⭐ Computing

Y5 have a Virtual Visit to an Amazon Warehouse

8th October 20218th October 2021 by Mr Woolcock

This afternoon our two teams of Year 5’s who are taking part in the FIRST LEGO League competition were treated to a (virtual) VIP tour inside an Amazon Warehouse.

As part of their Cargo Connect challenge for the competition, they are researching more about how goods are shipped around the world and delivered, in order to hopefully find some creative solutions to improve these processes.

As well as being given a tour around the different departments, from ordering & picking to packaging & shipping, the children were given the chance to ask some questions to a trio of Amazon Engineers.

Throughout the tour the students were jotting down questions on some post-it notes and by the end they had amassed quite a collection! Luckily there was plenty of time for the Q+A and lots of our questions got answered.

Here are some of the interesting facts we learnt during the tour:

“I learnt that the items are stored randomly in the warehouses, with robots being used to pick the items” – Ethan

“The SLAM machine that puts the label and address on the packages doesn’t actually touch the package at all – it drops the label on top” – Amelie

“The shortest delivery was done in under 30 minutes and they use satellite images to check addresses and to update their maps when new roads are built.” – Sienna

“They use algorithms to help find and move parcels, with robots following QR codes on the floor” – Caio

Exploring Stop Motion in Class 14

9th June 20219th June 2021 by Mr Woolcock

In Computing this week Class 14 learnt all about Stop Motion Animation and how to bring objects to life in creative and fun ways. After a short introduction their challenge was simple: “Make your Classroom come to life!”.

Sit back, grab some popcorn and enjoy these fantastic short films!

Brodie and Maison

Tess and Lydia

Toby and Fynn

Eloise and Kiki

Patrick, Scott and Oskar

Solomon and William

Jonas and Luke

Jaz and Aimee

Jasmin and Peyton

Ivan and Mrs Bailie

Isla and Imogen

Freddie and Seb

Finton and Dominick

Finley and Declan

Internet Legends and Beyond with Year 6

9th June 20219th June 2021 by Mr Woolcock

As well as learning about being Internet Legends, our Year 6’s have taken their learning a step further by creating their own sixth section to the Be Internet Legends curriculum. After some really in depth discussions each child settled upon what they felt would be an important addition to create themselves.

They then set about designing their own character to fit with this theme, with a focus on making the characters have a personality as well as looking 3D. Creating these with just triangles was quite a challenge!

Lastly the children considered what the ‘Key Messages’ should be for their new theme and created the colourful, informative posters you see below.

Well done Year 6!

Class 13 Posters

“I made my Internet Legends poster to remind people to be kind to each other.” – Summer

“I made my Internet Legends poster to remind people to always be safe on the internet and never trust other people unless you know them in real life not just on the internet.” – Eemahnee

“My Be Internet Legend is respectful because a lot of people forget that respect is the key to happiness.” – Reuben

“My Be Internet Legend poster is important because being calm on the internet isn’t easy when you are playing games on the internet that make you unhappy or angry. It is hard to communicate with other people and talk about why you are unhappy and angry. Just remember to stop playing when you get angry and unhappy.” – Rhys

Class 14 Posters

“You need to be strong to tell a trusted adult if you see something off.” – Jonas

“I think it is good to be mindful, so you don’t put anything bad on the internet by mistake.” – William

“My poster is all about being internet cautious because not all people can be trusted.” – Luke

“If you are nice to people they will treat you the same.” – Declan

“I think kids should always be aware of a scam is. It’s a crucial life lesson to learn.” – Gwen

Designing Mars Rovers in Year 5

28th April 202128th April 2021 by Mr Pollard

Last term, as part of our Space topic, the children were inspired by the landing of Perseverance on Mars and so created their own versions of a Mars rover, complete with a motor so that it could move forward and, most impressively a lever system to enable it to pick up ‘space rock’ to study. The children had a great time making and designing their own rover and, who knows, maybe this activity will have inspired our next rover designers of the future.

After they’d made their rovers, the children used the iPads and iMovie to virtually transport their creations to the surface of Mars with some Green Screen magic.

You can enjoy some of these videos below:

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"I enjoyed making the Mars Rover. My favourite part was designing and decorating the rover, but we did have some trouble with our electrics"

Emily

Class 11

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Penpol Pupils earn their Be Internet Legends Trophies

28th April 202120th April 2021 by Mr Woolcock

Children in Key Stage 2 have recently taken home their very own Internet Legend trophy to celebrate their ongoing learning into online safety and how to become responsible online citizens.

It’s safe to say that these trophies have generated quite a buzz amongst our pupils and I’m sure they will be appearing on desks, bedside tables and shelves all over the place very soon!

The children have been encouraged to build their trophies with a grown up at home as part of the process involves answering a series of questions about being safe online in order to unlock the instructions step-by-step. These questions also serve as great conversation starters and will hopefully help open up lots of productive conversations about being safe online.

The reward for their efforts are these awesome 3D trophies which will remind them that they really are Internet Legends.

We’ve been sent in lots of photos of these trophies in their new homes through Showbie and this post will be updated as more photos come in so watch this space!

Summer sunshine and Year 4 learning in the Wildlife Garden

12th June 202124th March 2021 by Mr Emery

This term, Year 4 have taken great joy from learning outside in our wildlife garden. From Science through to Music, the wildlife garden has provided the perfect setting to enjoy not just forest school, but also all of their learning.

