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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.”
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Year 5

Year 5 Find Their Way Around Orienteering

Over recent weeks Year 5 have been learning how to orienteer. Some may say a dying skill with the maps we now have readily available on smart phones and watches but a valuable one none the less. We have been ;earning how to read a compass, grid references and also, most importantly, a map and its symbols.

Through PE we have had the opportunity to practice these geographic skills by racing around our school site to find the permanent control points. The children have loved the element of competition with their peers as well as the freedom to explore the school site.

The culmination of our block of orienteering was a day in the woods. We headed to Tehidy Country Park with our maps in hand and set to work on finding the control points set out around the 250 acre site (we didn’t cover it all though) The children had great fun zipping and zooming around in the hunt of the control points in small groups with their adults struggling to keep pace (no names mentioned!) hence the lack of orienteering photos.

After a well deserved lunch the children set to work building dens; here they had the opportunity to put their first school skills learnt back at Penpol into action with a plethora of different branches and trees to choose from.

In addition to den building we also out the children’s trust and communication skills to the test with a very carefully constructed ‘blind trail’. This consists of a partner leading their blindfolded partner through a boggy wooded section of Tehidy with only a guideline and their voice. Without clear instruction there was a risk of bumped heads on overhanging branches; soggy bottoms from the muddy sections and wet feet from the river crossing.

Electric LEGO Legends Compete at National Finals

Following their fantastic performance at the Cornish Finals at Culdrose, the Electric LEGO Legends had the opportunity to compete at a National level on Saturday, when they represented Cornwall at the British FIRST LEGO League Finals.

Our journey began with a ten-hour coach trip up to Harrogate along with our Year 6 team (the Penpol Pumpkins) and our friends from Truro High School for Girls (the Solar Savers).  Once we eventually arrived at our hotel for the night the team all gathered together for a meal and a chance to catch up with Oliver who met us up there.  Oli moved schools at the end of last term, so it was a real treat that he was able to join us for the competition and for a good catch-up with his friends.

After a good nights sleep (and a great breakfast buffet!) we boarded another coach and headed into Harrogate itself toward the Harrogate Convention Center where the competition itself was to be held.

PENPOL COMPETE AT RNAS CULDROSE IN THE FIRST LEGO LEAGUE

March 18, 2023

Read this Penpol Times Story

Beginning

1 point for a team who are beginning to demonstrate the criteria.

Developing

2 points shows that a team is developing that criteria.

Accomplished

3 points is where a team has accomplished the particular criteria.

Exceeding

4 points is where a team has gone above and beyond and exceeded the expectation.

It’s fair to say that the Year 5’s were, understandably, very nervous when they arrived at the convention centre, but they quickly got stuck in to decorating their pit area to make it look more colourful and fun.  They added bunting, paper decorations and colourful wind turbines to match their Innovation Project theme all about wind power.

The morning started with a star-studded opening ceremony, during which team captains Lucas and Sophia got a chance to walk across the stage to represent the Electric LEGO Legends.

After this the team headed straight to the judging area to share their presentations with the judges.  Being the first team in was a bit scary, but getting the hardest part of the day our of the way early on was a great advantage as it meant a lot of those worries were able to be put to rest and the team were able to fully enjoy the rest of the day.

Despite the nerves the team felt confident going into the judging room and emerged half an hour later feeling really pleased with their presentations and buzzing with the judges feedback!

Their Innovation Project focussed on the theme of Wind Energy, in particular the fact that hundreds of thousands of new homes are built each year but only a few thousand wind turbines are built in the same timeframe.

The team proposed a solution whereby new houses would be built in pairs, shaped aerodynamically to funnel wind into a central, shared turbine.  This would allow houses to generate their own clean energy whilst also saving money – a double win!

In Harrogate my favourite bit was when all the people were doing the robots together – that was pretty cool! 

Seeing some of the more advanced teams tackling the really tricky missions a bit insane, I have no idea how their robot managed to do that!  I enjoyed seeing everyone struggle with the windmill task, but when I tried it I couldn’t do it either! 

Judges Feedback for the Innovation Project

The judges loved the fact the children had made their own 3D models in Tinkercad. They said the information was well documented  and the presentation was bright, colourful and all inclusive.

In order to improve for next time the judges suggested conducting more research on the final project and sharing your ideas with your classmates and parents to get additional feedback.

