Year 6

Year 5 and 6 begin writing their own Websites

6th August 201817th November 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

This week the Year 5s and 6s and begun to learn how to write and code their own websites using the programming languages HTML and CSS.

We started out by looking at how a HTML page is structured using <> and </> tags and how we can then change the style of these through a CSS file. Learning two new languages is certainly challenging, but as always our superstar pupils lived up to our expectations and have made great progress already. In the first lesson the children made a simple website with information about themselves followed by an interactive birthday/Christmas card. Some of these Christmas cards have even been entered into a Code Club competition!

Autumn and Freya with their Christmas Card Website

If you’d like to create another website using this Trinket template at home you can use this link to get to the Code Club project page.

Poppy with her Christmas Card Website

After this, some classes are moving onto creating their own ‘comic-strip’ style website with different <div> frames, <p> and <img> tags and correct CSS styling to create their own joke or short story. The children were given free reign to create any joke or short story they felt like with the images provided, so long as their webpage was coded correctly. As you can see, some of their stories are certainly interesting!

The children have been using a website called Trinket to create their code and view their website in real time. We can even share and embed Trinket websites on the Penpol Times!

“Jimmy the Dinosaur” by Will

“Knock Knock Cheese” by Jake

It doesn’t make any sense but at least it’s about Bob – Jake, Y6

“Dr Who?”

Over the next few weeks the Year 5’s and 6’s will continue to learn about the basics of Web Development and discover how they can display information in creative and engaging ways. At the rate these classes are learning it wouldn’t surprise me if we have quite a few future web developers in our midst!

The fabled ’99 Club’ welcomes it’s first members.

15th November 2017 by Mark Pollard

The children in Year 6 have been working towards entering the prestigious ’99 club’ all year and, this week, 3 children managed to enter it.

To achieve this feat, the children must answer 99 questions, based on addition, subtraction, multiplication, adding or subtracting fractions and finding fractions or percentages of a number. All of that, and they only get 5 minutes to do it in (which equates to just 3 seconds per answer!).
However, this did not faze Ben, Ben T or Freya, as they answered all the questions correctly in the allotted time, with Freya, who was the first to finish, completing all of the questions in an incredible 3 minutes and 10 seconds (under 2 seconds per question!).

A huge congratulations to the 3 of them and hopefully they will be joined by other members soon.

I practiced a lot at home and I managed to beat my best time on the day! – Freya

Think you’ve got what it takes? Feel free to have a practice on the sheet below!

Hablas Español?

15th November 2017 by Jack Emery

This week, Year 6 students had the opportunity of learning Spanish and enjoyed their first Spanish taster session with Mr Emery. With Spain being the third most popular country to visit in the World, lots of students were very enthusiastic to learn more about Spain and also learn some basic Spanish.

Classes 13 & 14 were given a short presentation by Inès from Class 13 on her experience being in a Spanish primary school in Gran Canaria. Students were amazed to hear that in Spain and the Canary islands, the school day finishes at lunch time, where school kids go back home for la comida (lunch) and, of course, la siesta!

After a cultural quiz on Spain, students then got to grips with the Spanish language by learning different types of food on the website Linguascope. Within 20 minutes, some students had already mastered the 40 different items of food, ranging from breakfast foods to vegetables and fruits!

The students were then tested on how many different types of food they could remember by playing a whole class quiz on Kahoot.com. Students are given a time-limit to answer each question and are competing against each other for the top score.

After 30 questions, the winners from each class had been established. From class 13, Ben was the overall winner, with Inès second and Peter third.

It’s really cool to try a different language and learn about Spain. Spanish is now my new favourite language! Ben, Class 13, Year 6

From Class 14, Alfie won a very close battle between himself, Juliette and Finn. All three were the only students in class 14 to score 30/30, but Alfie’s faster reaction times saw him eventually come out on top.

Learning Spanish is much easier when you already know some French! That helped me win today! Alfie, Class 14, Year 6

Currently, only one third of Britons are now able to hold a conversation in another language. Yet with the budding enthusiasm shown by Penpols’ language stars, there’s a feeling that the tide is turning!

Penalty Heartbreak For Our Footballers

3rd November 2017 by Nic Stanlake

Some of our Year 5 and 6 children who form the Penpol School Football Team took part in the FA County Schools 7 aside tournament for the West of Cornwall on Friday. They performed remarkably well and were the talk of the tournament with their free flowing passing game.

After games against St Ives (2-0 win), Marazion (3-0 win) and Pensans (3-0 win) the boys knew that victory against Parc Eglos would secure them top stop in their group. With that on their minds they set to work dispatching them with 2 fine team goals to set up a semi-final match against local rivals Bodriggy. A hard fought 1-0 victory meant the boys in black progressed to the final, scoring 13 goals and conceding none en route.

Reaching the final ensured the teams progression to the County finals for the first time in many years which are set to be held on the 17th November. Runners-up from Group A, Parc Eglos managed to overcome Alverton in their semi-final to set-up a re-run of the days earlier match against the Penpol boys. An early goal from Penpol meant for the entire game meant they looked favourites for the trophy however a late goal sent the game to extra-time and then onto penalties. The curse for the English struck and the boys were defeated 4-3 on penalty kicks, a terrible way to lose. However they can be extremely proud of what they achieved and we wish them all the best for the finals.

Faster than Usain?? – Year 6’s trip to see the REAL fastest man in the world.

23rd June 20183rd November 2017 by Mark Pollard

On Monday the 30th of October the whole of Year 6 travelled to Newquay Airport to meet Andy Green – the man who currently holds the world land-speed record, having travelled at 656mph in 1997.

