DT – Page 3 – Penpol Primary School

Incredible Results for Penpol at the LEGO League Cornwall Finals

14th March 202311th February 2022 by Jacob Woolcock

Yesterday two teams of our Year 5s took part in the Cornwall finals of the FIRST LEGO League Competition. For months these teams have been working hard with coding, building, researching, creating, designing, innovating and presenting ideas.

All of that hard work was celebrated yesterday in two incredible performances at the Finals. Both teams absolutely excelled themselves and demonstrated just how confident and creative they are.

We saw presentations that the judges were blown away by, robot performances that I think would rival any other team in the country and levels of teamwork and fun that really allowed each and every student to shine.

I’m thrilled (and very proud) to announce that our team from Class 11 (the Creative Coders) were the overall winners in the whole of Cornwall, beating 25 other Primary and Secondary schools. They have now been invited to the National Finals where they will be able to compete against the very best teams in the country.

The team from Class 12 (the LEGO Leaders) also got an incredible achievement, winning the Robot Performance award for achieving a staggering 345 points during the competition. They also finished in 4th place overall – another incredible achievement for our students.

Below you’ll find lots of lovely photos, quotes from the judges and some stories of just how well the teams embraced the challenges on the day. I do hope you enjoy reading about it just as much as we enjoyed taking part in it!

Lastly a massive well done to our teams – Ada, Amélie, Caio, Ernie, Ethan, Felix, Georgia, Ivy, James B, James S, Jenna, Miles, Piran and Sienna!

Team Creative Coders

Class 11: Sienna, Amélie, Piran, Ethan, Ernie, Georgia and Felix

Cornwall LEGO League: 1st Place

Team Creative Coders came first overall at the 2022 Cornwall Regional Finals and now progress to the UK National Finals!

Robot Games

Creative Coders have been working hard on their Robot Design and Code for the past few months and have been sharing ideas and knowledge with each other throughout the process. For their 2 and a half minute competition run they ended up with a very impressive score of 270 points.

They had to code some really complicated algorithms for their robot to work, including one that took the robot (named Cookies and Beans) all around the game table to earn points from some very hard to reach obstacles.

In order to reach this score they continually improved and refined their code to ensure that each mission was a success.

Robot Games Practice Run (with commentary for judges)

Core Values

This team really shone when it came to demonstrating the Core Values of Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun. They receives top scores from the judges in all but one of the categories and earned some glowing feedback:

“Each team member had different skills and got the chance to shine.”

“When we finished calling you, our faces hurt from smiling so much. Your fun was infectious!”

“We really can’t fault your team. You had so much enthusiasm and great team work.”

Innovation Project

For the Innovation Project this team were inspired by a virtual trip to an Amazon Warehouse. They were concerned that large pallets loaded with cardboard boxes were suddenly being wrapped in huge sheets of plastic wrap.

They researched the problem, considered a variety of solutions (including building their own earthquake simulator to see how to best secure their pallet of 3D-printed boxes) and eventually came up with a very clever solution.

The judges loved this and said: “We thought it was great that you tried out paper, card, bubblewrap, string, and other materials, and showed clear improvement.”

Robot Design

Finally, team Creative Coders shared a presentation with the judges that showed their journey through the competition. From coding the robot to planning which tasks to complete first, the team demonstrated their awesome progress in a way where it was clear that every single child was involved in the success of the team.

“Each team member was give a chance to shine and explain their bit of the task, and you went above and beyond in making everyone involved.”

Team LEGO Leaders

Class 12: Ivy, Jenna, Ada, James S, James B, Miles and Caio

Cornwall LEGO League: 4th Place

Team LEGO Leaders came forth overall at the 2022 Cornwall Regional Finals

Robot Games

Wow! That’s all I can say about this teams Robot Games performance. Problem solving, refinement, patience and a lot of hard work have all been key ingredients in the LEGO Leaders success.

Together they achieved an utterly incredible score of 345 points – far beyond anything we could ever have imagined.

