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Chris Coyle-Chislett

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secretary@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk

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01736 753472

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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

Class 7 are embracing collaboration and creativity!

Class 7 is buzzing with excitement as we delve into activities that foster teamwork, encourage creativity, and make learning fun and interactive. Here are some highlights from our recent adventures:

Collaborating on Writing

This week, Year 3 focused on improving their writing skills through collaboration and peer reviews. The children worked in pairs to share their stories and ideas. Each writer had the opportunity to hear feedback from their peers, who highlighted the strengths of the work and suggested thoughtful improvements. It was wonderful to see how constructive feedback inspired the children to polish their writing. The teamwork and respect demonstrated during these sessions were truly commendable!

Maths Dice Race Game

Learning maths has never been so engaging! To strengthen their quick-thinking and number sense, Class 7 enjoyed a lively dice race game. In this activity, pairs  competed to solve problems by rolling dice and calculating sums in record time. Laughter and determination filled the room as the children cheered each other on, showcasing their competitive spirit while working together. Games like these are a fantastic way to turn learning into a playful experience.

What’s Next?

As we continue to embrace collaboration in all areas of learning, we are excited for what’s ahead. Whether through writing, problem-solving, or creating art, Class 7 is proving that teamwork and creativity go hand-in-hand. Stay tuned for more updates from our incredible young learners!

The Great Scone Showdown: Jam or Cream First?

When it comes to a Cornish Cream Tea, there’s one question that’s crumbling the peace: which should you spread first—jam or cream?

Our Cornish Club decided to whisk things up by taking part in a tasty experiment to see which method our students preferred. The results were as buttery as a freshly baked scone—but there were definitely some crumbs of controversy along the way!

Cornish Vocabulary:

Dehen Te – Cream Tea

Jamm – Jam

Skonsen – Scone

Dehen Molys – Clotted Cream

The Battle of the Scones

A Cornish cream tea is a beloved tradition in the South West of England, made up of scones, clotted cream, and jam. But the order of toppings is where the real debate lies.

  • Cornish Way: In Cornwall, the correct method is to spread the jam first, followed by a dollop of clotted cream on top. The jam acts as a base to hold the cream in place—like a perfect marriage of sweetness and richness.
  • Devon Way: In Devon, however, the cream comes first, with the jam plopped on top. Fans of this method say the cream acts as a soft, luxurious base, letting the jam sit pretty on top—like a crown atop a royal scone.

The Great Taste Test:

Students were invited to try both methods and cast their vote for the ultimate cream tea combination. The room buzzed with excitement as everyone spread their toppings, each determined to win the argument.

“Mrs Bettens, you are wrong, the best way is dehen/cream first”, came a healthy debate from Morwenna.

As the scones disappeared and the debate rumbled on, it became clear: there was no easy way to spread the love in this argument.

Conclusion:

After much deliberation, the children decided there is no ‘right way’ to eat a scone,  just whichever way you find jam-packed with flavour! Whether you’re team Cornwall or team Devon, one thing’s for sure: a Cornish cream tea is a treat worth arguing over.

Just remember: no matter how you spread it, it’s bound to be splann/super!

 

Sweet Success: Year 2 Make Honey Flapjacks

This week, our Year 2 classrooms were buzzing with excitement as pupils traded pencils for mixing bowls to create their very own honey flapjacks. The sweet smell of honey and oats filled the air as the children took part in this hands-on learning experience, combining cooking with literacy, mathematics and creativity.

The week began with an introduction to reading recipes. In their whole-class reading lessons, the children learned to navigate the instructions step by step, identifying time connectives and command sentences. They practised reading measurements and ingredient lists, connecting their classroom English and maths lessons to real-life scenarios.

Our Year 2 pupils worked in groups to read their recipes, then carefully measured out and mixed the ingredients, before scraping the flapjack mixtures into greased and lined baking tins.

The flapjacks, baked to golden perfection, received raving reviews from children and parents alike. More than just a fun activity, this experience highlighted valuable lessons about following instructions, expressing creativity, and working collaboratively with peers.

After successfully making (and tasting!) their flapjacks, the children have been inspired to write their own recipes… Watch this space for their own oat-standing flapjack recipes!

Year 1’s Roarsome Dinosaur Hunts in Writing!

This week, Year 1 have been busy crafting some truly roarsome stories in English! Inspired by Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, the children wrote their own adventure: We’re Going on a Dinosaur Hunt! Their imaginations soared as they journeyed through yummy crumbly sausage rolls, cheesy pepperoni pizza, and even slippery smelly bananas, all in search of dinosaurs!

