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Headteacher
Chris Coyle-Chislett

Email the Office
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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Year 5

Incredible Results for Penpol at the LEGO League Cornwall Finals

Yesterday two teams of our Year 5s took part in the Cornwall finals of the FIRST LEGO League Competition.  For months these teams have been working hard with coding, building, researching, creating, designing, innovating and presenting ideas.

 

All of that hard work was celebrated yesterday in two incredible performances at the Finals.  Both teams absolutely excelled themselves and demonstrated just how confident and creative they are.  

We saw presentations that the judges were blown away by, robot performances that I think would rival any other team in the country and levels of teamwork and fun that really allowed each and every student to shine.

I’m thrilled (and very proud) to announce that our team from Class 11 (the Creative Coders) were the overall winners in the whole of Cornwall, beating 25 other Primary and Secondary schools.  They have now been invited to the National Finals where they will be able to compete against the very best teams in the country.

The team from Class 12 (the LEGO Leaders) also got an incredible achievement, winning the Robot Performance award for achieving a staggering 345 points during the competition.  They also finished in 4th place overall – another incredible achievement for our students.

Below you’ll find lots of lovely photos, quotes from the judges and some stories of just how well the teams embraced the challenges on the day.  I do hope you enjoy reading about it just as much as we enjoyed taking part in it!

Lastly a massive well done to our teams – Ada, Amélie, Caio, Ernie, Ethan, Felix, Georgia, Ivy, James B, James S, Jenna, Miles, Piran and Sienna!

Team Creative Coders

Class 11: Sienna, Amélie, Piran, Ethan, Ernie, Georgia and Felix

Cornwall LEGO League: 1st Place

Team Creative Coders came first overall at the 2022 Cornwall Regional Finals and now progress to the UK National Finals!

Robot Games

Creative Coders have been working hard on their Robot Design and Code for the past few months and have been sharing ideas and knowledge with each other throughout the process.  For their 2 and a half minute competition run they ended up with a very impressive score of 270 points.

They had to code some really complicated algorithms for their robot to work, including one that took the robot (named Cookies and Beans) all around the game table to earn points from some very hard to reach obstacles.  

In order to reach this score they continually improved and refined their code to ensure that each mission was a success.

Robot Games Practice Run (with commentary for judges)

Core Values

This team really shone when it came to demonstrating the Core Values of Discovery, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun.  They receives top scores from the judges in all but one of the categories and earned some glowing feedback: 

“Each team member had different skills and got the chance to shine.”

“When we finished calling you, our faces hurt from smiling so much. Your fun was infectious!”

“We really can’t fault your team. You had so much enthusiasm and great team work.”

Innovation Project

For the Innovation Project this team were inspired by a virtual trip to an Amazon Warehouse.  They were concerned that large pallets loaded with cardboard boxes were suddenly being wrapped in huge sheets of plastic wrap.

They researched the problem, considered a variety of solutions (including building their own earthquake simulator to see how to best secure their pallet of 3D-printed boxes) and eventually came up with a very clever solution.

The judges loved this and said: “We thought it was great that you tried out paper, card, bubblewrap, string, and other materials, and showed clear improvement.”

Robot Design

Finally, team Creative Coders shared a presentation with the judges that showed their journey through the competition.  From coding the robot to planning which tasks to complete first, the team demonstrated their awesome progress in a way where it was clear that every single child was involved in the success of the team.

“Each team member was give a chance to shine and explain their bit of the task, and you went above and beyond in making everyone involved.”

Team LEGO Leaders

Class 12: Ivy, Jenna, Ada, James S, James B, Miles and Caio

Cornwall LEGO League: 4th Place

Team LEGO Leaders came forth overall at the 2022 Cornwall Regional Finals

Robot Games

Wow! That’s all I can say about this teams Robot Games performance.  Problem solving, refinement, patience and a lot of hard work have all been key ingredients in the LEGO Leaders success.  

Together they achieved an utterly incredible score of 345 points – far beyond anything we could ever have imagined.  

By attempting a total of 7 different missions (some completing more than one task at a time) this team smashed all expectations and got a well deserved award for 1st place as the highest scoring robot team in Cornwall!

An incredible feat, well done team!

Robot Games Practice Run (with commentary for judges)

1st Place: Robot Performance

Team LEGO Leaders

Core Values

The judges described LEGO Leaders as being a “very well accomplished team with clear roles and responsibilities”.  We completely agree.  From the very beginning this team has been impressive to watch.  The way they problem solve together, delegate tasks and share ideas really is inspirational.

