Year 3

Year 3 Visit to The Royal Cornwall Museum and Truro Cathedral

29th June 201827th September 2017 by Penpol School

Class 7 and 8 were lucky enough to Visit The Royal Cornwall Museum to take part in three Egyptian workshops, all of which proved to be informative and most enjoyable. This workshop has given the children a greater insight into the life of the Ancient Egyptians and has enabled them to use the Museum to discover more about their way of life. The children were able to experience first hand the awe of looking at a real Mummy as well as observing the amazing Egyptian artefacts on display in the museum.

The workshops were about The Weighing of the Heart Ceremony, part of The Journey into The Afterlife where children dressed up and performed some drama. Children became Gods and Godesses and weighed out the heart of the Isat-Naf-Takht (the museum’s resident Mummy) and decided whether he was fit for the afterlife.

Another workshop was discovering hidden clues in the sand in order to learn about Ancient Egyptian Artefacts. The children were able to touch and hold real artefacts which were up to five thousand years old! We also were treated to a tour of the gallery dedicated to much of the Ancient Worlds, particularly, the Egyptians, observing closely through careful sketching certain artefacts as well as The Mummified body of Isat-Naf-Takht, an Ancient craftsman and priest.

Each class visited Truro Cathedral with an excellent informative workshop which enlightened the children all about some aspects of the Christian faithand some of the everyday occurrences of life in the Cathedral. All children were able to dress up aiding the understanding of the role of certain figures within the Christian community. Isabella said “It was a great day day. I especially liked dressing up as the Bishop, it felt really special.” A brilliant day for all!

Celebrating European Day of Languages at Penpol

26th September 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

Today marks the European Day of Languages, a day to celebrate the 6000+ languages spoken around the world. To mark the occasion at Penpol we’ve arranged a special non-uniform day where the children came to school dressed in the colours of their favourite flag.

Even more excitingly, Mr Emery and Mr Woolcock have arranged an entire day of language-learning challenges in the Junior Mac Suite for the entire school to participate in.

Throughout the day each class has had a twenty minute session using a fantastic website called Linguascope, where the children can take on their challenge in any one of nine different languages. While most children chose French, Spanish or Italian we did have lots who were really brave and decided to take on languages including Chinese, Russian and Arabic.

The challenge itself was a multiple choice quiz where the time for each question decreases as the rounds go by. A score of 30 or more is considered exceptional, yet Penpol pupils were often reaching the high thirties with several children achieving a nearly impossible 38 points!

With perseverance, accuracy and linguistic knowledge a mighty 38 or 39 points is achievable. It’s incredibly difficult, but today we’ve seen it happen several times! – Mr Emery

The highest score in each year group will win a special prize, with more details to be given to the children in their next assembly.

Reception: To be announced later this week!

Year 1: To be announced later this week!

Year 2: To be announced later this week!

Year 3: Freddie (38 points)

Year 4: Jake (39 points)

Year 5: Emma (40 points)

Year 6: Aidan (38 points)

I’m really happy that I’ve won, Morgan did really well too but I just managed to beat him in the end by one point!! – Connor, Year 2

Languages lift off at Penpol

22nd September 2017 by Jack Emery

Language lessons at Penpol primary school are already underway as we begin the new academic year. All classes have already enjoyed their first French lesson this year, with both Mr Emery and Michelle. Every student has already demonstrated lots of enthusiasm and eagerness to take part, which are key ingredients to having fun and gaining confidence in learning a language.

Reception students have already mastered the action “tire”(pull) and the different animals in French. Classes 1 + 2 very much enjoyed dressing up and acting out the classic French children’s story, “le navet enorme”(the giant turnip). Classes 3, 4, 5 + 6 are already enjoying being able to greet each other in French, with lots of students even making it part of their daily routine to greet Mr Emery in French outside the classroom.

Years 2 all the way to 5 have already taken part in singing “Alouette” ( the classic French song about a skylark), showing excellent knowledge of the body parts in French, with actions.