Identify

Problem | Research

2

2

Design

Ideas | Planning

2

2

Create

Innovation | Model

2

2

Iterate

Share | Improvements

3

2

Communicate

Presentation | Solution

2

2

The second presentation of the day was the Robot Design Presentation, where the team shared their ideas and code that led to their robot.  They shared this through lots of large A1 sized posters with screenshots of their code, photos of the robot and notes that helped explain each part to the judges.

By talking through several key missions in detail they were able to clearly share how they’d iterated on and improved various elements of their robot from the attachments to the code itself.  These improvements and refinements went down very well with the judges – especially their use of a permanent attachment which made the transition between runs much quicker.

My favourite part of the day was probably the Robot Games, because I really enjoy it and think it’s really fun.  Being able to practice loads and then working out where to improve is really rewarding because you can then try and make the robot even better by making it quicker and more reliable. 

Taking part in the Robot Games in front of everyone was fun but also a bit frightening because we had a camera right behind us pointing at us – but we couldn’t look back because we were concentrating so much on the robot!!

Judges Feedback for the Robot Games

The judges remarked that they really enjoyed seeing the large, colourful posters the children had made as it was nice to see the coding printouts and explanations. 

They were also impressed to see that the robot utilised a permanent attachment which reduced the need for changeover time, allowing the children to perform more missions without the need to change attachments.

The judges suggested that next time the children might consider utilising sensors to help them gain more points at the table.

Identify

Mission | Building

3

3

Design

Workplan | Innovation

2

2

Create

Functionality | Model

3

3

Iterate

Testing | Improvements

3

3

Communicate

Explanation | Evidence

2

3

Once the presentations were done, we had the rest of the day to explore the STEM Expo, watch the other teams doing their Robot Games and of course get in some practice for our own matches.  Seeing some of the other teams robots was really inspiring and has given the Electric LEGO Legends plenty of ideas for next year.

In the STEM Expo next door we got to explore loads of cool technology and got the chance to play and explore too.  We watched a 3D film about space, rebuilt a human skeleton and even raced balloon cars!

Seeing the experience of being in Harrogate was awesome.  The Year 6’s told us it was really good and that’s why they wanted to go again and they were right – I thought it was really, really good! 

I would love to do it again, especially because looking around and seeing the different schools was really interesting – meeting lots of new people and learning lots of new things.

Throughout the day the children exemplified the six Core Values of FIRST LEGO League, including Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun.  These six values are vital to a successful team as it’s a way of measuring just how well they work together, how they support each other during challenges and how they’re using what they’ve been doing to create a positive change – both in themselves and the wider community too.

It was particularly lovely to see these children discovering so many new and exciting things at the event, exploring all corners with big smiles on their faces and embracing challenges as they came up.

Judges Feedback for the Core Values

The judges were impressed with the Core Values demonstrated by the team, drawing particular attention to the way they made decisions through a democratic process of voting in the team.  They also highlighted the good harmony between the team members whilst they were presenting and simply loved how enthusiastic and bubbly they all were together!

Discovery

team explored new skills and ideas

2

Innovation

team used creativity and persistence to solve problems

2

Impact

team applied what they learned to improve their world

2

Inclusion

team demonstrated respect and embraced their differences

3

Teamwork

team clearly showed they had worked as a team throught their journey

3

Fun

teams clearly had fun and celebrated what they have achieved

3

My favourite part was probably the Robot Games, because it was very intense and I thought that kinda felt pretty good to me.  I felt like I was doing something pretty big because everyone was there watching and cheering me on!

It felt pretty good when we managed to get the missions to work and everyone was watching us do good on the missions. 

That made me feel really proud of the team.

The trickiest part of the day was the Robot Games.  Going from practicing in the controlled atmosphere of the Mac Suite to taking part in a huge hall with thousands of people watching and cameras everywhere is very tricky!  This was undoubtably a barrier as the team found that their first two Robot Games rounds didn’t go as well as they’d hoped – the noise in particular proving a big distraction.

However, they still scored a very solid 130 and 135 points in those two matches.  They also rotated team members which ensured that they all had a go with running and launching the robot.

After these two matches the team headed to the practice table and spent time analysing and adjusting their starting positions for the robot.  Even a subtle movement to the left or right can have a real tangible impact on the performance of the robot.

After spending some time perfecting these lineups they were ready to go back to the arena for the third and final match, at which they scored an incredible 185 points!  It really does show that hard work and perseverance pays off!

135

Points in Round 1

130

Points in Round 2

185

Points in Round 3

For a first year team the Electric LEGO Legends performed incredibly well.  They took challenges in their stride and embraced every opportunity.  It was wonderful to see them working so well together and increasing in their confidence throughout the day as they spoke to more and more people. 