Not only that but they’ve become close friends through this process and describe how they all were able to overcome challenges and barriers by co-operating, listening to each others points of view and then reaching a solution that worked for all.

Innovation Project

For their Innovation Project, the team were horrified to find images of donkeys being overworked and under looked-after.  Large mountains of cargo weighed down donkeys backs and caused them pain and suffering.  LEGO Leaders decided to take it upon themselves to create a solution to this problem.

By researching online, asking experts and considering a number of options the team eventually decided to protect donkeys by creating a set of rules for donkey owners to abide by.  Proper living conditions, weight limits for cargo and more were all considered.

The judges were blown away by their presentation and were glad that such an important issue had been bought to the forefront of their minds.

Robot Design

Our judges really loved this teams Robot, Rocky, and were incredibly impressed by hearing how the code worked and the lengths they’d gone to in order to refine and improve the robot.

The team detailed their process for designing attachments and their overall mission strategy.

The judges remarked that it was “absolutely clear that the team worked very well together and had a lot of fun overcoming the challenges along the way”.

Photo Gallery

Y5 have a Virtual Visit to an Amazon Warehouse

This afternoon our two teams of Year 5’s who are taking part in the FIRST LEGO League competition were treated to a (virtual) VIP tour inside an Amazon Warehouse.

As part of their Cargo Connect challenge for the competition, they are researching more about how goods are shipped around the world and delivered, in order to hopefully find some creative solutions to improve these processes. 

As well as being given a tour around the different departments, from ordering & picking to packaging & shipping, the children were given the chance to ask some questions to a trio of Amazon Engineers.

Throughout the tour the students were jotting down questions on some post-it notes and by the end they had amassed quite a collection! Luckily there was plenty of time for the Q+A and lots of our questions got answered.

Here are some of the interesting facts we learnt during the tour:

“I learnt that the items are stored randomly in the warehouses, with robots being used to pick the items” – Ethan

“The SLAM machine that puts the label and address on the packages doesn’t actually touch the package at all – it drops the label on top” – Amelie

“The shortest delivery was done in under 30 minutes and they use satellite images to check addresses and to update their maps when new roads are built.” – Sienna

“They use algorithms to help find and move parcels, with robots following QR codes on the floor” – Caio

Penpol Celebrates European Day of Languages 2021

This week, the whole school celebrated European Day of Languages. With a wealth of languages being spoken along the corridors of our school, from Polish to French, Lithuanian to Portuguese, it was especially important to give all languages the recognition they duly deserve.

Students and staff were invited to dress up in the colours of their favourite country and rose to the call in spectacular fashion; by 9am, the whole school was awash with all the colours of the rainbow!

In the morning, KS1 students were invited to sample a French breakfast in the yurt with Mr Emery and six KS2 volunteers. 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.’

“Miam miam!” Phrase of the day, which translates as ‘yummy’ in French

KS2 students showed off their already fantastic French skills by competing as a whole class on LanguageNut Live, where each student puts their knowledge of their current French topic to the test in real time against their peers. A huge well done to Reuben and Merryn from Year 3 who came top in their year group on animals and colours in French – Bravo!!

All classes in KS2 also competed in the European Day of Languages shirt competition.
This had all students creating a design to best represent European Day of Languages. If proven successful, they will have it printed on the official European Day of Languages T shirt next year and receive 30 T-shirts for them and their class. I have already received some extremely creative designs so far – keep them coming!

Finally, Mr Emery led each of the assemblies to round off a fun European Day of Languages. From the video of students and staff speaking a multitude of different languages, to singing one of the classic “Tu as un animal” (do you have any pets) song, the assembly encouraged students to be adventurous and have a go at speaking in another language. Whether that’s greeting Diane the dinner lady with a ‘Czesc’ (hello), asking how Mrs Bailie is – ‘como você está’ (how are you?) in Portuguese, or asking for a strawberry ice cream on holiday in France(une glace à la fraise s’il vous plaît). Using a language is fun and the students and staff of Penpol proved that again today.

“Today has been the best day ever!” Louis, Class 12

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

 

Year 5 wowed by Spaceport Satellite exhibition

On Monday the 13th and Tuesday the 14th of September, Year 5 were fortunate to be offered a visit to Newquay Airport where Spaceport Cornwall currently have an exhibition taking place – ‘Story of a Satellite’. With VR headsets allowing us to explore unknown planets, being able to see a 70ft rocket in person and lots of other valuable information and resources dotted around the huge hangar, there was plenty to see and do. Mr Pollard’s twin brother, who works for Spaceport, also held a highly informative Q&A session and the children came up with some excellent questions. This will tie in brilliantly with our Space topic which begins in January, giving everyone a great head-start in recognising the importance of satellites to our world.

