The Penpol Times

Code Club off to a flying start

14th May 201822nd November 2016 by Jacob Woolcock

Last week some of our Year 6’s launched our very first Code Club, here at Penpol School. With support from Mr Woolcock, the team of Year 6 boys have been sharing their coding knowledge with over SEVENTY children who’ve been enjoying Code Club.

Harry, Connor, Morgan and Zak have taken on the responsibility of running the club over multiple lunchtimes, in order to ensure that everyone who wants to has the opportunity to spend half an hour being creative on the computers. Already they’ve had to turn children away though as the queues to get in have been out the door!

“It’s been great fun teaching the juniors coding, particularly the Year 4’s because they are very new to coding.” – Harry, Y6

In Code Club the children are allowed to use Scratch, MicroBits and sometimes even Xcode to create whatever they can imagine. Whether it be a game, a puzzle, a character or even an interactive quiz, our Juniors are showing that there really is no limit to what they can do on the computers.

“It’s been great fun so far, because it’s teaching the younger ones to code and helping me with my own coding skills.” – Connor, Y6

If you’d like to come along to code club then please check the poster below to see which day your year group are invited to.

The Mosquitoes Rock Reception

29th June 201821st November 2016 by Amanda Aspden

The Mosquitoes rocked the reception classes this week with their much anticipated concert. Taking timeout from their busy tour schedule, Paul, Neil, Geoff, Billy and front man Graeme (Sabina from Class 1’s dad) brought the classroom down with their fabulous mix of South American rock with a hint of Cornish punk.

With classics such as Seve Ballesteros and Where’s My Hat, the reception children boogied, jumped, jived and moshed to the upbeat and melodic tunes.

The Mosquitoes energy and enthusiasm was infectious. The children loved learning all about the different instruments and even got a chance to play alongside their heroes. The children strummed along on the guitars, sung into the microphones and had a go at playing the drums. The popular band who are much in demand were headlining Connor Downs after our visit.

The band featured drummer Billy (Kane from class 8’s dad) who saved the day by stepping in last minute due to the usual Mosquitoes drummer being unable to make the gig.

The children from Class 1 and Class 2 absolutely loved the fab five!

“I liked Paul, he helped me play the guitar.” – Phoebe.

“They were really good singers and really good players. I liked the drums. I liked Sabina’s Daddy.“ – Lylie.

“The band was really good. I really love Daddy so much. Daddy was singing really good.” – Sabina.

“There’re the best band I’ve ever seen,” – Felix

“I think it was really good.” – Alex.

“I liked playing the guitars and using the microphones.” – Ethan.

“I liked singing into the microphone.” – Penny.

“I liked playing on the drums and being the drummer.” – Harvey.

“I liked the guitars. I liked Geoff and Neil because they were brilliant.” – Louis.

Surfing’s on the Curriculum at Penpol

29th June 201817th November 2016 by Mark Pollard

We are very fortunate at Penpol School to be situated by the sea next to three miles of glorious beaches and golden sand. In this area of outstand natural beauty, we have some of the best beaches in Cornwall offering fantastic surfing opportunities.

Living next to the Atlantic, however, does come with its own hazards and dangers, especially when it comes to being safe in the sea.

At Penpol School we take beach safety very seriously.

We have a close connection with several of our community partners including the RNLI, Shore Surf and Hayle Surf-Lifesaving Club. These partners regularly present whole school assemblies, discussing the dangers of the sea and encouraging the children to reflect on the importance of beach safety.

At Penpol School we also believe that our children should be taking full advantage of their geographical location and safely enjoying the unique area in which they live. With this in mind, we have made surfing a compulsory part of our curriculum for Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.

Teaming up with Shore Surf School and their fully qualified expert surf-instructors, each pupil has participated in five two-hour surf lessons, working towards Level 2 Shore Surf Award.

This has involved meeting various expectations and demonstrating a number of key skills including:

Changing in and out of a wetsuit unaided.
Working as a team and supporting each other.
Perseverance and determination
Knowledge of water safety and recognising hidden dangers
Developing confidence in the water
Catching a wave
Popping to their feet and surfing for five seconds or more
Demonstrating balance and co-ordination.

This is the second year our pupils have taken part in surfing and it has proved to be a great success.

Pupil comments –

I found the past five Thursdays the most enjoyable days of the week and that was because of the surfing – Zehava

I enjoyed surfing very much this year. I think I have learnt so much in the five weeks. I stood up for the first time ever and caught some really cool waves. The instructors were very kind and taught us how to do some impressive tricks – Erin

I loved going surfing this term even though sometimes the waves were huge! We learnt very quickly how to stand up and then how to go faster, as well as slow down on a wave. Soon after this we were taught to turn and dismount safely – Tilly

I enjoyed surfing so much this term that I think we should go again next term. I think surfing should be on the curriculum because we live by the sea and we learn how to be safe in the water – Jake

Penpol Give Hockey A Go!

14th May 201817th November 2016 by Nic Stanlake

Nine of our budding hockey players made their way to Penzance Hockey Club on Wednesday to represent Penpol School in the Penwith District Hockey League.

Motivated by the recent success of the England Ladies gold medal winning hockey team, the children took part in hopefully the first game of a long hockey career. The team performed magnificently in all three games that they took part in against local teams, unfortunately only managing to gain one draw.

