Headteacher
Chris Coyle-Chislett
Email the Office
secretary@penpol.cornwall.sch.uk
Telephone Number
01736 753472
Follow us on Twitter
@PenpolSchool
Our Address
2 St George’s Road, Hayle,
Cornwall, TR27 4AH
Each week whilst school is closed I’ll be bringing you a Friday afternoon assembly showcasing some of the diverse and exciting learning that’s being shared by Key Stage 2 on Showbie. As well as the assembly itself, this page also has a gallery where you can see the learning in more detail should you wish.
Here at Penpol, we have a rich community which stretches far and wide, beyond the school gates. For three years, we have been in contact with Madame Jourdain’s Year 5 classes, at Le Bourg primary school in SW France. We have been exchanging letters, information about our lovely school and area, sending over games and passing on cultural differences between the two countries.
One aspect which is very similar between the two countries right now is that French children are now, like us, working from home for the time being, rather than at school.
Maintaining connections during this rather strange time is a powerful thing – be it with family, friends, teachers, as well as our friends over the pond at Ecole Primaire le Bourg- and it gives us all a sense that we are in this together.
The children from Le Bourg primary school have sent messages, some in French and some in English, detailing what they are getting up to during this period outside of the classroom. I am also very excited to send some of our own messages in French/ English to let them know what we are doing during this time. Please feel free to send them in to your teachers if you have anything you would like to share in French…the more, the merrier! Also, if you feel like you need a refresher on some of the topics your teachers have been doing with you, with the help of Mr Woolcock I have uploaded a French and Spanish section with plenty of games and activities to try out and boost your confidence. You can find the French and Spanish section on the home learning section of the school website.
For now, check out the lovely message sent from their teacher, Madame Jourdain, as well as the letters from the Year 5 children below and see how you get on with some of the translations…
Mardi 7 avril, Tuesday 7th April
Chers correspondants, Dear friends letters, coorespondents
Nous aussi, nous sommes confinés et travaillons à la maison.
We are confined and we work at home.
Voici quelques activités que nous pratiquons en dehors du travail scolaire.
Here are some activities we do outside of school work.
A très bientôt. See you soon.
Les élèves de CM1/CM2 Mme Jourdain
Each week whilst school is closed I’ll be bringing you a Friday afternoon assembly showcasing some of the diverse and exciting learning that’s being shared by Key Stage 2 on Showbie. As well as the assembly itself, this page also has a gallery where you can see the learning in more detail should you wish.
The Book Fair arrived at Penpol School on Thursday 5th March (World Book Day) and will be here until Wednesday 12th March!
You are able to use £1 World Book Day vouchers on books that are over £2.99 at the Book Fair.
There are hundreds of books from £2.99. Read all the latest books by your favourite authors and illustrators! Discover a book you’ll love at our Book Fair.
Earn 20% extra free with discounted gift vouchers, available online before the Book Fair at www.bookfairs.scholastic.co.uk/giftvouchers
Every book you buy at our Book Fair helps us earn free books for our school!
Love reading? Love our Book Fair!
Last term we started a brand new club at Penpol, App Design Club. In this club the children in Year 5 and Year 6 are invited to consider an idea or problem and how they might make an app to solve this. Following along with resources made by Apple, the children then learn how to write code using the Swift programming language as well as learn how to plan and design their own app.
In the first half term we had a live link-up with Mr Jenkins who teaches at Booth Wood Primary School in the Midlands. This connection allowed children from both clubs to have the chance to share their initial app ideas and to ask for feedback. This Focus Group session proved valuable as the children were able to adapt and refine their ideas as a result of this feedback.
Following this they then did market research and looked at similar apps to see what they could offer which would be a bit different.
When they had got a clear idea of their app it was time to move onto Phase 2 – the design.
Initially each child created a ‘wire-frame’ idea by sketching on the iPads. This showed roughly what the individual screens of their app would look like and how they would be connected to each other.
After this we were lucky enough to have a Skype conversation with Sabe who teaches in a city called Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He led the club through a fun and exciting lesson on creating App Prototypes using the Keynote app. The children followed intently and by the end of the session they’d created a simple app to browse animal facts.
We’re now taking the ideas learnt from Sabe and using them to create working prototypes of our own apps. This process is going to take a little while as we are trying to pay close attention to how the app functions and how it looks.
Hopefully later in the year we’ll be able to share an update with everyone where the children can share their app designs with the world!
– Mr Woolcock
Sharing ideas in a Focus Group session with Booth Wood Primary school in order to develop and expand their ideas.
Club members following along with their App Designs carefully following the instructions from Sabe in the UAE.
On Tuesday morning our year 6 children visited Hayle Academy; here they not only had the chance to explore languages from around the world but the opportunity to dive deeper into how languages are constructed before having a ghostwrited at creating their own language.
The second session consisted of constructing and writing letters to their favourite authors. These will then be posted off with the hope of getting a reply. So watch this space!
Our Year 6s have been learning all about the Mayans in their Topic lessons this half term. In Computing we’ve been taking this learning and creating our own animations based around the idea of an ancient Mayan Temple.
The animation itself is lovely, but to really appreciate it you need to know that the children have actually built their temples brick by brick in Keynote. This process has been incredible to watch as the children have added a whole host of new skills in their graphic design and animation toolbox. Well done Year 6!
– Mr Woolcock
On Friday 14th February, Penpol School raised nearly £300 for The Cornish Air Ambulance though selling cakes and wearing something red. The Air Ambulance is a wonderful charity that provides life saving support all across the county.
More information on the Air Ambulance can be found here.
The long awaited announcement of this year’s first crop of ‘Super Six’ pupils took place this week with the awarding of 5 ties and certificates. 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 five pupils have been presented with a certificate signed by all members of teaching staff as well as the Year 6 team. This means that the children’s awarding of the certificate must be agreed by all, a wonderful achievement and one to be very proud of. The children 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. For any Years 6 wishing to find out what they need to do, they need look no further than the attached contract.
In Year 6 this term we have been studying Islam in RE. We have learnt all about the 5 Pillars, the importance of prayer, the Qur’an, fasting and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
We also had the opportunity to host Daya, for day. Daya is a Religious Education specialist who lives in Cornwall. During the day we had the chance to ask her a whole host of questions and discuss how not only Islam, but various different religions around the world have differing and interestingly similar beliefs.
The children talked at length about respect, respecting each others views and beliefs.
Throughout the day, we looked at the life of someone who follows the religion of Islam, a muslim, the importance of the mosque and the role it plays in Islamic culture. We also had the chance to dress in some traditional Indian clothing, learn some Indian dance and finally try some homemade potato curry along with the chapatti breads that we made in class.
