Year 6

Dance Fever hits Penpol!

11th November 202214th December 2021 by Nic Stanlake

Class 13 were the last in a long list of children to attend an introductory workshop at Hayle’s own Savvy Studios. Years 4, 5 and 6 have all had the opportunity to take part in two separate workshops; one lyrical and one contemporary.

At Penpol we pride ourselves on our links with local business and sports clubs. It has been difficult for both us and them during pandemic, but it was so lovely to get back out there and give the children these wonderful opportunities to try and experience different sports and hobbies.

The children were rewarded for their hard work and creativity with a flyer offering attendance at some trial classes; this is not only open to those who have attended but anyone who may be interested.

You can see the amazing work that goes on at Savvy by taking a look at their website. Parents, it is also her you can book some trial classes, with no pressure to sign up at the end!

WAR DECLARED: All YEAR 6 children to be Evacuated!

8th November 202214th December 2021 by Nic Stanlake

81 years after thousands of children and young vulnerable adults were evacuated from cities across the country during WW2, our Year 6 children had a go themselves. To celebrate the end of our ‘Wartime Britain’ topic the children (and adults) dressed themselves in period clothing and lived the life of an evacuee for the day.

After being collected from the gate by a member of the 2 of the newest members for he British Army and our very own Land Girls they waved a teary goodbye to their parents before being subjected to a roll call and squeezing into a cramped school classrooms; much like the evacuees of 1939 would have been when they departed the trains.

It was here the children had chance to act in character and meet their fellow evacuees, discussing the contents of their suitcases as well as their preferred destination. Those without identification tags were labeled and sent on their way. The children then had some time to look at and try different games that evacuees would have played in the 40’s.

For the remainder of the morning we continued in character- between the air raid sirens- we wrote post cars home to share the news of out safe arrival and built model spitfires whilst learning about their significance during the Battle of Britain. In school groups the children followed a handed-down ration recipe to make some delicious bread and butter pudding.

At the close of the day the children were collected by their parents, their evacuation was much shorter than those during the war. Many parents came into class to sample some of their cooking but also sit and enjoy their child’s work from the last term, with the majority of literacy and topic being based heavily on our studying of Wartime Britain.

Year 6 Netball Fever

9th November 20223rd December 2021 by Nic Stanlake

On Thursday 23 children made the relatively short walk to Hayle Academy to take part in a coaching clinic with 4 Year 10 pupils from Hayle; 3 of which were ex-Penpol pupils.

The Year 6 pupils performed admirably, showing many of our school values; respect, integrity and resilience. For many, the toughest part was understanding the different roles for players in different positions.

Class 13 Visit Bodmin Keep

30th June 20223rd November 2021 by Nic Stanlake

On taking a short break from studying WW2 within their topic of Wartime Britain, Class 13 moved their focus to WW1 and the commemoration of the Armistice. To help emerge themselves in to the lives of young soldiers we visited Cornwall’s military museum at Bodmin Keep.

The children learnt all about how the keep was used to train and house recruits who later went onto fight in France and Belgium as part of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry before housing visiting G.I Joes in the lead up to the D-Day landings in 1944.

The building was rich with British Military history and a plethora of artefacts and replicas to explore and discuss including; Mary tins, a present from Princess Mary to serving soldiers in 1914; genuine WW1 clothing, helmets and boots; food stuffs from the time of WW1, including a VERY hard tac biscuit; and soldiers personal possessions, such as boot polish, button polishers and shaving kits.

After exploring the museum the children had chance to join the regiment, armed with their rifles (very much wooden replicas) they marched towards the enemy and took their place in the trenches and awaited the call to climb. On their lucky escape from the trench, the children sat and read some of the life stories of soldiers who left Bodmin and served, some not so fortunate to return.

After lunch we entertained two veterans, messers ‘Spanner’ and ‘Kelvin’ who taught us some basic knot skills and some far more important team building, leadership and communication ones too. The children learnt how to tie a ‘highway hitch’ before competing in a team drill to crown the fastest and best platoon in the regiment!

A truly awe-inspiring day where many of our current day to day difficulties were put into persecutive, from here we will be writing some remembrance poetry and letters from the trenches, so keep your eyes peeled for post from the Somme.

Penpol Celebrates European Day of Languages 2021

30th June 20225th October 2021 by Jack Emery

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.

Super Six Announcement!

23rd June 2021 by Nic Stanlake

A few weeks before activity week we proudly announced out new Super Six Pupils, the first of hopefully many this year. Becoming a ‘Super Six’ is not simply about academic success but more so recognising excellent role models that demonstrate the shared values and ethos of the school.

The first pupils have been presented with a signed certificate and have also signed a contract to show that they now fully understand the responsibilities for their new role.

These particular children share a tremendous work ethic and constant drive to succeed and improve. Through both homework and classwork they have shown immense effort and diligence and we are wholly confident they will continue to set an excellent example for children at Penpol School as they wear their new ties with pride.

We look forward to seeing these children continue to develop and flourish at Penpol as well as looking forward to the opportunity to present more awards to deserving children.

Year 6 Activity Week- ‘BBQ, sleepovers and orienteering’

20th June 202120th June 2021 by Nic Stanlake

The biggest disappointment upon hearing our proposed camp at Porthpean was cancelled was that the children would not have the chance to stay away from home. This is often the biggest cause of anxiety for the children and a real milestone to reach; we did however manage to squeeze in a sleepover at school on Thursday night!

After our trip to the beach the children (and adults) whizzed home for a quick shower before returning to school for an evening of games and barbecued food! It’s always good to get photos of them in their most natural state- eating!