The children have really embraced the Penpol Values of Creativity, thinking up wild and wonderful ideas to make their stories come alive. We are especially proud of how they’ve shown the Penpol Value of Resilience by writing a whole story from start to finish. What a fantastic achievement!

The excitement reached new heights when a dinosaur visited the classroom, making the stories feel even more alive and thrilling!

Well done, Year 1! You’ve all proven yourselves to be fantastic writers with dino-sized imaginations!

Year 1 Roars with Creativity

Year 1 have been having a dino-mite time developing their art skills, and this term, we’ve been learning about printing! Using bubble wrap, we created fantastic textured prints to make dinosaur scales—how cool is that? The bubble wrap gave our dinosaurs a scaly effect, bringing them to life in a whole new way.

This activity was the perfect way to showcase our Penpol Value of Creativity, as we explored new techniques and unleashed our imagination. What a fun and creative way to bring dinosaurs to life on paper!

Oh dreidel, dreidel, dreidel!

The Key Question Year 1 are exploring in RE this term is: “Who is Jewish and how do they live?”

This term, we’ve had a lot of fun learning about the dreidel, a traditional Jewish game. Jewish people play dreidel during the festival of Hanukkah, which celebrates the Festival of Lights. We’ve also been singing the dreidel song:

I have a little dreidel,
I made it out of clay.
And when it’s dry and ready,
Oh dreidel, I shall play!

We’re ‘buzzing’ about spelling in Year 5 and 6

 

After weeks of excited preparation, the early rounds of this year’s Spelling Bee took place in classrooms, where children worked through a range of common words from across the curriculum. Each pupil started with three lives, diving deep into the word bank until only five super-spellers remained from each class.

These 20 talented finalists stepped nervously into the hall, greeted by the rapturous applause of their peers. The intensity of the competition increased as the difficulty of the words grew, with the added challenge of spelling each word aloud. In the semi-finals, the children’s lives were reset, but with one fewer than before. Among the many impressive performances, the Year 5 pupils stood out, competing confidently against their older peers. After some thrilling moments stretching across two sessions, the final five spellers emerged: Arthur, Atia, Henry, Sorrell, and Evangeline.

The grand finale pushed the competitors to their limits with words of even greater difficulty. Each correct spelling brought gasps of admiration and enthusiastic applause, leading up to the championship word: phenomenon. Evangeline truly lived up to the word, demonstrating incredible skill and lifting the trophy without a single incorrect spelling—a phenomenal 78 words in total!

Congratulations, Evangeline, on your outstanding achievement and well done to all of our Year 5 and 6 pupils, you amazed as much as you do every day!

 

Creating Winter Sculptures in Tinkercad

This year our Year 3’s and Year 6’s have created their own 3D Winter Ornaments using Tinkercad.  The Year 3’s have been using the Scribble tool to create unique and personal designs whilst the Year 6’s have been making theirs using the Codeblocks editors.  Rather than me talking about how it all works, let’s hear from some of the students instead…

Year 6 Winter Ornaments

“I made a snowman with a scarf and top hat.  It has accessories too, like some coal buttons and a carrot nose.  Alongside the snowman, on the right, it has a present with a Santa hat one top and to the left it has a tower of six snowballs.

I used three spheres, increasing by size, to make the body and a cube a cuboid for the hat.  The trickiest part was making the buttons for the snowman, making sure they weren’t too far off or too far inside the snowman’s body. It was also tricky making sure the height was equally spaced between each button.

This is probably going to be on the shelf in my bedroom for quite a while – until my dad tells me it’s time to put the Christmas decorations away.  But then I’ll look forward to seeing it again each year.”

Tamara

“I made a cat that was inspired by my cat at home (Dotty).  I started off with a head shape and tried to make all of the details on the head like the eyes and when I was satisfied with the head I moved onto the body.  For this I used a cube but I stretched it out to make it more rectangular and curved the edges.

I’m very pleased with how my cat came out, I will keep it forever!  I think the real Dotty will be very pleased to meet her new friend!”

Ivor

“I used Tinkercad Codeblocks to code my cat, which was really fun but quite tricky too!  The hardest part was to get the ears at an angle on the head, because I had to figure out how to get them the same angle on opposite sides.

When I take my cat home, I’ll show it to my mum and dad and then put it in the windowsill.  I think I’ll keep it out all the time!”

Georgia

“It didn’t take too much of my time, but it was so fun to do that I wanted to work on my design at home as well.  I went to show my family what I was making and they were really interested in how I made it, they just kept saying wow when they saw all my code.

