The Penpol Times

¿Hablas Español?

7th November 20196th November 2019 by Jack Emery

The answer to that question before half term for almost all members of staff at Penpol, including languages co-ordinator Mr Emery, was a resounding ‘no!’ or perhaps a meek ‘un poco’. However, if you were to now ask that question to most of the KS2 staff and teaching assistants at Penpol, you would be met with the confident reply ‘si! Me gusta hablar en español!’

Over the half term break, 8 members of staff from Penpol took part in an 8 day immersion course in Santander, Northern Spain. The trip was only possible after Penpol School was successful in gaining funding from Erasmus+, which is the European Union programme for education, in July. Penpol are now on a two year journey to further enhance the language teaching at Penpol by allowing staff to develop their professional practice, build relationships with international peers and gain fresh ideas from language learning experiences in Spain and France.

The shoes were on the other feet for the teachers of Penpol, with intense but immensely enjoyable 3 hour daily Spanish lessons with experienced and fully qualified Spanish teachers.

It was a really invigorating feeling being a student again in a classroom. Mr Pollard, Class 11 Teacher.

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From learning the basic phrases such as ‘¿Como te llamas?’ on day 1, staff completed the week learning the verb conjugations for regular and irregular verbs, as well as regularly conversing in practice role plays in class. The lessons were hugely rewarding and by the end of the week, all staff had grown in confidence ordering in restaurants and even conversing in Spanish with locals.

Aside from the daily lessons, the days were also packed with challenges which were not too dissimilar from BBC one’s show ‘The Apprentice’. On the first day, staff had to explore the city by foot and find out important facts, cultural information and even learn a joke from a local. There was also a night of learning how to dance, Flamenco- style, to the delight of Mr Peck! There was also plenty of time to enjoy the delights of Santander, such as the Palacio de la Magdelena, the stunning local beaches and experience the plethora of Pintxos (tapas-style dishes) on offer across the city’s many restaurants and bars.

The week was testament to Penpol’s enthusiasm for languages and, after an action-packed week, each member of staff not only graduated with flying colours but also came away with a lots of ideas to bring back into the classroom, as well as the confidence to teach Spanish in a fun and engaging way.

Gracias y hasta luego!

Fresh Air Friday!

5th November 2019 by Christina Sukstiene

Year 1 have recently started our outdoor learning sessions on a Friday morning.

This week we braved the rain to take our maths, literacy and art into the natural environment.

We explored 2D shapes, looking for shapes around the outdoor area and creating our own with leaves, twigs and pebbles.

We took our reading outside to read The Gruffalo and to think of adjectives to describe him whilst creating a Gruffalo collage.

We also explored shades of colour by finding as many different natural colours as we could!

We all had a fab time and enjoyed getting muddy in our welly boots!

Year 1 – Spooky Dress up Day!

11th February 20205th November 2019 by Christina Sukstiene

Classes 4 and 3 had a spooktaculartime celebrating our 'Spooky dress up day."

We took part in lots of spooky activities throughout the day. The children came up with some ghastly adjectives to use to write a 'GHOST' acrostic poem. 

We also explored estimation in maths, carrying out a ghoulishpumpkin investigation!

Both classes loved getting messy by making some spooky, gloopy soup too! 

We finished the day with a 'spooky' disco and yoga, retelling a haunting story through yoga poses.

We all had a magical day!

Artistic Adjectives

3rd November 20191st November 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

Just before half term we finished an exciting and creative project which involved creating artwork on our iPads. We spent several lessons learning different techniques and building our drawing skills, which was put to good use in the final lesson where everyone created their own Artistic Adjective.

The goal was simple, pick an adjective and create a piece of Word Art which showed that word illustrated as if it were describing itself. So ‘chilly’ had to look really cold, ‘sleepy’ had to look really tired and ‘boring’ had to look really, well, boring!

The children had great fun creating these pieces of art. Keep an eye out around the school for a big Word Art display popping up soon…

All Class 11 Class 12 Class 13 Class 14

Year 2 enjoy their visit to Hayle Pilot Gig Club

2nd July 20242nd October 2019 by Linda Ruffell

This term Year 2 have been learning all about the champion rower Ann Glanville. Ann was born in Saltash and was married to John Glanville, who worked as a waterman – someone who rowed people and cargo across the River Tamar. Together they had 14 children and when John became ill Ann took his job to provide money for their family. She was tall, strong and very good at rowing.

To help the children identify what life may have been like for Ann, the children had a very informative trip down to the Hayle Pilot Gig Club.

Season Opener For Our Netballers!