We are legally allowed to call the sleepover just that now as all children got at least some sleep. However, come breakfast and the 9.15am start for orienteering, it was clear some got more than others. The faces truly represent the morning mood for most- a stark contrast from 12 hours previous!

For the orienteering activity the children used a pre-drawn ordinance survey map of the school and some of our permanent orienteering signs. Each pair wrote their own general knowledge question before using the map to find the remaining questions. Once they’d woken up, they were buzzing around the school site answering questions from “Name of the American president?” to “Name of Peppa Pig’s brother?”- I won’t say which but Mr Peck only knew one of those!

With the children getting their second wind shortly after break, on completion of the orienteering course (winners pictured above, well done girls) we rounded off a brilliant activity week with some exceptionally competitive games of 40-40 in. A great way to finish what has been a fantastic week. Thank you to everyone involved, the places we’ve been, the staff who’ve been there and special thanks to the children for their exceptional efforts and behaviours- without them it would have been us adults playing in the Jungle Barn on our own, beating ourselves at cricket and boule and riding the Thunderbolt without a hand to hold!

Year 6 Activity Week- ‘Sun, Sea and Sand’

11th November 202219th June 2021 by Nic Stanlake

What a beautiful day! The sun was shining and the light was perfect for photography! With energy levels weaning after what had already been an eventful few days, we made our way to Hayle beach with wetsuits, towels and beach paraphernalia in tow. We had arranged, what turned out to be, a brilliant day on the sand and sea with Lizard Adventure.

The children had the chance to push themselves to their limits of comfort, for some that was paddling a double kayak and for others it was backflips off the mega sup. The joy of weeks like this are the smiles we see constantly pinned from ear to ear and the personal challenges we see children overcome. Both equally rewarding.

The children had the chance to try their hand at stand up paddle boarding, very on trend. It was easy if you had balance, if you didn’t, well, they spend a lot of time climbing back on.

For some it was the relative safety of the MEGASUP. Which was much calmer…until one person lost their balance and everyone was climbing back on! The MEGASUP required close communication, exceptional team work and also the ability to wrestle when it came to ‘last one standing’ – no prizes for guessing the winner!

The final of the three water based activity was kayaking, again requiring teamwork and communication in the doubles although there is photo evidence of some people not pulling their weight! Pirating aside, the children paddles around the water with ease battling the testing wind and turning tide.

Whilst half the children took to the sea the other children did their bit to protect the environment by conducting a litter sweep of the beach. The children were then tasked with building an environment themed beach sculpture. There were a host of differing designs highlighting the effects of climate change, threat to wildlife due to plastic pollution and some more ‘abstract’ pieces. A week to late for Mr Biden and Johnson though!

Once the litter was picked, and sadly there was a sizeable amount, the children had chance to play, enjoying some beach cricket, some sun and the new fan favourite, boule!

The behaviour again, was exceptional and the company was great to keep. As the week progresses I know I keep having a new favourite day! Great fun has been had by all so far and special thank to the team at Lizard Adventure! Next up… The ‘sleepover’

Year 6 Activity Week ‘The Best Day of the Week?’

18th June 202118th June 2021 by Nic Stanlake

On Wednesday, the Year 6 children boarded the bus and headed off to Flambards with sick bowls in hand! With the drizzle falling in Hayle, we were fortunately greeted with cloud-breaking sunshine on our arrival in Helston. There is a slight lack of photos from today due to 3 different reasons. One, a misbehaving camera. Two, the difficulty of capturing faces as they whizzed around, back to front and upside down and finally, I spent most of the day on the rides with the children!!

Some children decided to ease themselves in gently with the tea cups and some decided to avoid the queues they expected later in the day and head for the crown pleasers; The Thunderbolt, The Hornet, The Skyraker and Skyforce!

Some action shots!

Some children found the day/ combination of rides and sugar too much to cope with! However, another great day was had by all children (including the big ones!)

Year 6 Activity Week- ‘In to the woods we go…’

15th June 202115th June 2021 by Nic Stanlake

Tuesday brought about a trip to Tehidy woods, again an excellent day right on our doorstep!

We set off in the hunt for the illustrious lesser-spotted Tehidy Treacle Bear, but had to bid our time with a morning of activities: den building, raft making and a blind trail.

On the children’s arrival, we were fortunate to find an already constructed blind trail (thanks Mr Peck!) Navigating this took excellent team work and careful communication and on reflection, I know who I’d not want to be leading me through the woods with a blindfold on! The children had to work in pairs to guide each other around a roped route…with varying success!

Next on the list, deep in Treacle Bear territory, was den building. Most woodlands are a brilliant places to build dens but Tehidy may be the best around! We, as adults, had the opportunity to sit in on in-depth planning meetings where floor plans and designs were discussed before witnessing the children building some breathtaking structures (none of which resembled the plans!)

After no successful sightings of the bears we headed down to the stream to craft some prototype rafts, less planning this time round, just more elastic bands! Races were had, races were lost and races were won and then there were the racers who cheated and gave it an extra throw down stream. Competition aside the children had great fun splashing in the stream! I wasn’t the only one to get wet feet!

With everything prepared for our final venture into the depths of the woods, Mr Peck made the children aware of the various animal actions (just incase we spotted anything) and we donned our camouflage war paint (some needing encouragement) and set off on a wet and wild adventure!

Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in our quest to spot the wildlife we were hoping for, we had plenty of false alarms as well as a host of French squirrels and insects in the river, legs flailing helplessly! However, a lot of fun was had and we headed home tired, wet and smelly (and I mean SMELLY)

Penpol Celebrates Languages Day 2023!

“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.”