fast action on the video below…

Class 8 have made an Elephant inspired by Art from India

14th May 201914th May 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

Class 8 have been learning about India for the last couple of weeks, including looking at some of the beautiful vibrant artwork that has been inspired by Indian culture over the years.

Having considered lots of examples and discussed the colours and shapes that make them stand out, we set to work designing our own colour scheme and patterns in Keynote.

Everyone created their own motif based on this theme and then we put them all together in one document to create that beautiful elephant you can see above. Finally we used some of the animation tools in Keynote to make each design rotate slowly, creating the mesmerising colourful effect for our whole-class artwork.

Well done Class 8, it looks great!

Year 6s bring their classrooms to life using Stop Motion

16th May 201910th May 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

This week the Year 6’s have been exploring film making by looking at Stop Motion Animation. Using the iPads and a huge amount of their own imagination, they have come up with some incredible short films which they have filmed and directed themselves.

This is a showreel of the films made by Class 13:

00:00

And here are the short films made by Class 14:

00:00

Penpol Pupils extend Be Internet Legends with their own ideas

11th February 202022nd April 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

This half term we’ve been revisiting our learning on E-Safety and reminding ourselves how to stay safe online using the five sections of the Google Be Internet Legends scheme. We’ve dived into each of these five areas, had some fascinating and honest conversations and we’ve managed to ensure we all know how to stay safe when using the internet.

But towards the end of the sessions lots of children started asking about other elements of Online Safety – areas which perhaps weren’t covered in the Google program. This got us thinking…

“What would we add to Be Internet Legends if we were Google?”

We explored this question and quickly realised that we could enhance the Be Internet Legends program by adding even more valuable and important information of our own. Each child made a plan of what they’d like to include along with an idea for the Inter-Naughty (baddie!) who would play against the character of Legend in the game.

Using Keynote and the shapes tool, the pupils then created their own Inter-Naughty characters using triangles and clever colour shading to try to mimic the unique style of the other characters.

With an idea and a fabulous character in hand, the children then set about using a Keynote template to create their own poster, designed to fit into the current set of five made by Google. They considered colours, key words, messages and style and ended up creating these absolutely stunning posters which wouldn’t look out of place next to the real things.

It’s been a really enjoyable project learning about being safe online this half term, made even more so by the children taking their imagination and creativity to new heights by making their own posters and lessons for others. Many even designed the level of the Interland game along with sketches of the island itself.

It’s been great to see so many brilliant ideas and terrifying Inter-Naughty characters and these new posters will remain on display in the Mac Suite for the whole school to see.

Penpol Pupil auditions for the Royal Shakespeare Company

11th February 20209th April 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

A couple of weeks ago one of our Year 6’s went up to London to audition for the lead role of ‘Dennis’ in the new stage adaptation of ‘The Boy in the Dress’. The auditions were with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, held at Toynbee Studios.

After a tense fifteen minute wait to be called in, Ethan performed his audition piece and he felt it went really well.

“When I sang ‘We Are The Champions’ and everyone clapped for me I felt really proud of myself because I’d practiced for so long on it and before going in I had so many nerves, so it really bought my mood up when I got to sing.”

Ethan thinks that about 8 other people were at the audition, but excitingly he was chosen for a call back!

We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for you Ethan.

Announcing Music in the Marquee 2019

11th February 202019th March 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

The last four years have seen sell out performances at our annual Music In The Marquee concerts from Little Chix, Yellow and last year’s return performer Bradley Johnson.

I’m delighted to say that this summer we will be hosting our fifth concert in the marquee, on Saturday 20th July 2019. Each year we ask the children which music they are enjoying and what sort of act they’d like to see play in our marquee at the end of the Summer term. This year one name kept coming up in each class we spoke to and that was the one and only Ariana Grande.

So, with great excitement, I’d love to introduce you to The Ariana Grande Experience performed by the incredibly talented singer Leanne Kyte. Leanne is a singer/dancer from North London who studied musical theatre for two years in California. Since coming back to the UK she’s been on tours around the country, has performed in the US and Canada and has received rave reviews for both her singing and dancing.

Leanne will be playing two sets of live music on the night, the first being a hit-filled and family-friendly Ariana Grande tribute set including tunes both new and old including ‘Problem’, ‘No Tears Left to Cry’, ‘Into You’ and ‘One Last Time’, followed by a later set which will include other popular covers. As always with Music in the Marquee her two sets will be accompanied by local support acts to round off the whole evening’s entertainment. We’re delighted to confirm that this years support acts will include a return for the fantastic DJ Flo Selecta, a debut performance from acoustic singer Hannigan and also an incredibly exciting set from the local band Saltwater Cure – featuring our very own Mr Emery!

Just like in previous years the event will raise money for the Penpol Friends Association and will also feature a fully licensed bar, BBQ, soft drinks, and food for everyone to enjoy. I hope you’ll agree that Music in the Marquee 2019 is already shaping up to be a phenomenal night of entertainment.

We are opening this event to the whole community, but want to give our Penpol parents the first chance to get tickets. For this reason we’re offering you a special pre-sale of tickets, starting TODAY! Tickets are priced at £9 for adults and £6 for children. Please note that all children must be accompanied by an adult.

Please return this slip and money to the office to secure your tickets. Music in the Marquee has been a sell out for the past four years and tickets will be on a first come first served basis.

What Makes a Super Strong Password?

11th February 202016th March 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

For our third week of E-Safety lessons this year we’ve been looking at what makes a strong and secure password. Each class in Key Stage 2 has had discussions about what passwords are, why they are important and how they can protect our digital stuff.