Well done Electric LEGO Legends – let’s see what next year has in store for us!

Penpol Compete at RNAS Culdrose in the FIRST LEGO League

Last week we took two teams to the Cornwall Finals of the FIRST LEGO League, held at RNAS Culdrose. We have our team of Year 5’s – the Electric LEGO Legends (who were competing for the first time) and our returning team of Year 6’s – the Penpol Pumpkins.

Because of some logistical issues with getting 19 children to Culdrose on the same day we ended up taking one team each day (with the kind help of Hayle Academy letting us share their minibus!).  The Electric LEGO Legends were up first, on Wednesday 8th March.  What they didn’t know was that this was the secondary school day and they were up against 12 other schools – mostly secondaries!

On the Thursday we then took our Year 6’s up to Culdrose where they took part in the competition against 24 other schools!

What follows below is a peek at each day, sharing news of each teams Innovation Project, Robot Games and lots of other fun things they explored on the day…

 

Part 1: Robot Games

The Robot games is a fun challenge where the children have to design, build and code their very own robot to complete different missions. There is a maximum of 410 points on offer this year and a score of anything over 200 is considered exceptionally good - especially for primary teams!

Electric LEGO Legends

The team had a clear strategy of getting some quick points on the board with the TV and Wind Turbine missions, before heading out to try and achieve some more complex missions too.  They had three attempts to get their best score in just two and a half minutes!

When the final run was over the team were triumphant with their highest score being 205 points.  This stayed the top score for the whole day until the very last team, Nexus, who deployed their  incredibly nifty robot which scored an astounding 260 points on its run!

205

Round 1

145

Round 2

160

Round 3

The Penpol Pumpkins

The Pumpkins have used the same robot they took to the competition last year, meaning they spent longer working on the code itself rather than building a new robot.  They managed to complete almost every mission, but had to cut this right back to fit inside the two and a half minute timeframe.

Over the three runs the children had a high-score of 240 points, thanks to some super-quick work in switching the attachments and a perfect lineup for several of the trickier missions.  They very nearly came top of the charts in the robot games, save for an incredibly exciting final run from Darite School who pipped us to the post with a stunning score of 245.

190

Round 1

240

Round 2

180

Round 3

Part 2: Innovation Project

The Innovation Project is a chance for the children to identify a problem linked to the annual theme (Energy for this season) before researching, creating, refining and presenting their own innovative solution. This takes the form of a five minute presentation to the judges and a ten minute question and answer session afterwards.

Electric LEGO Legends

The Electric LEGO Legends have been exploring electricity this year and how we can use renewable sources of energy rather than non-renewables.  They initially took a keen interest in electric cars and considered basing a project around that, but eventually settled on an idea of building sustainable houses by including a vertical wind turbine alongside a pair of houses.

The judges enjoyed the teams presentation and praised the enthusiasm and interest shared by the team whilst they gave their presentation.  They also loved how the team had consulted with experts in the field and how they’d reflected honestly on the project they’ve created thus far.

The team scored a very credible 32 points out of a total of 40 for their project and received a lot of positive comments from the industry judges.

32 points

out of a total of 40

The Penpol Pumpkins

The Penpol Pumpkins were inspired by the day after Halloween and how many pumpkins are left on door steps to rot and then eventually get thrown in landfill.  They soon realised that it wasn’t only pumpkins that were thrown away in the rubbish – in fact 35% of all black bin bags in Cornwall contain food waste!

Their presentation was focussed on the idea of promoting the upcoming Cornwall Council Food Waste collection by creating an advertising campaign to encourage people to recycle food rather than sending it to landfill.

Having learnt from last years performance, the team opted to deliver their presentation as a play where they all took on different roles.  Having seen these children last year and then again at Culdrose, the difference is quite simply staggering.  The judges agreed and awarded the Pumpkins 39 points out of 40. Incredible!

39 points

out of a total of 40

Part 3: Robot Design Presentation

The last part of the competition was the Robot Design Presentation. This name is slightly deceptive as it isn’t just about the robot that the teams have built. Yes it is largely about this, but it is also a chance to share the story that the children have been on since starting their journey in the competition. This is a chance to share their learnings, their new skills, their strategies, plans and anything else that they want to with the judges.

Electric LEGO Legends

For this presentation the team took an innovative approach and based it around an ‘interview-style’ format where the team asked each other questions about their robot, the way it was coded and how they approached each mission.