 

Josh – “I wish we could go again tomorrow. I really enjoyed the VR headsets. The lava-filled planet was my favourite.”

Y5 Compete at the Regional Finals of the FIRST LEGO League 2021

Over the past few months, something very exciting has been happening in the Mac Suite at Penpol School.  Whether it be on a Wednesday afternoon or over lunchtime, two teams of dedicated and committed of year 5 pupils have been hard at work practicing for the FIRST LEGO League Competition.

This is our first year entering at Penpol School and whilst we weren’t quite sure what to expect, both teams got straight to work designing their robots, understanding how the code worked, researching innovative solutions to problems and improving their teamwork and co-operation.  Over these few months all thirteen children have grown closer in their teams and have been focused on a common goal – the Regional Final event!

Well, I’m delighted to say that both teams absolutely blew us away on the day.  Their perseverance, ingenuity and dedication really shone through and they have well and truly done Penpol School proud.  Below is a brief rundown of what happened with each team in all four areas of the competition, as well as any special recognition they received along the way.

Well done Stellan, Chris, Liliana, Dylan, Oliver, Erin, Flora, Ruby, Ben, Obi, Katie, Agnes and Remy!

Team Robo Legends

Class 11: Stellan, Remy, Oliver, Agnes, Ben, Flora and Ruby

FIRST LEGO League: 3rd Place

Team Robo Legends came third overall at the 2021 Cornwall Regional Finals

Robot Games

Robo Legends managed to code a fantastic assortment of activities on the challenge table and managed to finish with a very impressive score of 180.  They coded each activity and tested thoroughly to ensure it was reliable and accurate.  The judges were very impressed with their perseverance and creativity.

2nd Place: Robot Games

Team Robo Legends

Core Values

The judges said the team “showed good co-operation throughout playing to each others strengths, but always coming back together to take on the next challenge.”

They demonstrated incredible teamwork, perseverance and a sense of fun throughout the completion and thoroughly deserved to come first for Core Values in the competition!

1st Place: Core Values

Team Robo Legends

Innovation Project

In an effort to solve the problem that only 0.5% of people in the world surf, the team invented a clever machine that floats off of the coast and cleans sea-water, warns of impending marine life attacks and will offer surfers a panic button to call for help should they find themselves in danger.

The team created a prototype of this invention and did a brilliant job of presenting their research and development to the judging panel, who praised their “outstanding presentation, which the team delivered in a very fun way“.

Robot Design

Finally, team Robo Legends delivered a fun and informative interview-style presentation to the judges where they reflected on the journey they’ve been on as part of the LEGO League Competition, including their funniest moments (involving pillows, dancing and uncontrollable robots!) as well as the challenges that they’ve overcome.

A particular highlight of this section was hearing how the children have become better friends and a stronger team as a result of their participation in the competition.

Team LEGO Legends

Class 12: Chris, Dylan, Katie, Obi, Liliana and Erin

FIRST LEGO League: 2nd Place

Team LEGO Legends came second overall at the 2021 Cornwall Regional Finals

Robot Games

LEGO Legends managed to achieve an utterly incredible score of 280 in the Robot Games.  To put this into context, anything over 100 would have been considered a huge achievement for the children in their first year.

They coded some incredibly complicated algorithms to make their robot work, including one that steered the robot under a bridge, then dropped 13 cubes into a small target before reversing, driving on and ending up dancing on the dance floor.

1st Place: Robot Games

Team LEGO Legends

Core Values

As well as their achievements in coding and presenting, the team showed the judges how well they worked together by supporting each other, cheering on individual successes in the competition and demonstrating exceptional teamwork and co-operation at all times.

A real highlight here was seeing how each and every child got involved in their challenges, whether it was presenting and answering questions with the panel of judges or by working together to ensure a reliable and high-scoring round in the Robot Games.

Innovation Project

For their innovation project team LEGO Legends realised that people were driving for short journeys, even to the shops or to drop children off to school.  To help combat this, the team invented a mobile phone app which would only let you drive in your car after you’d walked a certain number of steps.

