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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

“Penpol pupils are curious, creative and courageous learners. Our school community believes in authenticity as the foundation of deep-rooted learning. Through our rich and relevant curriculum, we nurture community-minded, forward-facing international citizens of the future.”
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The Penpol Times

Heyl Crossfit

Class 1 spent a fun packed afternoon at the high energy Heyl Crossfit gym.

We practised running, jumping, climbing, crawling, swinging, squats and balancing.

“I liked the ropes, I liked to swing on it.” – Cassius

The obstacle course was exciting and the game the floor is larva was great fun.

“I liked the balls when you jump on them.” – Felix

Heyl CrossFit have kindly offered another free taster session to children over 5 on Monday’s and Friday’s from 4.30. Contact Ted at the gym for more information.

“I liked the benches and the boxes, go under the boxes and over the benches.” – Ethan

Class 1 would like to say thank you Ted, Aimee and Sophie for the amazing afternoon of games, activities and fun.

“This is the best school trip ever.” – Ferne

Incredible Results for Penpol at the LEGO League Cornwall Finals

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

Year 4 enrol at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry for the Day!

This half term, Year 4 have been immersed into the world of Harry Potter, reading Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone.  In English, they have described Hogwarts using adventurous adjectives, similes and metaphors to really showcase the magic that conjures up Hogwarts castle.  In addition, they have also experienced a Potions lesson with Professor Pearson, Professor Peckunia, Professor Emerald, Professor Cross de Morte and Professor Antonia.  This involved concocting a potion, deciding upon its magical value and then advertising their potion to the masses.

To celebrate all of the fantastic learning which has been going on, Year 4 then celebrated a Harry Potter ‘dress up’ day!  The school was awash with the four colours of each of Hogwart’s Houses: Gryffinfor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff & Ravenclaw.

 

The students were incredible and bowled us over with their enthusiasm and flair for writing this term.  Their persuasive posters and adverts were of spell-binding quality.  Check out the pictures and videos of the students and teachers having an incredible time below!

[videopack id=”41961″]https://www.penpolschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Atene.mp4[/videopack]
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[videopack id=”41963″]https://www.penpolschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Layla-D-Potions.mp4[/videopack]

Year 6 hit the heights at The Tide

Our current Year 6 pupils had their activity week curtailed last year due to the pandemic but finally had the chance to don the harnesses and head to The Tide. Thanks must go to Mr Pollard who put his hard work into organising this trip last year; he did however get the chance to have a go too!

Split across two days, both Classes 13 and 14 spent the day at The Tide Climbing Centre near Wadebridge. Here they had the opportunity to challenge their thirst for heights and climb with ropes on their climbing wall and without on the bouldering wall.

Both walls provided children (and adults) varying levels of challenge at the same time as allowing each individual to challenge their own limits; climbing higher and faster each time with increasing confidence. It was fair to say fun was had by all with aching limbs all round for the days to follow!

More information about The Tide Climbing Centre can be found HERE.

Dance Fever hits Penpol!

Class 13 were the last in a long list of children to attend an introductory workshop at Hayle’s own Savvy Studios. Years 4, 5 and 6 have all had the opportunity to take part in two separate workshops; one lyrical and one contemporary.

At Penpol we pride ourselves on our links with local business and sports clubs. It has been difficult for both us and them during pandemic, but it was so lovely to get back out there and give the children these wonderful opportunities to try and experience different sports and hobbies.

The children were rewarded for their hard work and creativity with a flyer offering attendance at some trial classes; this is not only open to those who have attended but anyone who may be interested.

You can see the amazing work that goes on at Savvy by taking a look at their website. Parents, it is also her you can book some trial classes, with no pressure to sign up at the end!

WAR DECLARED: All YEAR 6 children to be Evacuated!

81 years after thousands of children and young vulnerable adults were evacuated from cities across the country during WW2, our Year 6 children had a go themselves. To celebrate the end of our ‘Wartime Britain’ topic the children (and adults) dressed themselves in period clothing and lived the life of an evacuee for the day.