But enjoyment was the aim and there were bags full of it to go around. With three games under our belts we now look forward to taking our experience into the next round of fixtures.

Micro:Bits have arrived at Penpol!

14th May 201812th November 2016 by Jacob Woolcock

This term we’ve bought a whole classes worth of BBC Micro:Bits to use with Year 5 and 6!

These tiny computers are incredibly clever and already we’ve had classes using them to make compasses, thermometers and little pocket-sized games. These Micro:Bits have proved such a hit in the last few days that we’re going to make sure everyone in Key Stage 2 gets the chance to learn to code with them this year, starting with Year 5 and 6.

While the children are used to coding using Scratch on the computers, being able to make programs which run on these little devices is even more exciting as they can be taken outdoors and used just about anywhere. Over the year we’ll be using our Micro:Bits for science experiments, music lessons and more. We’ll also make sure they’re available to use at lunchtime Code Club incase anybody wants to try making their own ideas into reality using the Micro:Bits.

Amazing homework from Class 5 & 6!

18th October 201810th November 2016 by Penpol School

In connection with our Science and Geography topics this term, the children in Year 2 were given some suggestions on what they could do for optional homework. These ideas included:

Making dinner for the family at home.
Making an igloo.
Making a Christmas table decoration

Dinner for the family

Eloise decided to show off her very talented cooking skills by making a delicious pasta dish for her family.

“I really like cooking and everyone loved their dinner and ate it all up.” – Eloise

Eloise decided to share her amazing recipe and wrote down a detailed list of instructions.

Igloo’s are very cool!

Several pupils decided to have a go at making an igloo. The children were very creative and came up with very inventive ways of building their igloos.

Myles’s dad kindly helped him to make this amazing model, complete with fishing line and ice blocks.

“It took about half a week to make and I think its really good.” – Myles

Eloise made a smaller one out of clay and painted it, complete with a fierce polar bear! She said she really enjoyed making it.

“My sister helped me but clay is a bit messy and it got everywhere!” – Eloise

Thomas’s igloo was made out of cotton wool and papier-mâché. It took most of an evening to make and even has a little light in it which looks like a fire.

Stunning Christmas table decorations

Christmas is fast approaching and one of the options for homework was for the children to make a table decoration.

Jazmin, Myles and Samuel all made these amazing centre pieces which will proudly grace their tables on the big day!

“I only needed help with the glue gun, it’s good!” – Jazmin

“I needed help with the sand in the jar as it was a bit tricky, it’s definitely going on my table at Christmas!” – Myles

“I did it all by myself except for the glue gun bit.” – Samuel

Penpol Progress To The Next Round

14th May 20189th November 2016 by Nic Stanlake

Penpol School 10 – 2 Parc Eglos

The Penpol School football team got off to a flying start in this years cup competition. Putting their recent league defeat to local rivals Bodriggy behind them, the team put 10 goals past the visiting Parc Eglos team (Helston) in their first home match at home this season. A fantastic team performance from all involved skippered brilliantly by the rock solid Josh (Class 13). The ten goals were shared by 4 players, 4 goals for Charlie (Class 11), 4 also for Jake (Class 13) and one each for Finn and Dylan (both Class 11).

Man of the match goes to Ethan (Class 13) for controlling the midfield and dictating the game

Well done Ethan!

Penpol School Spelling Bee 2016

29th June 20184th November 2016 by Mark Pollard

Spelling Bee Champion 2016 — Josie from Class 12

On Wednesday 2nd of November the culmination of the Penpol School Spelling Bee took place, with 16 supreme spellers from across Year 5 and 6 making up the competitors after defeating the rest of their class in a sub-competition in their respective classrooms.

After a lengthy battle covering over 600 spellings, which included such tricky words as fluorescent, questionnaire and embarrassment, Josie, from class 12 was the outright winner, narrowly defeating William (also from class 12).

The children in Year 5, though at a disadvantage this year, being a year younger, will be given the same list of words next year and we look forward to another highly-entertaining and closely-fought spelling battle.

Outdoor Learning in Class 6 – Healthy eating during ‘Harvest’ time

29th June 20183rd November 2016 by Linda Ruffell

This term Class 6 have been busy learning all about ‘Humans’ and ‘Animals’ and what they both need to remain healthy. Following an exciting trip to Trevaskis Farm, the children were then able to identify why fruit and vegetables are important for a healthy diet and which fruit and vegetables are available to us during the ‘Harvest’ period.

The children also got to meet some of the animals and a very special visitor who was working hard to scare off the birds!

Autumn art in Tehidy Woods

29th June 20181st November 2016 by Penpol School

On the 9^th November Class 5 visited Tehidy woods to do some sketching and to collect autumn leaves as part of their curriculum artwork.

The children worked very hard and drew some stunning pictures of the trees around the woods.

They then collected various kinds of leaves with wonderful autumn colours.

Back at school, the children studied the leaves and then made some incredible detailed drawings.

The tree drawings they had done earlier were copied several times and then coloured in the style of William Morris wallpaper. The final result was very effective.

Class 5 really has some superb artists!

The Dragons and the Six Super Stars both come back from Culdrose with Trophies!

“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.”