1st October 20191st October 2019 by Nic Stanlake

Tuesday brought about the opening round of fixtures for our netball team. The children travelled to Mounts Bay Academy where they participate in the Penwith Schools High-5 netball league.

The team consisted of a mixture of year 5 and 6 children, many of whom were playing for the first time.

The match started positively for Penpol but unfortunately they couldn’t make their dominance count with Gulval leading 1-0 at half-time. The second half seemed much more comfortable for the children with them begging to play with confidence and freedom.

An excellent performance from player for the match, Vinnie, who played at both GK and GS was rewarded with two points.

Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the team fell to a 3-2 defeat. Plenty of positives to take from the game which was played with big smiles on their faces!

If you’d like to give netball a go, netball club in on a Thursday with Mrs Turner for year 5 & 6.

Stone Age and Bronze Aged artefacts land in Class 11 & 12!

1st October 20191st October 2019 by Mark Pollard

On Tuesday the 1st of October, class 11 and 12 were fortunate enough to get their hands on some artefacts which are literally thousands of years old!

Made during the Stone Age and Iron Age, the children worked together to decipher what the items might have been used for. Items included large Stone Age axe heads, chisels and arrows.

Rhys said that he was excited about looking at all of the Stone Age items.

Devon said that it was great to actually hold items which had been handmade so many thousands of years ago.

Thanks goes to Dr M.G Weller – whose fine collection these items came from – and David Lay Auction House in Penzance, who kindly arranged for the loan to happen.

Soccer Star Signs For Professional Accademy

1st October 2019 by Nic Stanlake

Jake (Class 13) is a very talented young footballer who plays for his local club, Hayle. He has recently been working his way through the Plymouth Argyle player pathway. Starting here at home in West Cornwall before moving to Brannel in Mid Cornwall and latterly the Centre of Excellence in Ivybdrige.

In the last few weeks Jake has been on trial with the academy where they have been monitoring not only his level of skill but also his attitude towards both his football and schooling. It is with great pleasure that I can confirm that Jake has met the expectations of the club and has signed his first contract with the Academy, one of only two players from Mid & West Cornwall!

A tremendous achievement for such a hardworking young man! Keep it up Jake, we are all super proud of your achievements to date!

A lovely morning for some Bingo!

3rd November 201924th September 2019 by Jacob Woolcock

Welcome back to the new term at Penpol School!

As a fun starter for this year, Mr Woolcock and his classes played a game of ‘Summer Holiday Bingo’ using the new Outdoor Classroom area and our iPads.

This game proved quite the hit with the pupils, who spent a good half an hour trying to fill their game cards before everyone else could.

The game itself was very simple – each child had to take a selfie with another child who had taken part in a particular activity over the summer holidays. For example, “rode a bike’, ‘went on an aeroplane’ or ‘watched an amazing film’.

The only catch was that they couldn’t get a photograph with the same child twice! This didn’t seem like a big deal at first, but soon proved quite tricky…

It quickly became apparent that some of the bingo squares were harder to find that others and that only a couple of children had completed some of the activities. This led to some rather hasty rearranging of selfies to ensure every box was filled.

This activity was a great chance to get outdoors with the iPads, but also to get to know our new classes and catch up with old friends.

Cosmic art at Hayle Vets

19th September 2019 by Jono Peck

Before the end of the summer term, the Y6 undertook an art project to redesign and paint the mural at Hayle Vets. The project was supported by an artist called Cosmic who helped bring all the ideas to life.

Cosmic worked with all the Y6 firstly in school generating ideas and artwork that could form the mural. He then led sessions with the children with spray paints practising technique and creating art styles which would be used on the mural. All the Y6 had a go at spray painting and producing ideas for the main mural.

Certain children were selected based on their artwork to actually paint the mural at Hayle Vets with Cosmic. Two groups went down over a day and worked with Cosmic. The first group outlined the design.

The second group added some fuller colour and finishing details.

After a tiring day, the children left and Cosmic added the finishing touches. The mural looks fantastic and all the Y6 were invited back down to Hayle Vets to see their finished design. The design is very local to the Hayle area and takes a journey through Hayle Foundry to Copperhouse, along the Towans and out beyond Godrevy. You might also spot a few animals and sea creatures. Go and take a look for yourself – it’s amazing!!

The children were very happy and overwhelmed with the finished artwork. It was cosmic!

Our thanks go to Cosmic for his patience, creativity and artistic skills that were shared with the Y6. A massive thank you to Steve Wyatt and Hayle Vets for hosting the Y6 and for funding the project. We know you are pleased with the mural and it is certainly the coolest car park in town!

Penpol’s Got Talent 2024

“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.”