By attempting a total of 7 different missions (some completing more than one task at a time) this team smashed all expectations and got a well deserved award for 1st place as the highest scoring robot team in Cornwall!

An incredible feat, well done team!

Robot Games Practice Run (with commentary for judges)

1st Place: Robot Performance

Team LEGO Leaders

Core Values

The judges described LEGO Leaders as being a “very well accomplished team with clear roles and responsibilities”. We completely agree. From the very beginning this team has been impressive to watch. The way they problem solve together, delegate tasks and share ideas really is inspirational.

Not only that but they’ve become close friends through this process and describe how they all were able to overcome challenges and barriers by co-operating, listening to each others points of view and then reaching a solution that worked for all.

Innovation Project

For their Innovation Project, the team were horrified to find images of donkeys being overworked and under looked-after. Large mountains of cargo weighed down donkeys backs and caused them pain and suffering. LEGO Leaders decided to take it upon themselves to create a solution to this problem.

By researching online, asking experts and considering a number of options the team eventually decided to protect donkeys by creating a set of rules for donkey owners to abide by. Proper living conditions, weight limits for cargo and more were all considered.

The judges were blown away by their presentation and were glad that such an important issue had been bought to the forefront of their minds.

Robot Design

Our judges really loved this teams Robot, Rocky, and were incredibly impressed by hearing how the code worked and the lengths they’d gone to in order to refine and improve the robot.

The team detailed their process for designing attachments and their overall mission strategy.

The judges remarked that it was “absolutely clear that the team worked very well together and had a lot of fun overcoming the challenges along the way”.

Photo Gallery

Class 7’s Ancient Egyptian Day

11th November 20229th December 2021 by Linda Ruffell

To finish off this terms history project, ‘Ancient Egyptians’, Class 7 held an Egyptian dressing up day.

During this day, the children were given the opportunity to reflect on their learning journey and also show off their creative talents by creating their own scarab beetle and canopic jars.

It was lovely to see the children arriving at school dressed as pharaohs, Tutankhamun, Cleopatra and Ramses II.

“I enjoyed making the scarab beetle out of clay”. Harley

” It was great to see all of my friends dressed up as Ancient Egyptians”. Isabella

” It was lovely to see my friends having fun and using the clay to make canopic jars”. Luke

Year 3 – Mummification in Ancient Egypt

25th September 202125th September 2021 by Linda Ruffell

Ancient Egypt

As part of their history topic, year 3 started off learning about Ancient Egypt by turning some oranges into mummies!

Just like real Ancient Egyptian embalmers we started off by taking out all of the gooey insides and then used several paper towels to make sure the insides were nice and dry. Next we filled up our oranges with salt, just like the embalmers dried out bodies with natron. Finally, we wrapped up our mummies in bandages and put them somewhere warm to dry out. We will be checking on them in a few weeks to see how the mummification process is going!

Y5 Compete at the Regional Finals of the FIRST LEGO League 2021

10th February 202225th June 2021 by Jacob Woolcock

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

Class 11: Stellan, Remy, Oliver, Agnes, Ben, Flora and Ruby

FIRST LEGO League: 3rd Place

Team Robo Legends came third overall at the 2021 Cornwall Regional Finals

Robot Games

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.

2nd Place: Robot Games

Team Robo Legends

Core Values

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!

1st Place: Core Values

Team Robo Legends

Innovation Project

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“.

Robot Design

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

Class 12: Chris, Dylan, Katie, Obi, Liliana and Erin

FIRST LEGO League: 2nd Place

Team LEGO Legends came second overall at the 2021 Cornwall Regional Finals

Robot Games

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.

1st Place: Robot Games

Team LEGO Legends

Core Values

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.

Innovation Project

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.“

1st Place: Innovation Project

Team LEGO Legends

Robot Design

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.”

3rd Place: Robot Design

Team LEGO Legends

Sticky Jam Sandwich Fun in Year 1

19th June 202118th June 2021 by Emily Bodmer

Jam 3

After reading ‘The Giant Jam Sandwich’ in our ‘Talk Through Stories’ session, Year 1 explored instruction writing whilst making jam sandwiches. They focused on sequencing, using time connectives and imperative verbs.

