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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

Creating Mayan Temple Animations in Year 6

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!

– Mr Woolcock

Egyptian Animations from Year 3

This Half Term the children in Year 3 have been learning all about the Ancient Egyptians.  As part of this exciting topic they have created some beautiful line art animations of the Mask of Tutankhamun set against a colourful Egyptian scene.

Class 7 Animations

The children paid close attention to detail when drawing the mask itself, looking at the ornate decorations and the beautiful gold finish.  They then researched King Tut to find some interesting facts to accompany their animations.

Class 8 Animations

Well done Year 3 for a great project!

– Mr Woolcock

Super Six Status For Some Of Our Super Year 6s

The long awaited announcement of this year’s first crop of ‘Super Six’ pupils took place this week with the awarding of 5 ties and certificates. Becoming a ‘Super Six’ is not simply about academic success but more so recognising excellent role models that demonstrate the shared values and ethos of the school.

The first five pupils have been presented with a certificate signed by all members of teaching staff as well as the Year 6 team. This means that the children’s awarding of the certificate must be agreed by all, a wonderful achievement and one to be very proud of. The children have also signed a contract to show that they now fully understand the responsibilities for their new role.

These particular children share a tremendous work ethic and constant drive to succeed and improve. Through both homework and classwork they have shown immense effort and diligence and we are wholly confident they will continue to set an excellent example for children at Penpol School as they wear their new ties with pride.

We look forward to seeing these children continue to develop and flourish at Penpol as well as looking forward to the opportunity to present more awards to deserving children. For any Years 6 wishing to find out what they need to do, they need look no further than the attached contract.

Year 6 Explore Islam With Daya

In Year 6 this term we have been studying Islam in RE. We have learnt all about the 5 Pillars, the importance of prayer, the Qur’an, fasting and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

We also had the opportunity to host Daya, for day. Daya is a Religious Education specialist who lives in Cornwall. During the day we had the chance to ask her a whole host of questions and discuss how not only Islam, but various different religions around the world have differing and interestingly similar beliefs.

The children talked at length about respect, respecting each others views and beliefs.

Throughout the day, we looked at the life of someone who follows the religion of Islam, a muslim, the importance of the mosque and the role it plays in Islamic culture. We also had the chance to dress in some traditional Indian clothing, learn some Indian dance and finally try some homemade potato curry along with the chapatti breads that we made in class.

Year 6 try their hands at Mexican Cooking!

Year 6 had the pleasure of welcoming Andrew for Aspdens, our school catering provider, this week. He spent the session talking to the children about cooking safety; origin of ingredients; the importance of understanding where our food comes from and how for it has traveled; and the benefits of a healthy diet.

As our Year 6 classes have been studying the Ancient Mayan Civilisation we decided to have a go at cooking some less traditional Mayan, but more delicious Mexican dishes. The children had to peel, dice, slice, grate and mix avocado, tomatoes, garlic, onion, fresh chilli and coriander to create both a spicy salsa and a cool guacamole before enjoying both with some home made tortilla chips Andrew prepared in the school kitchen before hand.

Some children were braver than others but lived to regret their choices when underestimating the strength of fresh chilli. Many of the flavours that Andrew introduced were unfamiliar to the children on their own, of course they had been exposed to them in other dishes but not many had eaten a coriander leaf on its own. It was not only interesting to see some off the children’s faces when tasting some of the ingredients but to hear the sensible conversations they had with each other about the different tastes the tongue can sense.

With more salsa and guacamole than tortilla chips our creations were sent to the school canteen for children to enjoy with their fajitas, which were on the menu for the day.

Year 5 Space Spectacul-‘AR’

This half term our year 5 pupils have been learning about Space and the Solar System.  As part of this exciting topic, the children have been using their knowledge of our Solar System to create some video documentaries on the iPads.

However, obviously getting video footage of the actual planets is quite tricky.  So instead the children have carefully re-created each planet using their own artwork and Augmented Reality.

They’ve then put these AR planets together in the video app Clips and added their own voiceovers, titles and special effects.

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The children have worked phenomenally hard on this project and the videos below are testament to this.  Please do jump right in and watch a few to get a flavour of our out-of-this-world Space Documentaries!

Class 12 Space Documentaries

Class 11 Space Documentaries

South West Water visit Year 2

As part of their new topic, ‘Make the Change’, Class 5 and 6 had a visit from South West Water to learn about how water is filtered prior to use within the home.

All of the children had the opportunity to carry out an experiment, which enabled them to identify all of the stages that dirty water needs to go through to make it safe for them to drink. They also became aware of the importance of ensuring that only toilet tissue is flushed down the toilet and not to waste water, whilst cleaning their teeth or taking a shower.

Year 4 Robotic Music

This term, Year Four have been learning to combine sounds and rhythms in our music lessons. After composing a range of different rhythms, we used GarageBand to record the rhythms which were played using a variety of everyday objects around the classroom. Using some studio effects and post production techniques, we edited the rhythm sounds and added melodic instruments. After we had recorded a short snippet, we then used a loop tool to repeat the rhythms.

 

 

Year 5’s friendship with French school grows

Each half-term, students from Classes 11 and 12 have written a letter or email to a penpal in France.  The aim of the French penpal exchange, which has been running successfully for over two years, was for our students at Penpol to better understand the similarities, as well as differences, between school life in France and at Penpol.  This opportunity also offers a platform for our students to use their French for a real purpose, being able to ask their French counterparts any questions they may have about life in France.

As Year 5 have recently been studying reflexive verbs to say what they do on a daily basis, the first series of questions sent to France were based on what time their French penpal got up, started school, finished school and how much homework they received.  The responses from the French students provided plenty of discussion.  Did you know that French students start school at 8.30am and don’t finish school until 4.30pm?  However, though the school day is longer on most days, children in France only have a half day on Wednesday, followed by the afternoon off school to take part in extra-curricular activities.

As well as sending emails, which is first drafted in their books, then sent on to France, the children have also received and sent festive cards.

 

It’s great writing to someone from another country.  It’s a fun way to practise French!  Isabella, Class 11

Next up, Year 5 will be creating a guess who game centred on the topic of hobbies.  Watch this space for more news about Penpol’s thriving Cornish- French email exchange!