After being collected from the gate by a member of the 2 of the newest members for he British Army and our very own Land Girls they waved a teary goodbye to their parents before being subjected to a roll call and squeezing into a cramped school classrooms; much like the evacuees of 1939 would have been when they departed the trains.

It was here the children had chance to act in character and meet their fellow evacuees, discussing the contents of their suitcases as well as their preferred destination. Those without identification tags were labeled and sent on their way. The children then had some time to look at and try different games that evacuees would have played in the 40’s.

For the remainder of the morning we continued in character- between the air raid sirens- we wrote post cars home to share the news of out safe arrival and built model spitfires whilst learning about their significance during the Battle of Britain. In school groups the children followed a handed-down ration recipe to make some delicious bread and butter pudding.

At the close of the day the children were collected by their parents, their evacuation was much shorter than those during the war. Many parents came into class to sample some of their cooking but also sit and enjoy their child’s work from the last term, with the majority of literacy and topic being based heavily on our studying of Wartime Britain.

Year 2 visit to St Michael’s Mount

On a very windy, stormy Monday 6th December, year 2 went to visit St Michael’s Mount as part of their Castles topic.

After putting on our head-to-toe waterproofs, we got on the coach and drove through the elements to Marazion.

We pulled up, gathered our things together, and started the ascent to the Mount.

Battling against the wind and the cobbles, we arrived and were welcomed by the St Michael’s Mount team. They talked us through the grounds and gave us a scavenger hunt map, leading us to lots of intriguing and exciting sights around the castle and gardens. Unfortunately, during our journey the wind had grown too strong for us to continue the final leg of the climb into the castle itself!

While we waited in hope for the winds to ease, we began our search for some of the sights on our maps.

 

We found the Giant’s Heart and the Giant’s Well, nestled amongst the cobbles and Mrs Hocking delighted us all to a gripping cliff-top retelling of the myth surrounding the Giant and St Michael’s Mount.

 

After a bit of lunch in the Visitors’ Centre and a lot of fun and games, the weather improved and we were allowed to explore the castle to our heart’s content.

We had an amazing time and loved being able to put all of our learning from this term’s topic into context. It was a delight to hear the year 2s buzzing around the rooms, pointing out different familiar features and interesting new ones, exploring, discussing and experiencing a real-life castle together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A particular highlight was looking out from the castle walls at the impressive vista below. Some of us had to overcome our fears to do it and it was definitely worth it!

There was still lots of exploring to do, but it was time to say our goodbyes to the Mount so we made our way back to the coach and to school.

What a fantastic way to round off this term’s topic!

Class 7’s Ancient Egyptian Day

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 6 Netball Fever

On Thursday 23 children made the relatively short walk to Hayle Academy to take part in a coaching clinic with 4 Year 10 pupils from Hayle; 3 of which were ex-Penpol pupils.

The Year 6 pupils performed admirably, showing many of our school values; respect, integrity and resilience. For many, the toughest part was understanding the different roles for players in different positions.

Exploring at Tehidy Woods

Class 1 had a great time in Tehidy woods.

As part of our 360 curriculum, we are took the learning outside the classroom and experienced our local environment.

We builded dens for us for next time we go to the woods, with sticks, big ones and little ones. We did potions and we put leaves on a stick 5 leaves – Maya

Tehidy woods was the venue of our a scavenger hunt. We foraged, observed and hunted for treasures.

We collected some sticks and leaves to take back to class to make some leaf pictures and prints.

We made dens and made potions in the woods, me and Maya were witches and we were going to turn any bad monsters into frogs – Flo

The leaves called off the trees because its Autumn. We found leaves and sticks and we lifted up trees and we made dens for the fairies and the lion king – Maia

We built dens, made a birds nest sculpture and a fairy home using the things we find.

Finally we had a go on the rope swing.

There are squirrels in the woods and woodlice and beetles and foxes but I’ve never seen a fox. Reggie needed help lifting logs up so I asked other people to help him. I found a sweet chestnut- Jack

A great time was had by all in the terrific Tehidy woods.