Headteacher
Chris Coyle-Chislett
Email the Office
secretary@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk
Telephone Number
01736 753472
Our Address
2 St George’s Road, Hayle,
Cornwall, TR27 4AH
Over the past few months, something very exciting has been happening in the Mac Suite at Penpol School. Whether it be on a Wednesday afternoon or over lunchtime, two teams of dedicated and committed of year 5 pupils have been hard at work practicing for the FIRST LEGO League Competition.
This is our first year entering at Penpol School and whilst we weren’t quite sure what to expect, both teams got straight to work designing their robots, understanding how the code worked, researching innovative solutions to problems and improving their teamwork and co-operation. Over these few months all thirteen children have grown closer in their teams and have been focused on a common goal – the Regional Final event!
Well, I’m delighted to say that both teams absolutely blew us away on the day. Their perseverance, ingenuity and dedication really shone through and they have well and truly done Penpol School proud. Below is a brief rundown of what happened with each team in all four areas of the competition, as well as any special recognition they received along the way.
Well done Stellan, Chris, Liliana, Dylan, Oliver, Erin, Flora, Ruby, Ben, Obi, Katie, Agnes and Remy!
Team Robo Legends came third overall at the 2021 Cornwall Regional Finals
Robo Legends managed to code a fantastic assortment of activities on the challenge table and managed to finish with a very impressive score of 180. They coded each activity and tested thoroughly to ensure it was reliable and accurate. The judges were very impressed with their perseverance and creativity.
Team Robo Legends
The judges said the team “showed good co-operation throughout playing to each others strengths, but always coming back together to take on the next challenge.”
They demonstrated incredible teamwork, perseverance and a sense of fun throughout the completion and thoroughly deserved to come first for Core Values in the competition!
Team Robo Legends
In an effort to solve the problem that only 0.5% of people in the world surf, the team invented a clever machine that floats off of the coast and cleans sea-water, warns of impending marine life attacks and will offer surfers a panic button to call for help should they find themselves in danger.
The team created a prototype of this invention and did a brilliant job of presenting their research and development to the judging panel, who praised their “outstanding presentation, which the team delivered in a very fun way“.
Finally, team Robo Legends delivered a fun and informative interview-style presentation to the judges where they reflected on the journey they’ve been on as part of the LEGO League Competition, including their funniest moments (involving pillows, dancing and uncontrollable robots!) as well as the challenges that they’ve overcome.
A particular highlight of this section was hearing how the children have become better friends and a stronger team as a result of their participation in the competition.
Team LEGO Legends came second overall at the 2021 Cornwall Regional Finals
LEGO Legends managed to achieve an utterly incredible score of 280 in the Robot Games. To put this into context, anything over 100 would have been considered a huge achievement for the children in their first year.
They coded some incredibly complicated algorithms to make their robot work, including one that steered the robot under a bridge, then dropped 13 cubes into a small target before reversing, driving on and ending up dancing on the dance floor.
Team LEGO Legends
As well as their achievements in coding and presenting, the team showed the judges how well they worked together by supporting each other, cheering on individual successes in the competition and demonstrating exceptional teamwork and co-operation at all times.
A real highlight here was seeing how each and every child got involved in their challenges, whether it was presenting and answering questions with the panel of judges or by working together to ensure a reliable and high-scoring round in the Robot Games.
For their innovation project team LEGO Legends realised that people were driving for short journeys, even to the shops or to drop children off to school. To help combat this, the team invented a mobile phone app which would only let you drive in your car after you’d walked a certain number of steps.
What really set the team apart though was their sheer amount of research and development that went into their product. The judges remarked: “Research and feedback from others through questioning was excellent. A great way of sharing your ideas.“
Team LEGO Legends
Finally, team LEGO Legends delivered a compelling presentation sharing what they’ve learnt in the competition, how they’ve improved as a team and how they overcame challenges along the way.
The judges asked some interesting questions of the team but they all found ways to respond, with one judge in particular praising how they refined their code: “Obi gave the perfect answer for how they tested and isolated faults with the code. This is exactly how it is done in engineering companies all over the world.”
Team LEGO Legends
On Thursday 17th of June 2021, Class 12 went surfing at the Global Boarders surf school based near Hayle, Cornwall. Class 12 went for the whole day and surfed from ~10:30 to ~14:30 with a small break for lunch at ~13:00. Before they got in the water, the trained instructors taught them some basic safety signals and some cool tricks to try in the water such as “race car”, “freestyle”, “Casanova”, “coffin”, “jazz hands” and “sky dive”. They arrived at ~9:30, went through basic safety checks, got changed and got in the water.