Just before half term, Class 9 wrote a description of the wildlife garden from each of their perspectives. The class really enjoyed sharing their descriptions in the mini amphitheatre. This task drew out all of the benefits of looking after the fantastic wild areas we have, a particularly poignant message with the G7 summit taking place this week.

I really like spending time in the wildlife garden. It makes me feel happy and calm. Alex

In Science, Year 4 have also been learning about habitats and had to create a powerpoint/ pic collage on what habitats could be found in the wildlife garden, along with the features and residents of each habitat. Students were particularly surprised to find centipedes, tadpoles and even a wandering Wilf (our very own resident school dog) in the wildlife garden.

In poetry, we have been studying the book ‘The Lost Words’, by Roger McFarlane, which is an ode to the words the current generation of children, particularly in inner cities, are losing touch with. This week, we have been learning the poem ‘Conker’ from memory and did a performance in the wildlife garden. See below to check out Class 9’s performance…

Finally, Year 4 have taken dusted off their vocal chords and sang a classic song, ‘Let it Be’, by the Beatles, a song which we studied last half term in music. It was a great song to finish off last half term and listen to students singing in a big group again. Enjoy the video below!

Writing Code that is “Out Of This World”

30th June 202116th July 2020 by Mr Woolcock

This week the children in Year 5 have been taking part in an international event which is quite simply “out of this world”!.

Astro Pi is a fantastic event run by Code Club and the European Space Agency whereby school children can write a computer program to be run on a modified Raspberry Pi computer on the International Space Station. Yes, IN SPACE!

Each child in Year 5 has worked in a team to design and code their programs, which will display messages, pictures and the current temperatures to the astronauts onboard the ISS. The children then decided on their team names before finally submitting their error-free code into space.

As soon as their program has been run on the Space Station the children will receive a certificate which will show the exact time and location of the International Space Station from when their code was run.

Class 11 Team Photos

Class 12 Team Photos

World first as Penpol get a Be Internet Legends virtual assembly!

5th May 20204th May 2020 by Mr Woolcock

On Friday we were lucky enough to be the first school ever to receive a Be Internet Legends virtual assembly. This involved all of our pupils in Key Stage 2 taking part in an interactive assembly with the team from Google and ParentZone.

In the exciting assembly children were reminded of the importance of being Internet Legends through questions and answers, audience participation and lots of other fun activities. Teachers were able to feed back to the presenters in real time as children responded on Showbie, meaning the presenters could then talk to the children and celebrate their learning with them during the assembly.

It was a lot of fun and we’re very lucky at Penpol to have been selected as the first school to experience this. The presenters said afterwards that we were such a lovely school to work with and that they hope you all keep up your Internet Legends learning over the next few weeks.

To help with this Mr Woolcock will be sharing weekly Be Internet Legends online safety activities on Showbie that you can complete with your family at home. They’re quick and fun and may just involve playing a few levels on Interland too…

If you missed the assembly you can rewatch it below

Penpol Pupils enjoying the assembly from home

rpt

dav

Exciting Connections at Swift Code Club

28th February 202028th February 2020 by Mr Woolcock

Last term we started a brand new club at Penpol, App Design Club. In this club the children in Year 5 and Year 6 are invited to consider an idea or problem and how they might make an app to solve this. Following along with resources made by Apple, the children then learn how to write code using the Swift programming language as well as learn how to plan and design their own app.

In the first half term we had a live link-up with Mr Jenkins who teaches at Booth Wood Primary School in the Midlands. This connection allowed children from both clubs to have the chance to share their initial app ideas and to ask for feedback. This Focus Group session proved valuable as the children were able to adapt and refine their ideas as a result of this feedback.

Following this they then did market research and looked at similar apps to see what they could offer which would be a bit different.

When they had got a clear idea of their app it was time to move onto Phase 2 – the design.

Initially each child created a ‘wire-frame’ idea by sketching on the iPads. This showed roughly what the individual screens of their app would look like and how they would be connected to each other.

After this we were lucky enough to have a Skype conversation with Sabe who teaches in a city called Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He led the club through a fun and exciting lesson on creating App Prototypes using the Keynote app. The children followed intently and by the end of the session they’d created a simple app to browse animal facts.

We’re now taking the ideas learnt from Sabe and using them to create working prototypes of our own apps. This process is going to take a little while as we are trying to pay close attention to how the app functions and how it looks.

Hopefully later in the year we’ll be able to share an update with everyone where the children can share their app designs with the world!

– Mr Woolcock

Sharing ideas in a Focus Group session with Booth Wood Primary school in order to develop and expand their ideas.

Club members following along with their App Designs carefully following the instructions from Sabe in the UAE.

Creating Mayan Temple Animations in Year 6

9th March 202024th February 2020 by Mr Woolcock

Our Year 6s have been learning all about the Mayans in their Topic lessons this half term. In Computing we’ve been taking this learning and creating our own animations based around the idea of an ancient Mayan Temple.

The animation itself is lovely, but to really appreciate it you need to know that the children have actually built their temples brick by brick in Keynote. This process has been incredible to watch as the children have added a whole host of new skills in their graphic design and animation toolbox. Well done Year 6!