Jacob Woolcock

Penpol Pupils go on a Virtual Reality Expedition with Google!

26th April 2017 by Jacob Woolcock

On Tuesday Penpol School had a very special visit from Google who had some exciting new technology to show off to the children.

Google Expeditions is a new project designed to introduce primary school children to Virtual Reality in the classroom. Mark from Google bought 60 Google Cardboard headsets to Penpol along with 60 smart phones and tablets to get the system set up and running. Throughout the day every class, from Year 1 to Year 6, had the chance to get some hands on time with the technology by going on a virtual school trip!

Led by their class teacher, the children were transported virtually around the world to unusual and exciting destinations including the Amazon Rainforest, underwater deep sea diving, onto the vast icy planes of Antartica and even into outer space to see the Moon and Earth from a whole new perspective. The excitement amongst the children was electric, with loud gasps every time the teacher took them to a new location to explore.

Virtual Reality works by taking a 360 degree photo of a location and then using special software to make the viewer feel like they are in the middle of the action. With the Google Cardboard and attached smartphone the children can then explore their surroundings simply by moving their head. The classroom disappears and they are taken on an incredible school trip.

You can learn more about Google Expeditions here: https://edu.google.com/expeditions/

Throughout the day we took as many photos as possible to remember this amazing event, so please enjoy a selection of them below…

Code Club off to a flying start

14th May 201822nd November 2016 by Jacob Woolcock

Last week some of our Year 6’s launched our very first Code Club, here at Penpol School. With support from Mr Woolcock, the team of Year 6 boys have been sharing their coding knowledge with over SEVENTY children who’ve been enjoying Code Club.

Harry, Connor, Morgan and Zak have taken on the responsibility of running the club over multiple lunchtimes, in order to ensure that everyone who wants to has the opportunity to spend half an hour being creative on the computers. Already they’ve had to turn children away though as the queues to get in have been out the door!

“It’s been great fun teaching the juniors coding, particularly the Year 4’s because they are very new to coding.” – Harry, Y6

In Code Club the children are allowed to use Scratch, MicroBits and sometimes even Xcode to create whatever they can imagine. Whether it be a game, a puzzle, a character or even an interactive quiz, our Juniors are showing that there really is no limit to what they can do on the computers.

“It’s been great fun so far, because it’s teaching the younger ones to code and helping me with my own coding skills.” – Connor, Y6

If you’d like to come along to code club then please check the poster below to see which day your year group are invited to.

Micro:Bits have arrived at Penpol!

14th May 201812th November 2016 by Jacob Woolcock

This term we’ve bought a whole classes worth of BBC Micro:Bits to use with Year 5 and 6!

These tiny computers are incredibly clever and already we’ve had classes using them to make compasses, thermometers and little pocket-sized games. These Micro:Bits have proved such a hit in the last few days that we’re going to make sure everyone in Key Stage 2 gets the chance to learn to code with them this year, starting with Year 5 and 6.

While the children are used to coding using Scratch on the computers, being able to make programs which run on these little devices is even more exciting as they can be taken outdoors and used just about anywhere. Over the year we’ll be using our Micro:Bits for science experiments, music lessons and more. We’ll also make sure they’re available to use at lunchtime Code Club incase anybody wants to try making their own ideas into reality using the Micro:Bits.

Class 12 make Photoshop Collages

14th May 201825th January 2016 by Jacob Woolcock

Over the past couple of weeks the Year 6’s have been making digital collages using scanned in artwork and Photoshop. By creating these works of art the children have been learning about the lasso selection tool, the move tool, layer styles, blending modes, hue+saturation adjustments, the filter gallery and the liquify tool. We’re incredibly pleased with how their artworks have come out, below are just a few examples to give you a flavour of their excellent work.