He is now part of a team that is attempting to travel at an incredible 1000mph in the BloodHound SSC (SuperSonic Car) and we were lucky enough to see the car being put through its paces. Despite a blip (it was expected to reach 200mph in a matter of seconds, but had a fault) it was still great to see it. Alongside this, there was an educational tutorial discussing the science behind the car, which included the recreation of a sonic boom which you could certainly feel from where we were sat.

During the educational event there were lots of experiments and activities to work through, with a real focus and push on engineering. A great day!

I thought it was a really fun day, but I wish that the car had travelled faster! Doing all of the activities in the hangar was brilliant though. – Alex.

BloodHound didn’t travel as quickly as it could, but it was evident that it had the potential. I really enjoyed the whole day and I think I enjoyed working on a stop-gap animation the most. – Taran

Andy Green – The BloodHound SSC driver before the test-run.

Year 6 Language stars of the month!

3rd November 2017 by Jack Emery

Classes 13 and 14 in Year 6 have been learning about how to describe their home town in French. From learning about their favourite place to visit, as well as places they dislike in their town, both classes have worked hard to master both pronunciation and memorisation of vocabulary. Their final lesson was an opportunity to test their overall confidence with this topic by completing a language challenge on the website Kahoot.com, in the Junior Mac Suite.

Kahoot.com is a website which allows teachers to create an interactive quiz and share it with a whole class, with each student having their own computer to complete the quiz. The twenty questions on places in town is then shared live with the students at the same time and they are given a time limit of 10 seconds to answer a multiple choice question correctly. It enables every student in the class to compete against each other on this topic to get the highest score.

The winner from class 14 was Juliette, who was the only student who managed to answer all questions correctly, scoring 100%, as well as having the quickest reaction time.

Kahoot is so much fun because it tests you against everyone else in the class. I loved it! Juliette- class 14- Year 6

Juliette received a French certificate for her effort and commitment in French.

In class 13, Trystan was also the overall winner, narrowly beating Lola and Will to first place on the podium.

Kahoot is so much fun! It’s quick and tests you on what you know. I loved beating my friends! Trystan- class 13- Year 6

Next up for Year 6 will be the Penpol- Lavignolle email exchange. This half term, students will be receiving their first email from students in France from Lavignolle primary school, which is situated in the suburbs of Paris. This will be the perfect opportunity for the students to develop more of a cultural understanding by learning about the differences between French schools and English schools.

“I asked my French penpal which rugby team they supported, so I can’t wait to hear back from them!” Jack- class 13- Year 6.

Watch this space for more on the Penpol- Lavignolle email exchange.

Penpol Students Star At Hayle Tennis Finals Day

27th September 2017 by Nic Stanlake

Sunday the 24th September brought around the much anticipated annual finals day at Hayle Tennis Club. Over the last year the school has rekindled its relationship with the tennis club by securing a whole school membership which allows teachers the use of the courts with their class. During the summer term of the last academic year the school also held a tennis themed non-uniform day and cake sale in order to raise funds for the club as a way of saying thank you for the coaching some classes have received and our school membership. I’m pleased to say we raised nearly £334 to support one of the most local clubs, with the PFA match funding the cake sale with some added extra bumping the total up to £534!

In the seven final matches Penpol school was well represented wth fifteen students ranging from the red ball competition for aged 8 and under to Under 14 singles and doubles. A huge success for the children and a reward for the hard work they put in on the court every week. It was also very pleasing to see friends and class mates going head to head but even more pleasing to see the level of sportsmanship as they congratulated each other and were happy for their own successes.

Alfie with his Green Ball, U12’s Trophies and Sportsmanship award

Lily with her U12’s and Orange ball trophies

Peter was awarded the Most improved player after only being at the club for a couple of months!

Jude and Alfie with their doubles trophy

What’s been going on this year in Year 6?

27th September 2017 by Mark Pollard

This week the Year 6 children have begun listening to the story of ‘Clockwork’ for their Literacy topic, a creepy tale set 100 years ago in a town in Germany. They have also continued focusing on reproducing artworks inspired by Paul Bursnall in Art and begun investigating just how a go-kart works and how it is made. In Maths, the children have been working on rounding numbers as well as recapping using the 4 main written operations (multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting).

Mr Pollard and Mr Wise were also the proud recipients of a class mascot each, courtesy of the work undertaken in the Junior MacSuite with Mr Woolcock. They will take pride of place on their respective teacher’s tables, one by Aidan for Class 14 and Trystan for Class 13.

It’s great to see it in the classroom. – Trystan – Class 13

I made a cat for Mr Wise as apparently he likes them and I thought it’d look nice on his desk – Aidan – Class 12

3D Class Mascot Challenge

18th May 201827th September 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

Last week our 3D design work started in earnest in the Junior Mac Suite. To get the children learning all about the Tinkercad 3D design program they were set a challenge: to design the best class mascot to sit on their teacher’s desk.

Everyone in Year 4, 5 and 6 had the chance to build whatever they thought their teacher would like the most with the winning design being secretly chosen from each class. The winning model was then 3D printed overnight and the children were delighted to see the finished model the following morning.

It looked even better in real life than it did on the computer, I hope Mr Pollard likes it! – Trystan

Below are photos of all the winning designs from the competition, click on them to view them full-size!

Class 9 (Y4) – Jake

Class 10 (Y4) – Martin

Class 11 (Y5) – Ethan

Class 12 (Y5) – Maggie

Class 13 (Y6) – Trystan

Class 14 (Y6) – Aidan

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