I loved learning about the giant turnip – Hunter – Class 2

Year 6 have the unique opportunity of putting all of the French they have used over the years to the ultimate test: corresponding with their very own French pen pal from a French primary school. The small school, situated just outside of Paris, have already expressed their excitement about this exchange and are eager to learn more about our Year 6 students. Watch this space for more news, as Penpol students learn more about French culture and way of life.

With language club now up and running every Thursday, students at Penpol also have the opportunity of learning another language, whether it is extra French practice, or learning numbers 1-10 in Mandarin.

Finally, Penpol school will be celebrating European Day of Languages on Tuesday 26^th September, with all students competing in a whole school languages competition. The competition will be run by Mr Emery, with the aid of Penpol’s ICT teacher, Mr Woolcock. The aim will be for students to show-off their foreign language skills, ranging from French to Mandarin. The winners for each Year group will be rewarded with a prize in an assembly to conclude the action-packed day.

Watch this space for more news from languages over the next few weeks!

Penpol’s Got Talent 2017

24th July 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

Last Thursday there was great excitement in the school marquee as the children awaited the arrival of our three very special judges for this years ‘Penpol’s Got Talent. This year the auditions were amazing with children from reception through to year 6 demonstrating that they had the ability and confidence to dance, sing and play a musical instrument in front of a live audience.

Eventually, following four days of auditions, fourteen acts went through to the final. Judging the acts was a very difficult challenge for the three judges but eventually a decision was made.

This year’s winner was Leah who sang so beautifully that it gave the compere, Mrs Ruffell, goose bumps and left the three judges with tears in their eyes.

I liked all the singing and dancing, it was beautiful. – Isabella

I enjoyed watching all of the acts, especially my sisters singing group. – Patrick

I really enjoyed watching and listening to the drummer. He even had light up drum sticks. – Jonash

Class 7 Build and Code Lego Pulling Robots

29th June 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

This week Class 7 have been using the Lego WeDo 2.0 robotics kits to build and code robots that are designed to pull heavy weights. The class were given a short time (only 40 minutes!) and the basic instructions and were then left to create their own robot. Coding the robot also proved interesting, where they were able to adjust the speed of the motor to create more or less traction and increase the weights that could be moved.

Below is a video of Vinnie and Isaac getting their robot working…

Here is some of the code the class had to write in order to make their robots move. The green block that says ’10’ underneath controls the speed and the end block controls how long the robot moves for!

Let’s have a look at a few finished robots…

Our robot goes for 18 seconds at a time and goes ‘boing boing boing’ while it pulls heavy weights! – Harry and Clarissa

When you put the code in the robot moves backwards and also if you put weight in the trailer bit it’ll carry it along behind when it moves. We made the code on the computer and then made it run on the Lego. – Amber and Lola

Our robot pulls wheels in its basket so if you need to travel with your wheels then it’s the thing to use! It’s better to put them standing up than lying down because if they’re lying down they’ll grip too much and the robot won’t move as well. – Vinnie and Isaac

A few photos from the building:

C’est magnifique! – Class 8’s Fashion Show

20th June 2017 by Elizabeth Nidds

A little slice of France came to class 8 this week! On Tuesday, Class 8 were very excited to invite the children and teachers from Class 3 to a very special fashion show performed entirely in French. Since Easter, the children have been busy preparing for their show in their weekly French lessons and have really impressed both their French teacher Michelle as well as the adults in class 3 and 8.

The children dressed up in a range of outfits including sports kits, school uniform, roller-skates, onesies, pyjamas, wetsuits and even grass suits! After walking up and down the catwalk in their costumes to songs chosen by the class, each child described their outfits in detail and then answered questions by Class 3 about their outfits.

Everyone was really impressed with the fashion show and below we have included some photos as well as the french the children had to learn in preparation for the show.