It was enjoyed by all, 
Dylan.C said “I enjoyed duck diving under waves.”. Chris said “I enjoyed standing up on my board and then falling off almost immediately.”
They surfed for nearly 3 hours before they had to go up to the cafe to eat their lunch. They all ate their lunch remarkably fast so they could get back in the water. 2 people though got very cold and were allowed to put on extra wetsuits. After eating their lunch, Class 12 went back down to the beach and did a 15 minute warm up of stuck in the mud. After 5 rounds of stuck in the mud, they grabbed their surfboards and jumped back in the water for their final hour. They all caught at least 3 waves or more, some getting up to 30 waves. At about 14:00, they walked up with their surfboards and got changed. This took ~35-40 minutes. They only had 1 bus so the second group had to wait an extra 15 minutes for the next bus. By the time the second group got to school, it was 15:15, year 5’s home-time so they all left to their homes.
Reported by Obi B
and Dylan C
A few weeks before activity week we proudly announced out new Super Six Pupils, the first of hopefully many this year. 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.
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.
The biggest disappointment upon hearing our proposed camp at Porthpean was cancelled was that the children would not have the chance to stay away from home. This is often the biggest cause of anxiety for the children and a real milestone to reach; we did however manage to squeeze in a sleepover at school on Thursday night!
After our trip to the beach the children (and adults) whizzed home for a quick shower before returning to school for an evening of games and barbecued food! It’s always good to get photos of them in their most natural state- eating!
We are legally allowed to call the sleepover just that now as all children got at least some sleep. However, come breakfast and the 9.15am start for orienteering, it was clear some got more than others. The faces truly represent the morning mood for most- a stark contrast from 12 hours previous!
For the orienteering activity the children used a pre-drawn ordinance survey map of the school and some of our permanent orienteering signs. Each pair wrote their own general knowledge question before using the map to find the remaining questions. Once they’d woken up, they were buzzing around the school site answering questions from “Name of the American president?” to “Name of Peppa Pig’s brother?”- I won’t say which but Mr Peck only knew one of those!
With the children getting their second wind shortly after break, on completion of the orienteering course (winners pictured above, well done girls) we rounded off a brilliant activity week with some exceptionally competitive games of 40-40 in. A great way to finish what has been a fantastic week. Thank you to everyone involved, the places we’ve been, the staff who’ve been there and special thanks to the children for their exceptional efforts and behaviours- without them it would have been us adults playing in the Jungle Barn on our own, beating ourselves at cricket and boule and riding the Thunderbolt without a hand to hold!
What a beautiful day! The sun was shining and the light was perfect for photography! With energy levels weaning after what had already been an eventful few days, we made our way to Hayle beach with wetsuits, towels and beach paraphernalia in tow. We had arranged, what turned out to be, a brilliant day on the sand and sea with Lizard Adventure.
The children had the chance to push themselves to their limits of comfort, for some that was paddling a double kayak and for others it was backflips off the mega sup. The joy of weeks like this are the smiles we see constantly pinned from ear to ear and the personal challenges we see children overcome. Both equally rewarding.
The children had the chance to try their hand at stand up paddle boarding, very on trend. It was easy if you had balance, if you didn’t, well, they spend a lot of time climbing back on.
For some it was the relative safety of the MEGASUP. Which was much calmer…until one person lost their balance and everyone was climbing back on! The MEGASUP required close communication, exceptional team work and also the ability to wrestle when it came to ‘last one standing’ – no prizes for guessing the winner!
The final of the three water based activity was kayaking, again requiring teamwork and communication in the doubles although there is photo evidence of some people not pulling their weight! Pirating aside, the children paddles around the water with ease battling the testing wind and turning tide.
Whilst half the children took to the sea the other children did their bit to protect the environment by conducting a litter sweep of the beach. The children were then tasked with building an environment themed beach sculpture. There were a host of differing designs highlighting the effects of climate change, threat to wildlife due to plastic pollution and some more ‘abstract’ pieces. A week to late for Mr Biden and Johnson though!
Once the litter was picked, and sadly there was a sizeable amount, the children had chance to play, enjoying some beach cricket, some sun and the new fan favourite, boule!
The behaviour again, was exceptional and the company was great to keep. As the week progresses I know I keep having a new favourite day! Great fun has been had by all so far and special thank to the team at Lizard Adventure! Next up… The ‘sleepover’
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!)