This presentation proved really interesting as it allowed the children to share lots of relevant information and impressed the judges with their learning so far.

The judges commented that they were “all involved, testing each challenge and working together to solve puzzles” and that they were very strong at “learning and adapting” as their robot and coding skills developed.

31 points

out of a total of 40

The Penpol Pumpkins

For their Robot Design presentation the Penpol Pumpkins created large A3 posters with code snippets, attachment photos and other commentary on them.  These then formed the core of their presentation as they were able to discuss in detail how different parts of the robot functioned and explain their overall mission strategy.

The team also took some time during the presentation to offer some honest reflections on what the competition means to them and how they’ve grown as individuals and as a team over their two years competing.

The judges were impressed with their journey and their robot, commenting that it was a “superb team effort from start to finish!”

36 points

out of a total of 40

Part 4: Core Values

The final of the four areas that teams are marked on is called the Core Values. These values include Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun. Throughout their presentations, their robot games and the day itself the teams are being judged on these six areas.

Electric LEGO Legends

Despite being a first-time team at the competition, the Electric LEGO Legends made a big impact on the judges with their teamwork, enthusiasm and matching team t-shirts!  The judges were very impressed that they’d all taken time to learn how to code and how the team had a “real buzz and enthusiasm” throughout the day.

20 points

out of a total of 24

The Penpol Pumpkins

There’s really no other way to put this, the Penpol Pumpkins blew the judges away with their Core Values and scored an unimaginable full marks in this area!

The judges said they were “simply exceptional” and demonstrated this throughout the whole day with exemplary behaviour, a positive attitude and a real drive to compete at the very highest level possible.

24 points

out of a total of 24

The Final Scores

As you can see from each of the four areas above, both teams did exceptionally well and embraced each and every aspect of the competition. By being such strong all-rounders I'm delighted to final standings for each team...

Cornwall LEGO League: 1st Place

The Electric LEGO Legends came first overall on Day 1 of the 2023 Cornwall Regional Finals and now progress to the UK National Finals!

Cornwall LEGO League: 1st Place

The Penpol Pumpkins came first overall on Day 2 of the 2023 Cornwall Regional Finals and now progress to the UK National Finals!

Photo Gallery

Below are some extra photos from the day, kindly shared with us by LPhot O’Barrow from the Royal Navy.

Success for Penpol in the LEAP Cup

On a sunny Monday morning both the boys and girls teams headed to Mounts Bay Academy for the first inaugural LEAP cup. Joined by the members of the Leading Edge Academy partnership, the teams played 3 and 4 games respectively. The girls team unfortunately came up a little short in their last game finishing with 2 wins and 1 loss which secured them second place. The boys were eventual winners with 4 wins and impressively without conceding a single goal.

As always, the name on the front of the shirt is more important the that on the back. This was demonstrated with exemplary levels of sportsmanship and teamwork; which for me is equally, if not more important the the trophy we can proudly now present in the School office.

Year 5 Tackle Touch Rugby with Cornish Pirates

Year 5 have been braving the weather in recent weeks to get to grips with touch rugby. We have completed a 5 week block of sessions with Sam, the community coach from Cornwall’s only professional rugby team- the Cornish Pirates.

From not being able to catch a ball to now doing it so in full flow some children have developed their sporting confidence greatly. They have also developed their understanding of attacking and defending space; a skill which can be transferred to many other invasion sports. They have also build on their knowledge of touch rugby with many now moving on to join Mr Peck at touch rugby club. Those that may chose not too will however be taking their newly developed team work and communication skills back into the classroom.

As part of our PE curriculum offer we try to engage many different local clubs. With each year group receiving professional coaching from external sources at some stage during the year with some even attending professional settings; this opens the eyes of our pupils to the world of professional sport whilst also maintaining the most important aspects of physical education- engagement and enjoyment.

 

 

Exploring Energy and Innovating Ideas

Today our Year 5 and Year 6 LEGO League teams were fortunate enough to have not one but two very special guests around to help mentor and support them with their competition preparation.

Our team mentor, Chelsea from RNAS Culdrose, has kindly agreed to visit every Thursday to help coach both teams.  She’s a familiar face at Penpol now having worked closely with our teams last year as well – in fact she asked if she could come back this year!

Alongside Chelsea we also had another very special visitor – somebody who has travelled slightly further than Culdrose to join us…

Alejandro Buitrago is an engineering student from the University of Technology and Engineering Careers (UTEC) in Lima, Peru.  He is currently travelling around Europe and through a happy coincidence ran into Mr Woolcock.  Upon chatting, Mr Woolcock discovered that Alejandro is in the middle of a degree in Renewable Energy Engineering – which just so happens to be the exact theme for this years LEGO League competition!  

