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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.”

Reading Reaches New Heights

Another fantastic round of photos! It is brilliant to see so many new faces taking part in the Extreme Reading Challenge. Keep sending in your creative ways to read. The competition is heating up, winners will be announced on the 14th of December. Still plenty of time to get your photos in to reading@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk. 

Happy Reading!

Mrs Riches 

Penpol are Finalists at the 2018 Edge Awards

Penpol School have once again been recognised for our pupils outstanding ICT and Computing work and have been shortlisted as a finalist for the Edge Awards 2018.

These awards celebrate the very best technology companies, digital content and entrepreneurs in Cornwall, along with the schools and colleges that help inspire and nurture the digital pioneers of tomorrow.

Penpol School have this year been recognised in the category of “Most Inspirational Educational IT / Digital / Multimedia Project” for our work with the 3D printed winter ornaments we’ve made. 

The judges loved the fact that this project included the whole of Key Stage 2 and that it gave so many children the chance to use a technology (namely 3D printing) that they wouldn’t otherwise have had access to.  They were blown away with the quality and charm of the decorations that our pupils had created.

We were the only primary school in the whole of Cornwall to make the finals and whilst we didn’t come away as the overall winner, we were treated to a fantastic video and some lovely words from the judges about our school:

"Penpol School is one of the leading schools for Computing and ICT in the South West.  With forward thinking ideas and passionate teaching staff, their pupils learn to use technology with excitement and enthusiasm and the school gives them the confidence to embrace the technology around them.  They believe that teaching both logical and creative skill sets will see the pupils thrive, whatever the future may bring."
Edge Awards
2018

You can watch the video below:

Class 14 write programs with their names

This week we’ve started using the fantastic Scratch 3.0 software to build some pretty interesting programs.  Starting with a basic idea of animating our names, we developed ideas and explored options to take our projects in different directions.

Within an hour we’d got 28 completely different projects including games, animations, musical performances and some very unusual pieces of abstract art!  Everyone in class pushed themselves to try something new and to experiment, without fear of making a mistake.  And when mistakes were made we celebrated them, because with Scratch a mistake is just the first step towards understanding how to make something work!

Well done Class 14, you’ve worked incredibly hard here.  Take a look below to see what some of the pupils made and what they thought of their Scratch experiments…

“With my project you can press the numbers on the keyboard all the letters will start bouncing around the screen and change colour.  You can change the background colour too by pressing the Space bar.  Then if you press the up arrow the letters will all glide back to their normal place and be the right way up so you can see my name again” – Theo

“I have made mine in the line and put music on, then all of the letters spread up in different directions and then all go back together again to ask each other questions.  I used code to create my own animations.” – Melissa

“I got my letters to spell my name and then I’ve put some code to make them flash all different colours like a rainbow at different times.  And then I’ve got this block of code which asks you a question and you can type an answer to speak to the program” – Izzy

“I have used pieces of code block to create my animation of “E, T and H” and all have their own special parts which make them very funny in all sorts of different ways.  I like Scratch because you can go out of your comfort zone but if you make a mistake it’s a perfect opportunity to learn on how to do it so you don’t make that mistake again.” – Ethan

Extreme Reading Challenge

What a fantastic start to our Extreme Reading Challenge! You have certainly been very busy over the holidays. It is fantastic to see you all enjoying reading and coming up with creative ideas, from reading upside down to reading on top of roof tops. I cannot wait to see what you come up with next. 

Keep the pictures coming in! Don’t forget to email them to reading@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk

 

Mrs Riches

Exploring 3D designs for this year’s Winter Ornaments

This half term we’re starting a big 3D printing project in Computing.  Each class has been learning all about 3D design and how to create different models and designs using the 3D design software Tinkercad.

Each class have gone through some quick-fire challenges with limited time and blocks to push their creativity and design skills to the limits.  We’ve seen some giraffes made of just two shapes, rockets made of 6 and even models of St Michael’s Mount made using just 4 basic shapes.

The children have really embraced the creative side of Computing with this project so far and are now starting to develop their own ideas for their 3D printer Winter Ornament.

