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“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.”
Ada was selected to take part in the Amigo’s Tumbling Competition for her Gymnastic club, Phoenix in Camborne. Her gymnastic club Phoenix competed against the Zero Gravity gymnastics squad who travelled down from Saltash to compete.
Ada completed three solo tumble track runs and came an amazing 2nd place for her age category. This was Ada’s first official competition and she was delighted to come away with a silver medal. She is looking forward to many more competitions to come.
I love gymnastics because you can do really cool things. I can do a one-handed cartwheel and the splits – Ada – Class 3 – Year 1
This week, students have been enjoying the dry weather by learning French outside. Classes 3, 4, 7 and 8 were involved in a series of activities and competitions which tested their understanding of instructions and knowledge of body parts in French, which is the current topic they are learning about with Mr Emery.
At the start of each lesson, students followed Mr Emery around the school via instructions in French, until reaching the playground area. Out in the fresh air, students began by doing a number of fun warm-up activities in French, from star jumps to the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (tête, épaule, genou, pied) song. Following the warm-up activities, students then moved on to the more challenging competitions, such as “la souris contre le chat” (very similar to duck duck goose) and “Jacques a dit” (Simon says).
From class 3, Hazel held her nerve and won the Simon says competition, showing an excellent understanding of body parts in French.
It was really fun learning French outside. I really like winning too! – Hazel – Class 3 – Year 1
Upon returning to the classroom, students were able to recap what they had learnt about body parts in French by drawing and labelling their own monsters. With all classes having sung a French colour song with Michèle in the Harvest assembly, they were also keen to add plenty of colours to their monsters.
Alex, from Class 3, also enjoyed counting the number of heads in French on his monster, going all the way up to “quinze”, (15, pronounced ‘cans’).
When asked at the end of the session what was their favourite part of the lesson, the overriding response was “learning French outside!”
I loved having lots of space outside to play games in French! – Sienna – Class 4 – Year 1
This half term Year 1 have been learning the basics of coding by giving instructions to the popular ‘Angry Birds’ characters. In order to help these birds reach their target (the green piggies!) the children have to give them the correct directional instructions to move along the level. These instructions start off quite simply, but before long the children are giving twelve step answers to get the bird to the target.
“I love how happy the bird is when he gets to the pig!” – Penny, Class 3
An example level from halfway through the Angry Birds puzzles
Using perseverance, logical thinking and imagination the Year 1’s have shown a huge amount of Learning to Learn skills and have proven that just because something is difficult at first they don’t need to give up. Practice makes perfect and solving these puzzles has helped instil a real love of learning in a lot of these children.
Fantastically talented Sabina and her team from Penzance Gymnastic Club won a brilliant bronze in her first ever Vault and Floor Competition.
I felt a tiny bit nervous and a little bit shy – Sabina
She may have been a little bit nervous but this did not stop Sabina doing her very best. Taking part in the 5 to 6 year old category, Sabina did incredibly well, competing against five other teams from all over Cornwall.
For my routine I had to do a sit and tuck, roll my arms backwards, do a forward roll and then I finished in a lunge in a wide shape – Sabina
Sabina loves gymnastics and we are very proud of her achievements. Well done Sabina!
Amelie from class 4 came to school today with some very exciting news. She had taken part in a gymnastics competition at her local club in Penzance on Sunday and walked away with a medal! Amelie goes to Penzance gymnastics club and took part in a competition for floor and vault at level 7. She and 4 other girls aged between 5 and 7, competed as a group and were awarded a bronze medal. 45 gymnasts from her group took part, so Amelie was delighted to come away with a medal. Amelie was kind enough to show us some of her floor routine. Take a look…
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I go to gymnastics on Mondays and Fridays. I go for 2 hours on a Monday and an hour and half on Friday. I do conditioning on Friday, that’s where I do lots of stretching and I do lots of strength training. I do bars and chin ups as well. I want a chin up bar for my birthday.
I showed everyone how to do my vault.
First you need to run…
jump…
hands on the block…
stand up straight and put your toes together…
jump off the block…
ready for the handstand.
My favourite move in gymnastics is the splits. It’s quite hard and I have been practicing a lot. I also like doing headstands and I practice at home on the sofa.