Alejandro very kindly agreed to spend an afternoon with us and spent time working with our Year 6’s over lunchtime and our Year 5’s this afternoon.

Y6's took time out from Evacuee Day to learn about Energy
A lot of Energy-themed prototyping and idea development with the Y5's

During this time Alejandro kindly answered questions, shared a wealth of knowledge and inspired the children to pursue and develop their innovative ideas for the Innovation Project.  By the end of the day the library was covered in hand-drawn sketches, coloured paper, glue sticks, cardboard boxes turned into prototypes and assorted LEGO constructions.  All the signs of a good afternoon!

A massive thanks to both Chelsea and Alejandro for their support.

Year 6 Photos

Year 5 Photos

South West Title for Super Gymnast

Penpol School now has an Under 11 South West Gymnastics champion amongst its sporting stars. She has, for many years now, been featuring on the Penpol times but this is her biggest accommodate to date.

Travelling all the way to the Welsh Institute of Sport, she undertook 4 individual events which culminated in an overall 1st place. This wonderful young lady placed first in the uneven bars, which is her favourite event. 1st place in the beam (which is only 1o cm wide!!) and 3rd place in both the floor and vault.

This remarkable young lady shows a great commitment to her sport by training up to 16 hours a week at Penryn Gymnastic Club! Keep it up, the hard work is certainly paying off!

Celebrating the European Day of Languages at Penpol

Wednesday 5th October marked a special day where Penpol celebrated European Day of Languages.  To mark the occasion at Penpol, children came to school dressed in the colours of their favourite flag and were excited to share their knowledge of languages from all over the world.  From Polish to French, Lithuanian to Portuguese, it was especially important to give all languages the recognition they duly deserve.

In the morning, KS2 students were invited to sample a French breakfast in Class 9 with Mr Emery and his year 4 group. Each class enjoyed singing in French and were then able to order from KS2 students, learning the basics such as ‘Bonjour’, ‘s’il vous plaît’ and ‘merci.’

Following this, each KS2 class demonstrated their knowledge of French by serving their KS1 reading buddies pastries and teaching their younger peers how to order in French, which generated huge waves of excitement in each year group. In addition, Atene, Emilija and Hana all taught key phrases in Lithuanian and Polish and were fantastic language ambassadors throughout the day. 

Finally, at the end of the day, Mr Jones and Mr Emery led a European singalong which culminated in a whopping 7 languages being sung in one song, all of which have been heard in the corridors at Penpol from our own multicultural students.  This rounded off a fantastic day which marked an important day in the school calendar. 

“Today has been the best day ever!” Isla, Class 9

A huge thank you to everyone who made the day such a great success! Check out the photos from the day, showcasing the multitude of colours and students and staff speaking in different languages.

Andrew Clover reminds us that Reading and Writing is Magic!

We’ve had a very exciting day at Penpol today, kicking off our Reading and Writing is Magic Festival with a visit from the famous author, Andrew Clover!  Andrew has written lots of books as part of the Rory Branagan Detective series.

The children in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 were both treated to an inspirational assembly this morning, where Mr Clover shared the Seven Secrets of Storytelling.  Along the way he showed the children how important it is to have fun with writing and to let our imaginations run wild!

After this some of the classes went to do some hands-on workshops to learn even more about storytelling with our special guest.

At the end of the day we all came back together again in the hall to share the stories we’d written and to celebrate everything that makes reading and writing so wonderful.  There were even free books for some of the stories!

It’s been such an exciting start to the Reading and Writing is Magic Festival – we can’t wait to see what the rest of the week brings!

Daya Visits Penpol School

Class 6 loved our workshop with Daya, in which we looked at the life of someone who follows the religion of Islam, including the Five Pillars of Islam, Islamic prayer practices and the role of a mosque in Islamic culture. Daya taught us how Muslims pray and that they pray 5 times a day, in the direction of Mecca. All pupils then had the chance to dress in some traditional Indian clothing and learn some wonderful Indian dance!

Both Year 5 classes had the opportunity to work with Daya. She introduced our key question, ‘What is it like to be a Muslim in Britain today?’

The children had the chance to discus different faiths and how they differ from each other. There was a particular focus on the pillars of Islam, before having the chance to dress in traditional muslim attire and have a go at some Indian dancing.