Over the next couple of weeks each child in Key Stage 2 will design four different ornaments, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each, pick their favourite and then make refinements to their favourite design.  When they’re happy with their finished product, Mr Woolcock and Paul will make sure that all of the designs get printed before the end of term.

Henry has created a very festive talking hat
Jazmin has designed a lovely black cat in a hat
Jade has recreated her favourite teddy bear
Summer has made a very eye-catching winter decoration

Class 4 Get Cooking!

 

Class 4 love Autumn. We celebrated Harvest time this week and were lucky enough to receive our own Harvest gift from Mrs Smart… lots of delicious cooking apples from her tree, so we decided to get cooking. After a class discussion, we decided on apple crumble – yum!

The children had great fun working together, weighing out the ingredients for the crumble mixture and chopping up the apples. Here is how you do it…

Step 1 – Weigh out 400g of plain flour.

First of all you have to put 5 big spoonfuls of flour in the bowl.  (Rosie)

Me, Suki and Ava were taking turns getting the sugar. You have to weigh how many pounds it is and then put it in the bowl. (Emily)

I was cutting the butter with Reggie. We put it in the measuring box, then put it in the bowl. My favourite bit was squishing the butter. (Kensa)

 

I was putting my hands in the flour and squish it up. It was exciting and fun.  That was my favourite bit! (Lily)

 

After mixing the dry ingredients and rubbing in the butter to make the crumble mixture, the children had to cut slices of apple and put them in the baking dish.

I was chopping the apples with Scarlett. We put flour in on top of the apples. (Erin)

Once the apples are chopped and placed in the baking dish, sprinkle the crumble mixture on generously, covering all of the apples. Place in the oven to cook for about 45 minutes or until the apple slices are cooked through. Leave to cool and … Ta-Dah, delicious apple crumble! Well done Class 4, great team work!

 

 

 

 

Class 4 are ‘sorting it out!’

Class 4 have had an amazing start to the school year and are settling in really well. They are particularly enjoying their maths lessons this week. The topic is ‘counting and sorting’ and the children are trying to find as many different ways to sort the objects as they can. There has been some interesting ideas! Take a look…

 

I was working with Zack and we were sorting out the dominoes. We thought that we could put all the dominoes that were 6 on this side. Then Zack had to count the other spots. If it was 7, he put it in his circle. (Anya)

 

We sorted out the double numbers. We put double 2 on one side and double 4 on the other. (Poppy & Lottie)

The children found lots of different ways to sort the objects. Some chose to sort by colour or size. Others sorted according to length or shape. There were so many great ideas. I loved seeing the classroom buzzing with enthusiasm and listening to the mathematical talk going on.

 

 

Well done class 4. I’m very impressed!

Miss Ryan

 

Tess Surfs to Success at National Championships

Over the summer I took part in the Surf Life Saving GB National Championships.  I wasn’t the only one from Penpol there either, Zara was there too!

I did the paddle board race and came third because of a really good wave!  I also came fifth in the swim and I came fifth in the board relay.  In the sprint I got into the semi finals and in the sprint relay I came fourth.

Because of all the people competing there were two big stages, one for board and one for swim, and we’d swap between the arenas.  In between there was loads of really good music. 

My favourite part of the whole day was my dad buying me a new board to celebrate coming third – it’s pink with stars.

Tess H, Class 10

Hayle Carnival Champions!

Huge congratulations to the Penpol children and parents/carers taking part in yesterday’s Hayle Carnival. Their superb efforts as ‘Come Fly With Us’ won both the ‘mixed walkers’ and ‘overall’ trophies. Amazing!

Many thanks to all those involved in organising such a special event. We very much look forward to taking part in 2019.

Staff 4 – 3 Students

The much anticipated staff vs students football match did not disappoint. After a cagey first half, the game finished with a total of 7 goals, 8 less than last years affair. The staff were expecting a difficult challenge this year following the children successes over the season and they didn’t have to wait long for the inevitable. After a very slick move from Luca and Charley, Finn raced through to slot the ball calmly between the legs of debutant goal keeper, Mr Peck. Once Mr Peck had loosened his limbs and tied his laces, he was forced into action again, pulling off a fine save from Freddie. The staff struggled to make their possession count with Mr Pollard and skipper, Mr Wells (who was captaining the side for the first time) combined well but struggled to find a way past Jack and Dylan in defence. Then a fine ball from another debutant Mr Jones fell to the feet of Mrs Loughlin in the box, before she controlled it and fired it goalwards with just one swing of her left foot. A fine shot, matched and bettered by a diving save from Caden in goal for the children.

