On Sunday 11th November, ten Y6 pupils represented Penpol School in the Hayle remembrance service. This two part service started at St Elwyns Church where two children read poems as part of the service. These poems were once that they had written themselves in class the week previous.
The service then proceeded to parse down to the Hayle War Memorial. It was here the children listened to the names of people from Hayle, who had given their lives during WW1 and WW2 and listened to the last post. After the minutes silence the children laid a wreath on behalf of the Penpol School Community and planted crosses in front of the memorial.
The importance of Remembrance Sunday is particularly significant for the children in year 6 who have spend this term studying ‘Wartime Britain’ as a topic. This has involved poppy art, wreath making, writing letters from the trenches and writing remembrance poems.
The service was well respected by all the pupils who attended alongside members of the community where their maturity and manner where positively commented on by numerous members of the public.
On Wednesday the 6th of November, Penpol held our first ever Careers event. 30 different businesses and employees gave up their time to explain just what makes their job sector special, with hands-on demonstrations, interactive activities and a stream of answers ready for the children’s questions. The event was a huge success and we look forward to doing it again next year.
Special thanks must go to those people who gave up their time to inspire others. The exhibitors were very impressed with the children’s interest and described them as ‘eloquent, interested and a joy to talk to’.
As part of their science topic ‘Animals including Humans’, the children in Year 2 had an exciting visit today from the Cat’s Protection League. The children heard all about the hard and caring work the volunteers do to help lost and stray cats and were then informed how we, as cat owners, should care for cats and kittens correctly.
Mrs Ruffell and Mrs Daniel would like to say a big thank you for all of the lovely donations received for the Cat’s Protection League. They were very grateful for your generosity.
As part of their art topic ‘Mother Nature’, Class 6 ventured out into Tehidy woods to explore signs of nature and Autumn. The children had a great day observing the many trees and shrubs and then squelching down the muddy paths to interact with the many squirrels and swans that came up to say hello.
The answer to that question before half term for almost all members of staff at Penpol, including languages co-ordinator Mr Emery, was a resounding ‘no!’ or perhaps a meek ‘un poco’. However, if you were to now ask that question to most of the KS2 staff and teaching assistants at Penpol, you would be met with the confident reply ‘si! Me gusta hablar en español!’
Over the half term break, 8 members of staff from Penpol took part in an 8 day immersion course in Santander, Northern Spain. The trip was only possible after Penpol School was successful in gaining funding from Erasmus+, which is the European Union programme for education, in July. Penpol are now on a two year journey to further enhance the language teaching at Penpol by allowing staff to develop their professional practice, build relationships with international peers and gain fresh ideas from language learning experiences in Spain and France.
The shoes were on the other feet for the teachers of Penpol, with intense but immensely enjoyable 3 hour daily Spanish lessons with experienced and fully qualified Spanish teachers.
It was a really invigorating feeling being a student again in a classroom. Mr Pollard, Class 11 Teacher.
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From learning the basic phrases such as ‘¿Como te llamas?’ on day 1, staff completed the week learning the verb conjugations for regular and irregular verbs, as well as regularly conversing in practice role plays in class. The lessons were hugely rewarding and by the end of the week, all staff had grown in confidence ordering in restaurants and even conversing in Spanish with locals.
Aside from the daily lessons, the days were also packed with challenges which were not too dissimilar from BBC one’s show ‘The Apprentice’. On the first day, staff had to explore the city by foot and find out important facts, cultural information and even learn a joke from a local. There was also a night of learning how to dance, Flamenco- style, to the delight of Mr Peck! There was also plenty of time to enjoy the delights of Santander, such as the Palacio de la Magdelena, the stunning local beaches and experience the plethora of Pintxos (tapas-style dishes) on offer across the city’s many restaurants and bars.
The week was testament to Penpol’s enthusiasm for languages and, after an action-packed week, each member of staff not only graduated with flying colours but also came away with a lots of ideas to bring back into the classroom, as well as the confidence to teach Spanish in a fun and engaging way.
This term Year 2 have been learning all about the champion rower Ann Glanville. Ann was born in Saltash and was married to John Glanville, who worked as a waterman – someone who rowed people and cargo across the River Tamar. Together they had 14 children and when John became ill Ann took his job to provide money for their family. She was tall, strong and very good at rowing.
To help the children identify what life may have been like for Ann, the children had a very informative trip down to the Hayle Pilot Gig Club.
On Tuesday the 1st of October, class 11 and 12 were fortunate enough to get their hands on some artefacts which are literally thousands of years old!
Made during the Stone Age and Iron Age, the children worked together to decipher what the items might have been used for. Items included large Stone Age axe heads, chisels and arrows.
Rhys said that he was excited about looking at all of the Stone Age items.
Devon said that it was great to actually hold items which had been handmade so many thousands of years ago.
Thanks goes to Dr M.G Weller – whose fine collection these items came from – and David Lay Auction House in Penzance, who kindly arranged for the loan to happen.
Jake (Class 13) is a very talented young footballer who plays for his local club, Hayle. He has recently been working his way through the Plymouth Argyle player pathway. Starting here at home in West Cornwall before moving to Brannel in Mid Cornwall and latterly the Centre of Excellence in Ivybdrige.
In the last few weeks Jake has been on trial with the academy where they have been monitoring not only his level of skill but also his attitude towards both his football and schooling. It is with great pleasure that I can confirm that Jake has met the expectations of the club and has signed his first contract with the Academy, one of only two players from Mid & West Cornwall!
A tremendous achievement for such a hardworking young man! Keep it up Jake, we are all super proud of your achievements to date!
Year 5 were treated to a week of organic art and mixed media Art with Tracey, an artist from St Ives.
With the amazon being a pivotal part of the Earth’s ecosystem, Year 5 are currently following artist John Dyer as he broadcasts live his travels across the Amazon. His project, ‘Last chance to Paint’ , aims to connect students to the environment and create a global art gallery which highlights what we stand to lose.
In this art session, the students used blackberries, which had been freshly picked by Mr Pollard and Mr Wise, to mimic the Yawanawa tribe’s version of organic art. Using modelling tools, the students created sketches of wildlife in nature, with the results surprisingly pleasant to the eye.
The variety between each piece of work was quite staggering, considering the only ingredients used were blackberries. Mr Wise, Class 12 teacher
Later on in the week, Year 5 were once again treated to another Art session, this time from local artist Tracey from St Ives. Tracey brought in a lot of different materials for the children to use in order to create mixed media art. Using a variety of materials, such as masking tape, coloured paper and doilies, the children were instructed to build up a surface formed from different layers.
I really liked using different colour paper to layer my work and make different objects stand out. Oliver, Class 11
Through lots of experimentation and creativity, both classes then drew different nautical scenes from the surrounding area, with St Ives harbour being a common landscape for the children to draw.
The students used different grading of pencil to add different tones to their work, as well as graphite, pens, pastels and finally paint.
My favourite part was mixing the paints to create the colour I wanted for my drawing! Lydia, Class 12
The final results speak for themselves! The children took great pleasure showing off their art work and it was interesting to see the degree of variety between every piece of art work.
A fantastic effort, check out the results in the gallery below!
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.
