“Penpol pupils are curious, creative and courageous learners. Our school community believes in authenticity as the foundations of deep-rooted learning. Through our rich and relevant curriculum, we nurture community-minded, forward-facing international citizens of the future.”
On Wednesday, Year 5 zipped up to Hayle Academy for a fantastic, fun filled STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) morning. The children had an excellent morning learning how to cook, make solar powered cars, do advanced maths, science and art.
As well as this being an opportunity to learn some fantastic new skills, the children were able to acquaint themselves with the ‘big’ school, meet new people and meet the teachers that they might be taught by one day.
A fantastic time was had by everyone and the children came back with smiles on their faces and freshly cooked muffins in their bags.
Aliens…do they actually exist? This is a question which has been at the forefront of space exploration since the first human was launched into Space in 1961. This question is precisely what Year 5 are in the midst of learning about, having started reading ‘The Jamie Drake Equation’, by Christopher Edge, this new term.
Year 5 have explored in Science the ideal conditions for Extra-Terrestrial life forms to exist in our universe, referred to in the book as the ‘Goldilocks Zone’.
The Goldilocks Zone is neither too hot nor too cold.
Once accepting the fact that our universe is incredibly vast, all students were in agreement that in some corner of our universe, life must exist. With this in mind, both classes in Year 5 immediately began designing their own aliens in their French lesson, labelling and talking about them in French. Each one of their creations have been unique in their own way, with exceptional use of French vocabulary which would be impressive even for a GCSE French student.
Mon Alien 1
Mon Alien 2
Mon Alien 3
Mon Alien 4
In Science and Literacy, we have also looked at different attributes which are essential in order to be an astronaut. Year 5 students have completed their own mini astronaut application and were interviewed by their peers on why they would be the ideal candidate to send into Space on a mission to discover alien life form.
This week, Year 5 students will be finalising their applications and delivering a persuasive group presentation on why their group would be the ideal team to be sent into Space. Year 5 students will also be interviewing a NASA employee via Skype over the next couple of weeks in order to find out more about what it would be like to work at America’s Space Agency.
Look out for presentation videos to follow over the next few days!
This year, for the for the third time, we gave every child in Key Stage 2 the opportunity to design and refine their own 3D models on the computer, which we then printed out using our state-of-the-art Makerbot 3D printer.
This year the children had greater design freedom than ever before thanks to the fantastic new ‘Scribble’ tool on Tinkercad which lets the children draw their very own designs on screen, alongside their library of 3D shapes which the pupils have used previously. This tool was hugely popular and has resulted in us creating some really personal and unique decorations.
We’ve made a short video below to show the process of making our decorations, followed by a very large gallery underneath of every single decoration we printed this year!
This year we printed two hundred and twenty different decorations, which took a very very long time! You can see all of these decorations in the gallery below – see if you can spot yours…
This year there have been so many lovely designs and each one is completely unique. They’re all brilliant, but are there any that you particularly like?
What an amazing half term it has been. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our Extreme Reading Challenge. It has been incredible to see the exciting adventures your reading has taken you.
Infant and Junior winners will be announced this Friday.
Over the last two weeks each class in Key Stage 2 has taken part in the Hour of Code. For those unfamiliar, Hour of Code is a worldwide event which encourages school children to spend an hour having fun by problem solving through writing code.
Each year some amazing activities are created and this year schools around the world got to enjoy spending an hour Dance Party and coding their characters to dance their favourite moves.
But enough of me talking about it, here’s a fab video of the children enjoying choreographing their very own Dance Party!
– Mr Woolcock
This is the second year we’ve taken part in the international Hour of Code – you can read more about the children’s Minecraft adventure last year below:
The Penpol Junior Choir has been busy preparing for this year’s festivities, rehearsing Christmas songs which are to be performed at a number of events throughout December. After working really hard to learn and polish the songs which were performed at the Camborne Music Festival, the choir have got together during a lunch time to record one of their favourite carols, The Sans Day Carol, to help get everyone in the mood. Please listen to the school choir and enjoy, whilst getting into the Christmas Spirit.
Watch out for the amazing Penpol School Junior Choir as they perform throughout December!
On the 15th November 2018, the Penpol Junior Choir participated in this year’s Camborne Music Festival. The children performed two songs, Touch the Sky and I’m Still Singing, with energy and confidence giving a fantastic performance to the adjudicator and the audience. The choir were awarded with 168 marks (out of 200) and were praised for their energy and spirit and their great part singing. The children really enjoyed the experience and we look forward to the next Music festival.
Another fantastic round of photos! It is brilliant to see so many new faces taking part in the Extreme Reading Challenge. Keep sending in your creative ways to read. The competition is heating up, winners will be announced on the 14th of December. Still plenty of time to get your photos in to reading@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk.
What a fantastic start to our Extreme Reading Challenge! You have certainly been very busy over the holidays. It is fantastic to see you all enjoying reading and coming up with creative ideas, from reading upside down to reading on top of roof tops. I cannot wait to see what you come up with next.
Group reading around the campfire
Reading to cows
Reading in the middle of a maze
Reading to more cows
Reading on the biggest deck chair
Reading in a bin
Reading on top of pumpkins
Reading in the leaves
Reading on top of tyre
Reading to friends
Reading all of these in the holidays!
Reading in a lift
Reading to a snake
Reading at the top of Scafell Pike. At 3210ft (978m), the highest point in England.
Reading whilst sailing
Reading to family
Reading at the park
Poppy the dog enjoying a bed time story
Reading on top of a roof
Reading in the middle of a compass
Reading on stage at Butlins
Reading the newspaper on top of a roof
Reading at the airport
Reading inside a Roman helmet
Reading on a motorbike
Keep the pictures coming in! Don’t forget to email them to reading@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk
Tennis fever has taken hold at Penpol School. Since Easter we have been running a KS2 tennis club which has been very well attended by children from year 4 to 6. The children have learnt to play a series of shots and have progressed to combining them to play structured games against each other.
Alongside the club sessions, many of the classes including Years 1, 4, 5 and 6 have received specialist coaching from Sarah Arnold at Hayle Tennis Club, which they have certainly enjoyed.
It’s wonderful seeing so many children having a go, and enjoying tennis. The club are over the moon with the number of children engaging in clubs and lessons though the link with Penpol School- Mrs Sarah Hampshire, Hayle Tennis Club Chairperson
Below are timings of some sessions at Hayle Tennis Club that your child may be interested in, please click HERE for more information around pricing and club events or speak to Mr Stanlake or Mrs Hampshire.
