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Headteacher
Chris Coyle-Chislett

Email the Office
secretary@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk

Telephone Number
01736 753472

Follow us on Twitter
@PenpolSchool

Our Address
2 St George’s Road, Hayle,
Cornwall, TR27 4AH

“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.”

CORE VALUES WINNERS!!

I am thrilled to say that the Penpol Pumpkins have won an award for the Core Values at the international final of the FIRST LEGO League!!

We came fourth overall, with the team being recognised for their Inclusivity, Fun, Teamwork, Discovery, Impact and Innovation.

This isn’t just an award for their robot, or their food waste project or even their presentations. This is an award for THEM. These children who have put in so many months of hard work, who have faced and overcome huge challenges, who have bonded through shared laughter and friendship and who have represented Great Britain at the highest level these last few days.

This is an award for the Penpol Pumpkins 🎃

Lightning Round ⚡️

Well, that was intense!

The Lightning Round is a special event that only happens at large events like this, where teams are paired up together to complete the challenge in a slightly different way. For this competition the two teams were assigned at lunchtime and had only a few minutes to work together on planning a whole new mission strategy…

90 seconds, two tables, one scoresheet.

The aim is to work together to score as many points as possible between the two teams, who are in turn playing in a knockout match against another team. This requires a lot of planning, adjusting missions and running orders and working well under a huge amount of pressure (nobody wants to let the other team down!)

We were thrilled to be partnered with Team Bob from Greece, who are from FutureLab Robotics Academy. Working together the team “Bobkins!” Managed to make it through not just the first and second rounds, but also the quarter final, semi final and got right through to the final itself!!

After an excellent final run from both teams they came in third place with a remarkable combined score of 335! Well done Team Bobkins!!

Robot Games 3, 4 & 5

After a bumpy start yesterday, the Robot Games team came back fighting today and managed to greatly improve on their scores. In the first two matches they achieved 215 points each and in the final match they reached 195. We didn’t get to our ‘perfect’ score of 345, but given the pressure and unusual conditions in the arena they did really well!

There’s one more game to come later – the Lightning Alliance round, where teams are paired up and have to work together. Check back later for more on that!

Team Carnival Night

Tonight all the teams taking part were treated to a carnival party at WPI to celebrate their achievements and to make new friends.

The Pumpkins enjoyed the rides and attractions, the food and drinks and socialised with children from all around the world. Everywhere you looked there were little clusters of orange jumpers chatting to other children with plenty of laughing and giggling going on.

Tomorrow we’ve got three more rounds of the Robot Games to look forward to, as well as the Lightning Round where we’ll be paired up with another team to face the Robot Games together! Stay tuned!

Robot Games 1 & 2

We’ve just wrapped up the first two matches on the Robot Games table and it’s safe to say that they didn’t go quite to plan.

In the first match the game mat on the table lifted up which caused the turbine to tip slightly which in turn caused the robot to get stuck. It wasn’t ideal, but it’s just the way it goes sometimes.

Unfortunately the second match didn’t pan out so well either, due to the subtle difference in the way the rules are interpreted in the UK compared to the USA. Our scores weren’t what the children hoped for on either match and I think it’s safe to say they left the arena feeling quite deflated.

However, when there’s a challenge to overcome you should never bet against the Pumpkins.…

Within minutes of the second match our four Robot Games Engineers were back at the practice table, re-writing two of their programs and scoring a brilliant 265 in a quick final practice run through. The resilience that these children, with a special shout-out to Jenna, have shown today is utterly incredible.

Tomorrow we return to the arena with three more games to play.