Je porte une robe multicolore et des chaussures blanches (I am wearing a multicoloured dress and white shoes) – Rebecka

Je porte une t-shirt de foot blanche, un short de foo blanc, des chaussettes bleues, ds chaussures noires (I am wearing a white football shirt, white football shorts, blue socks, black trainers) – Isabella

Je porte une chemise de rugby noir, un short de rugby noir, des chaussettes noires, des chaussures noires (I am wearing a black rugby t-shirt, black rugby shorts, black socks and black trainers) – Ronnie

Announcing Music in the Marquee 2017

5th May 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

The last two years have seen sell out performances at our annual Music In The Marquee concerts from the brilliant Bradley Johnson and the fantastic Little Chix. I’m delighted to say that this July we’re going bigger and better than ever before, with an incredible four-piece band.

For our 2017 event I’d like to introduce you to the countries top Coldplay tribute band, YELLOW! Yellow are a four piece band from Portsmouth who formed ten years ago to celebrate and perform the music of Coldplay. The group all play their own intruments and manage to recreate the energetic and dynamic Coldplay sound whilst engaging audiences across the country. This July they’re making the trip down to Hayle especially for us. The band are a close group of friends and their friendship and passion for live music shines through on stage.

On Saturday 8th July the band will treat us to two sets of live music with the first offering a look at Coldplay’s recent dance-pop sound including hits such as ‘Adventure of a Lifetime’, ‘Something Just LIke This’ and of course, ‘Paradise’. Later on in the evening the band will return to the stage for a second time to treat us to a set of more classic coldplay songs including ‘Yellow’, ‘Sky Full of Stars’ and ‘Viva La Vida’. We’ll also have more music on the night with talented local support and plenty of chances to get the children dancing!

Just like in previous years the event will raise money for the Penpol Friends Association and will also feature a fully licensed bar, soft drinks, and food for everyone to enjoy. I hope you’ll agree that Music in the Marquee 2017 is already shaping up to be a phenomenal night of entertainment.

Tickets are on sale now from reception: £8 for adults and £5 for children.

See you there!

Penpol Pupils go on a Virtual Reality Expedition with Google!

26th April 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

On Tuesday Penpol School had a very special visit from Google who had some exciting new technology to show off to the children.

Google Expeditions is a new project designed to introduce primary school children to Virtual Reality in the classroom. Mark from Google bought 60 Google Cardboard headsets to Penpol along with 60 smart phones and tablets to get the system set up and running. Throughout the day every class, from Year 1 to Year 6, had the chance to get some hands on time with the technology by going on a virtual school trip!

Led by their class teacher, the children were transported virtually around the world to unusual and exciting destinations including the Amazon Rainforest, underwater deep sea diving, onto the vast icy planes of Antartica and even into outer space to see the Moon and Earth from a whole new perspective. The excitement amongst the children was electric, with loud gasps every time the teacher took them to a new location to explore.

Virtual Reality works by taking a 360 degree photo of a location and then using special software to make the viewer feel like they are in the middle of the action. With the Google Cardboard and attached smartphone the children can then explore their surroundings simply by moving their head. The classroom disappears and they are taken on an incredible school trip.

You can learn more about Google Expeditions here: https://edu.google.com/expeditions/

Throughout the day we took as many photos as possible to remember this amazing event, so please enjoy a selection of them below…

Class 8 explore the science of electricity

14th May 20181st November 2016 by Penpol School

This term Class 8 has been learning all about electricity in science.

We have been looking at how electrical circuits work and our class has even created their own light up pictures.

We firstly came up with a design for the pictures.

These designs were all very original and ranged from faces to animals to cartoon characters.

We then used our knowledge of electrical circuits to write plans on how to make the pictures light up. Then we created the pictures and used batteries, wires and bulbs to make them light up. We showed off our scientific knowledge by drawing the circuits using the correct symbols in our books.

We hope you are as impressed by our hard work and finished products as we are.

THE JELLY FRIENDS American blog

Reception’s Sea-Faring Adventure at the Maritime Museum!

“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.”