History

Industrial Inspiration for Year 5

20th October 2017 by Nic Stanlake

Our Year 5 classes have been studying the Industrial Revolution over the last half term. They have looked in depth at inventor and inventions as well as it’s effect on the modern world.

I’ve really enjoyed researching inventors because it shows how important the Cornish are!

The children have been undertaking their own research on the 6 main factors: population, agriculture, factories, power, transport and empire as well as researching an inventor of their choice including Humphry Davy, George Stephenson and Richard Trevithick. Once cumulated the children used these notes and facts to plan and create a biography so they can share their research with each other and parents at home.

I found it amazing that George Stephenson made the first train, especially after teaching himself to read and write!

The Industrial Revolution has also provided inspiration for some wonderful art. The children studied the painting ‘Coalbrookdale By Night’ which was painted by Philip James de Loutherbourg in 1801, in the heart of the revolution, before creating their own.

Using paints and water the children created a wash to represent the fiery sky before designing and cutting out an industrial themed silhouette to lay on top.

Between the 49 children in year 5 they have produced some breath taking pieced of art work that can be seen on display outside of classes 11 and 12 but also in their topic books.

Year 3 Visit to The Royal Cornwall Museum and Truro Cathedral

29th June 201827th September 2017 by Penpol School

Class 7 and 8 were lucky enough to Visit The Royal Cornwall Museum to take part in three Egyptian workshops, all of which proved to be informative and most enjoyable. This workshop has given the children a greater insight into the life of the Ancient Egyptians and has enabled them to use the Museum to discover more about their way of life. The children were able to experience first hand the awe of looking at a real Mummy as well as observing the amazing Egyptian artefacts on display in the museum.

The workshops were about The Weighing of the Heart Ceremony, part of The Journey into The Afterlife where children dressed up and performed some drama. Children became Gods and Godesses and weighed out the heart of the Isat-Naf-Takht (the museum’s resident Mummy) and decided whether he was fit for the afterlife.

Another workshop was discovering hidden clues in the sand in order to learn about Ancient Egyptian Artefacts. The children were able to touch and hold real artefacts which were up to five thousand years old! We also were treated to a tour of the gallery dedicated to much of the Ancient Worlds, particularly, the Egyptians, observing closely through careful sketching certain artefacts as well as The Mummified body of Isat-Naf-Takht, an Ancient craftsman and priest.

Each class visited Truro Cathedral with an excellent informative workshop which enlightened the children all about some aspects of the Christian faithand some of the everyday occurrences of life in the Cathedral. All children were able to dress up aiding the understanding of the role of certain figures within the Christian community. Isabella said “It was a great day day. I especially liked dressing up as the Bishop, it felt really special.” A brilliant day for all!

Class 6’s Brilliant Moving Pictures

20th April 2017 by Elizabeth Nidds

Children in class 6 had a very busy Spring term in DT in their ‘moving pictures’ topic. Over the course of the term, each child designed and made many different types of moving pictures. These ranged from pop up Chinese new year cards, to making their own class flap book all about themselves, to Easter cards that could be ‘cracked’ open to reveal the message inside!

I liked making the flap book about me because I liked writing all the information under the picture – Jasmine

I enjoyed making my Easter egg card as I liked decorating it how I wanted – Isla

I really liked the All About Me book because I could tell the reader about everything I like doing – Patrick

Their biggest project however, coincided with their History topic ‘the Titanic’. Each child was given the opportunity to design their own moving picture based on the skills and techniques they had used in previous weeks. The children came up with many unique and individual designs using cardboard flaps, lollipop sticks and even designed parts of the pictures that were to pop up. Once the design was finished, it was onto creating their masterpieces

I liked being able to make my own Titanic picture the way I wanted. I did much more on it than I thought I would when I designed it – Bella

Class 6 worked incredibly hard on their pictures and each child produced their own unique picture. They have all worked very hard on their moving pictures and are looking forward to designing and making puppets next term. Well done Class 6!

I enjoyed making my Titanic picture because I got to do lots of cutting and sticking and use lots of different colours – Tess

Class 5 visit the Maritime Museum in Falmouth

29th June 201823rd November 2016 by Penpol School

In connection with our history topic on the Titanic, Class 5 visited the Maritime Museum in Falmouth to participate in a “Wreck and Rescue” workshop and a model boat making session. We learnt all about Henry Trengrouse, a Helston man, who back in 1807 witnessed the ship wreck of the ‘Anson’ off Loe Bar. An engineer by trade, he was devastated by the loss of life due to a lack of life saving equipment and so went on to invent a rocket life saving apparatus and the early form of the Breeches buoy.

Seth, from the museum set up a mini demonstration out on the balcony and the children were involved in rescuing John Henry, a fisherman using a model of Trengrouse’s invention

The children were able to test their boats on the lake in the museum, Luke won!

Myles has a go on the ‘ look outs ‘ chair used to help them get to the crows nest.

The children were also able to play on modern day rescue apparatus, a R.N.L.I dinghy, jet ski and inflatable life raft.

We all learnt a lot and had a brilliant day!

Penpol’s Year 5’s Go Back In Time!

14th May 20181st November 2016 by Nic Stanlake

Over the last term Classes 10 and 11 have been studying the Industrial Revolution and its effect on both the town of Hayle and also the County of Cornwall.

This has involved researching all aspects of the revolution, from the mass production of cotton to the harnessing of steam power. However, it was the quality of life for children in the period that really hit home. Comparing their lives to those of the children living and working in the 1800’s allowed the Year 5 children to see how lucky they are.

The research the children did allowed them to collate a fact file in which they chose to write about either the introduction of steam, the mass production of cotton, the development of transport and the increased attention to workers rights.

The links to Cornwall, and the town of Hayle itself, are plenty with the foundries of Copperhouse and of the Harvey family and the harbour being used to bring coal in and out of the duchy to power the host of steam engines used within the mining industry. We used this in Class 10 and 11 as inspiration for our silhouette art work.

The topic culminated with a trip to the National Trust property, East Pool Mine. On this trip the children had the opportunity to explore the site whilst undertaking various activities. Such as dressing up as miners and balmaidens, the making of felt pasties and a tin trail treasure hunt. But by far the fan favourite for the day was the working steam engine. A fully restored working engine is housed in one of the engine houses at East Pool Mine and what better way to see the effect of steam than to see an engine build here in Cornwall powered by one of Richard Trevithick’s boilers.

Pupil comments:

Meghan- I really enjoyed learning about steam and how it changed the way we live, it was great how we got to see the engine working.

Ines- I enjoyed going to east pool mine and dressing up as a balmaiden and seeing how they lived.

Jake- I like walking through the flu tunnel and looking up to the top of the chimney. It was 180 feet tall!

Trystan- It was fun making our silhouette pictures because we had to wash the red sky and build our setting.

Surf’s up with Y5/6 Surf Club

“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.”