With the staff starting to settle into some kind of rhythm they were pegged back again as the students took another step towards victory when Charley calmly slotted away a penalty after he was upended by a robust challenge from the effervescent Mr Pollard. The staff needed to find a break through and after immense pressure from Mrs Smart and Mr Jones the ball fell to the feet of Mr Stanlake, who stepped infield and blasted a right footed rocket from distance into what the children will call ‘top bins’. This proved to be the spark to the games fire. It turned into a  fraught affair, with Mr Wise calling it a “ding-dong battle, I’d have been happy to pay to watch”.

The attacks came thick and fast from both sides but some resolute defending kept the score at 2-1 until a strong tackle from Miss ‘Nidiniho’ Nidds send Mr Chislett, another debutant, down the left wing, his clipped cross found the head of the 4th debutant named in the match day squad, Mr Emery who headed home into the students net to level the scores. As the half time whistle neared the staff had an opportunity to take a lead into the break but Mr Emery failed to add to his earlier goal after Mr Stanlake sent Ross for a hotdog down the left wing. Ross was making his second appearance for the students 4 years since his last alongside Jack J, both of whom had unsuccessful trials for the staff during their week on work experience.

The half time break brought the opportunity for tactics and oranges. A string of changes at half time for the staff disrupted the students passing style, but they persevered and trusted their ability to pass the ball out from the back, a tactic that has served them so well this season as they were crowned county champions. It was the introduction of Jack for the students that seemed to buoy them, on loan from Hayle Academy, he slid straight into an already strong and competent back 3. The students began to take confidence in the possession they were becoming too familiar with. Mr Stanlake then clipped the ball towards the back post where Mr Pollard was making his presence felt. The pressure he applied to the student defence forced Jack J into making an error which he always looked susceptible to make. His nervous header looped over Caden and settled into the students net. The staff took the lead for the first time in the match much to the disappointment of the student supporting crowd. Mr Pollard’s job outfield was done as he subbed for goal keeper Mr Peck. The moment had come for the introduction of the combative pair of Caroline and Lady Turner for the staff. The destructive style of this pair in defence was complimented by the guile and calmness of Mr Woolcock who controlled the ball at the back like a young Paulo Maldini. A strong tackle form Lady T led to the award of a freekick, the dissent that followed led to her name being the first to enter the book. She was soon joined by Mr Emery whose rash tackle gifted a very good opportunity for the student to level the scores. Unfortunately for them, their well worked move didn’t materialise with Freddie shooting high over the bar.

With only minutes left on the clock Freddie made amends, some brilliant midfield play from Alfie allowed Freddie to play the ball through the confused and tiring defence to Charley who slid the ball past the new ‘keeper Mr Pollard who was sluggish off the line. 3-3.

The game was nearing its climax and neither team looked happy with a draw. The students kept knocking on the door, with Alfie striking from distance and Finn squandering a good chance. Mr Chislett then had a chance to win the game but Alfie ensured that wasn’t the case with some very brave defending. The staff at this stage were struggling to string passes together, Mr Peck playing some good one twos, only to not receive the return pass. The students had the ability and the confidence to keep the ball on the floor and pass to each others feet, making football look as simple a game as it should. This wasn’t the case for the adults.  The distribution from Mr Pollard seemed to be the answer as the staff decided to cut out middle of the pitch and resort to long ball football.

This would be the key that unlocked the children’s defence and ensured the trophy stayed in the hands of the staff as a long throw from Mr Pollard was flicked on by a clever head of Mr Emery. The bounce of the ball beat Jack and Dylan and allowed Mr Stanlake to rush through and take the headlines. 4-3 to the staff. A real cracker of a game.

The students however can take a huge amount of pride from their performance. They continued to display a very positive attitude and pass the ball simply. Enjoying their football like they have all season long.