I’m probably going to keep my Creeper figure in my bedroom.  I like how I designed it on the computer and it’s now stood right in front of me in real life.”

Brody

Year 6 Gallery

Year 3 Winter Ornaments

“I made my Christmas Tree by drawing it on the computer and then went off it by pressing done.  Then I pressed the button which made a copy and then I stacked it on top of the other one.  Then I did another version with the detail of my tree and changed the colour.  I really like the tree I’ve made, and I’ve put it on my shelf at home where we keep special things.”

Elsie

“I chose my design because I thought it would be a nice thing to have a Christmas decoration to look like myself in my favourite colours.  It’s cool to think that this is the only one in the whole world that looks like this.  I can’t wait to put it on my own Christmas tree when I get home.”

Clementine

“I wanted to make a decoration that was green and black because they’re my two favourite colours.  I chose a present to make sure I could use these two colours.  It’s probably one of my favourite designs that I’ve ever made in Tinkercad, and it’s going to be really special on my Christmas tree at home.”

Henry

Year 3 Gallery

Penpol Writing Challenge!

At Penpol, we are all writers. During the Autumn Term, children from EYFS to Year 6 were invited to participate in our Penpol Writing Challenge, giving everyone the opportunity to let their creativity shine! The children could choose between the fiction challenge of writing a story or the non-fiction challenge of writing instructions or a recipe.

Congratulations to all the children who entered! I was so impressed with all of your entries, and you should all be incredibly proud of yourselves:

  • Esme from Class 1 – I loved your story about a family called Sparkle who visited Cornwall.
  • Jude from Class 3 – I loved your instructions for finding Pirate Bob’s treasure.
  • Andrew from Class 4 – I loved your instructions to Save Our Animals! You included so many interesting facts in your writing.
  • Jowan from Class 4 – I loved your instructions for making hot chocolate on the beach.
  • Macie from Class 4 – I loved your instructions for making chocolate chip cookies. They sound delicious!
  • Violet from Class 4 – I loved your instructions for making pea and potato curry-loaded naan. You’ve really shown our Penpol Value of Creativity.
  • Ted from Class 6 – I loved your creative story about the Queen’s birthday.
  • Hazel from Class 7 – I loved your creative story Tadeo Jones: The Amazing Adventure of Ancient Egypt.
  • Martha from Class 7 – I loved your story The Hot Sunny Desert. I especially enjoyed reading how to mummify a human!
  • Emily from Class 8 – I loved your creative story about a fairy adventure.
  • Suki from Class 9 – I loved your story Daisy and the Trouble with Bikes. It was so creative!
  • Alayah from Class 12 – I loved your story about Leaf the Little Flower Fairy. I can’t wait to read the next part of the series!
  • Pearl from Class 12 – I loved your story Pearl vs. Seagull. I was extra careful reading it thanks to your warning on the front page!
  • Molly from Class 13 – I loved your creative story Literally a Disaster. You really demonstrated our Penpol Value of Resilience and Creativity.

Please enjoy reading the children’s fantastic entries below. We’re already looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for our next Penpol Writing Challenge:

  • Fiction: Write your own comic!
  • Non-Fiction: Write an invitation or plan an event or party.

We can’t wait to see your creativity in action—happy writing!

A Magical Moonlight Walk to See The Mousehole Cat

“At the far end of England, a land of rocks and moorland stretches out into a blue-green sea. Between its high headlands lie tiny, sheltered harbours where fishing boats hide when the winter storms blow.”

Year 1 had a magical adventure to see The Mousehole Cat at The Solomon Browne Hall in Mousehole.

‘The Mousehole Cat tells the heartwarming tale of how the village of Mousehole in West Cornwall was saved from famine by the brave actions of fisherman Tom Bawcock and his faithful cat, Mowzer. Based on a well-known Cornish legend, Antonia Barber’s story of the fearless fisherman and his devoted cat is sure to warm the cockles of your heart—almost as much as an ‘efty portion of stargazy pie!’

First, Year 1 walked through the picturesque streets of Mousehole, admiring the harbour we had previously drawn in class. As we strolled along the cobbled streets, we finally reached The Solomon Browne Hall, where the children watched the performance of The Mousehole Cat in awe. After the show, we walked back to the harbour, where we were treated to the magical lights. It was a truly enchanting experience, and a wonderful way to complete our Moonlit Walk, earning our 360° Curriculum Badge.

The children demonstrated our Penpol Value of Respect throughout the trip and represented Penpol School wonderfully. Thank you so much to Cousin Jack’s Theatre Company for providing us with such a truly amazing experience.