Class 4 love art! They have been having great fun investigating materials in their art lessons and have been making metal sculptures using everyday objects including cheese graters, cutlery, tin cans, mixing bowls and anything else they can get their hands on! Check out their fantastic owl creations!
I love the metal feather bits on your owl Lily. Can I help? – Alfie
Evie and Sienna are really happy with the way their owls are turning out. They are using jam jar lids for the eyes and sticking on squashed foil cases and beads. They’re looking great.
I like my owl. I want to take it home and show my mum. – Tyler
Ada and Flora help each other choose the best buttons and beads to stick on to the wings.
I love my owl. I brought in my sieve and my whisk from home and Mrs Anthoney helped me stick all the bits together. – Zak
I am really happy and so proud of the children. They put in a lot of hard work and were very creative. I think their owls look fantastic! – Miss Ryan
Owl Facts
Owls live in barns, trees, old buildings and tunnels.
Owls eat mice, rats, birds, raccoons, skunks, snakes, squirrels and other small mammals.
Owls can’t digest bones, fur or feathers so they spit it out.
Owls have sharp beaks that they use to shred their food.
A huge congratulations to Bruce, Zak and Ted from Class 4. They decided to take on the reading challenge in class 4 – to read as often as you can at home and climb the reading ladder. The boys successfully reached the top of the ladder by half term and all received a book of their choice. A fantastic effort boys, well done!
Miss Ryan set us a challenge. You had to read at home every night and if you did, you would climb up the reading ladder. I was the first one to get to the top and I got a prize. I was really happy. I read 39 times at home and I was star of the week.
We were all very sad to say farewell to Michèle our amazing French teacher after 16 years of fun French lessons in all classes throughout the school. Michèle managed to encourage children to speak French with confidence by participating in relaxed games, songs, plays and even a fashion show.
I liked the funny french monster book – Lylie.
At this years Harvest Festival Michèle took centre stage while everyone sang “Fraise et Fromboise” her own song about our love of fruit. The children looked forward to her lessons and she will be sorely missed.
Thank you for teaching us about colours and numbers – Imogen.
We loved the french songs – Louis.
The health and wellbeing of all our pupils is a priority at Penpol school. All infants are provided with a free healthy snack each day and given plenty of opportunities to exercise and keep fit. We start the day with “Wake up shake up” and regularly jump, climb and roll.
I can hang on to the ladder. I am brave and strong – Ethan.
We started the year with an exciting class outing to the Hall for Cornwall in Truro. We were lucky enough to see the amazing story of the ‘Gruffalo’ by Julia Donaldson on the stage and joined in with some of the narration remembered from the book.
I liked the fox when he growled and ran away. Harvey
We visited the cathedral and walked to Victoria Gardens to eat our picnic lunch.
I liked the high ceiling and the windows in the cathedral. Hazel
I liked lighting the candle in the cathedral. Myla
We finished the day having great fun in Hendra play park and travelled back to school on the double decker bus.
I liked it when we went in the park. Safi
Back at school the children have produced excellent writing and art work inspired by the Gruffalo story. Mr Jones has even taught them a Gruffalo song!
I liked it on the bus when i was at the top. Felix
Class 4 have been practicing some super skills in P.E. They have been finding out about different ways of moving and practicing how to roll, twist, climb, balance, jump and swing. Amelie and Oliver explain how to do the perfect forward roll…
First of all you have to stand up straight and put your hands in the air. Then put your chin to your chest. Keep your legs together and bend your knees. – Amelie
You have to bend down and put your hands on the floor. Put your head on the floor as well. Then push with your legs and roll. – Oliver
Great rolling everyone. Our next step is to practice finishing our forward roll in a standing position.
Zak, Ada, Violet, Harry, Corey and Riley have been practicing different ways of travelling across the poll. Riley is good at pulling himself along while dangling. Ada is great at balancing her whole body on top of the poll and sliding along slowly. Corey has been showing all of his friends how to spin upside down. Great skills everyone.
P.E is one of my favourite lessons. I am really good at climbing and balancing. I like to do all kinds of things in P.E, especially swinging on the ropes. – Caio
I like swinging on the rings and I like climbing across the ladder. I think I’m good at P.E. – Sienna
I’m good at P.E. I like climbing and I like the hoops. I like going up the ladder and climbing to the top. I want to learn how to do a forward roll backwards. – Ted