Jam 1
Jam 2

Apart from watching their teachers get messy whilst they followed the classes vague instructions, their favourite part was of course eating them.

Jam 4
Jam 5
Jam 6

Kids Invent Stuff visit Penpol School

14th June 202114th June 2021 by Jacob Woolcock

Last week Penpol had a very exciting visit from Ruth and Shawn – otherwise known as Kids Invent Stuff – to talk about all things engineering, inventing and creating!

The day started with the whole school having the opportunity to enjoy an assembly with Ruth and Shawn, where they introduced a challenge for us all to take part in.

The challenge is simple – to invent something new that utilises wearable technology, a switch or a bicycle. This competition is being run to celebrate the IETs 150th anniversary and entries from schools all around the world will be collected up, carefully considered and then one will actually be built in real life! It’s very exciting and over the course of the day our students showed just how creative their ideas are.

Below are some pictures of the visit, including some of our Year 5’s working away on their own invention ideas.

Designing Mars Rovers in Year 5

28th April 202128th April 2021 by Mark 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:

00:00

"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

00:00

Year 2 Den Building Fun!

15th July 202517th March 2021 by Linda Ruffell

Year 2 had a great morning today den building. Both class 5 and 6 worked together to show how sharing ideas and team work can help you to achieve an amazing outcome! As you can see, from the great photographs, all children had a fabulous time.

Year 4 Go on the Rampage!!

21st October 202021st October 2020 by Jack Emery

Today, Year 4 celebrated the rise of the Roman Empire in true fashion. Armed with shields, swords and Roman legion attire, the excitement from the students entering school was palpable.

To begin with, the Year group were greeted with Roman army commands: Consiste! (Halt!), Laxate (at ease), silentiurm! (Silence!) and Sin/ Dex (Left/ Right!), which would come in hand later on in the day.

Next, both classes were thrown into the melee and had to use their best codebreaking skills in order to crack a hidden message written by the emperor himself, Julius Caesar. The hidden message revealed one of Caesar’s greates quotes to date:

“It is better to create than to learn! Creating is the essence of life.” Julius Caesar

After exploring this quote and thinking deeper into what Caesar’s quote means, creating is exactly what the students did next. After having designed mosaics the day before, the students were tasked with creating a Roman mosaic. This proved lots of fun and the results are already looking promising.

The grand finale, however, had to be experiencing what it was like to march like a Roman. Led by Mr Wise’s booming commands, Classes’ 9 and 10 both marched up and down the hall, to embed their understanding of Roman commands. Next, the students practised forming the defence shape, which is the ‘testudo’, or the tortoise. This proved an effective barrier against incoming missiles aimed by the teachers, as you can witness in the video below.

All in all, the children had an excellent morning immersing themselves in the Roman life and learning first hand how the Roman army worked.

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Year 4 embrace the return back to school!

25th September 202024th September 2020 by Jack Emery

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Today, Class 9 took their Maths lesson outside and, it has to be said, they have embraced the outdoors despite the change of weather!

The lesson today was a recap of what they have been learning about this term – Place value. The students showed great teamwork and were able to confidently partition 4 digit numbers, as well as round their chosen number to the nearest 10, 100 and 1,000.

In addition, our Topic this term is ‘Romans on the Rampage.’ The class have been busy learning about who exactly the Romans were and what they have done for us. For DT, each of the students were tasked with creating a Roman helmet using paper mache, balloons, cardboard and, of course, the red and gold paint! This was a great success, with all students now learning Latin salutes in anticipation of a Roman Legion army drill in the coming weeks. ‘Dextrum sinistrum!

Finally, the good weather so far was not wasted, with many of our Guided Reading sessions taking place outside in the Gazebo and our first session of Tag Rugby taking place in glorious sunshine.

Enjoy the pictures below!

Team Y4