What really set the team apart though was their sheer amount of research and development that went into their product.  The judges remarked: “Research and feedback from others through questioning was excellent. A great way of sharing your ideas.“

1st Place: Innovation Project

Team LEGO Legends

Robot Design

Finally, team LEGO Legends delivered a compelling presentation sharing what they’ve learnt in the competition, how they’ve improved as a team and how they overcame challenges along the way.  

The judges asked some interesting questions of the team but they all found ways to respond, with one judge in particular praising how they refined their code: “Obi gave the perfect answer for how they tested and isolated faults with the code. This is exactly how it is done in engineering companies all over the world.”

3rd Place: Robot Design

Team LEGO Legends

Class 12 Surf Day

On Thursday 17th of June 2021, Class 12 went surfing at the Global Boarders surf school based near Hayle, Cornwall. Class 12 went for the whole day and surfed from ~10:30 to ~14:30 with a small break for lunch at ~13:00. Before they got in the water, the trained instructors taught them some basic safety signals and some cool tricks to try in the water such as “race car”, “freestyle”, “Casanova”, “coffin”, “jazz hands” and “sky dive”. They arrived at ~9:30, went through basic safety checks, got changed and got in the water.

It was enjoyed by all, Dylan.C said “I enjoyed duck diving under waves.”. Chris said “I enjoyed standing up on my board and then falling off almost immediately.”

They surfed for nearly 3 hours before they had to go up to the cafe to eat their lunch. They all ate their lunch remarkably fast so they could get back in the water. 2 people though got very cold and were allowed to put on extra wetsuits. After eating their lunch, Class 12 went back down to the beach and did a 15 minute warm up of stuck in the mud. After 5 rounds of stuck in the mud, they grabbed their surfboards and jumped back in the water for their final hour. They all caught at least 3 waves or more, some getting up to 30 waves. At about 14:00, they walked up with their surfboards and got changed. This took ~35-40 minutes. They only had 1 bus so the second group had to wait an extra 15 minutes for the next bus. By the time the second group got to school, it was 15:15, year 5’s home-time so they all left to their homes.

Reported by Obi B

and Dylan C

Kids Invent Stuff visit Penpol School

Last week Penpol had a very exciting visit from Ruth and Shawn – otherwise known as Kids Invent Stuff – to talk about all things engineering, inventing and creating!

The day started with the whole school having the opportunity to enjoy an assembly with Ruth and Shawn, where they introduced a challenge for us all to take part in.

 The challenge is simple – to invent something new that utilises wearable technology, a switch or a bicycle.  This competition is being run to celebrate the IETs 150th anniversary and entries from schools all around the world will be collected up, carefully considered and then one will actually be built in real life!  It’s very exciting and over the course of the day our students showed just how creative their ideas are.

Below are some pictures of the visit, including some of our Year 5’s working away on their own invention ideas.

Designing Mars Rovers in Year 5

Last term, as part of our Space topic, the children were inspired by the landing of Perseverance on Mars and so created their own versions of a Mars rover, complete with a motor so that it could move forward and, most impressively a lever system to enable it to pick up ‘space rock’ to study. The children had a great time making and designing their own rover and, who knows, maybe this activity will have inspired our next rover designers of the future. 

After they’d made their rovers, the children used the iPads and iMovie to virtually transport their creations to the surface of Mars with some Green Screen magic.  

You can enjoy some of these videos below:

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"I enjoyed making the Mars Rover. My favourite part was designing and decorating the rover, but we did have some trouble with our electrics"
Emily
Class 11
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Penpol Pupils earn their Be Internet Legends Trophies

Children in Key Stage 2 have recently taken home their very own Internet Legend trophy to celebrate their ongoing learning into online safety and how to become responsible online citizens.

It’s safe to say that these trophies have generated quite a buzz amongst our pupils and I’m sure they will be appearing on desks, bedside tables and shelves all over the place very soon!  

The children have been encouraged to build their trophies with a grown up at home as part of the process involves answering a series of questions about being safe online in order to unlock the instructions step-by-step.  These questions also serve as great conversation starters and will hopefully help open up lots of productive conversations about being safe online.

The reward for their efforts are these awesome 3D trophies which will remind them that they really are Internet Legends.

We’ve been sent in lots of photos of these trophies in their new homes through Showbie and this post will be updated as more photos come in so watch this space!

Outdoor Learning in full flow at Penpol

We are learning outdoors more than ever at Penpol and this is having such a positive impact upon the way we learn. Have a look at what we’ve been up to below. Please do keep an eye on the forecast each day so that your child is ready to enjoy their learning whatever the weather throws at us!