Penponds Primary School

Welcome to Tregonning Class!

Have a look below at all the amazing things we have been getting up to.

Scroll down to the bottom to find information about our curriculum. These documents can also be found on the Curriculum page.

June - Rainbow KS2 Games 2022

On Thursday 23rd June we took 26 children from Tregonning Class to St Meriadoc Junior School to take part in the Rainbow KS2 Games 2022. We had ten races and three children took part in each race. They had an egg and spoon race; a sack race which turned into a hopping race; skipping race; and agility race. Everyone tried their best. We then took part in a fun event which was to have sponges and a bucket of water and 2 empty buckets. They had to run to fill up the empty buckets with the sponges. St Meriadoc Junior School won one race and Penponds won one race. They then had five activities set up, mixed the schools together and each had 7 minutes on each station. It was an amazing morning and Penponds School won the event.

June - Football Tournament at Truro School

Nine children from Tregonning Class attended a football tournament involving 18 schools at Truro School last week. We were organised into two groups of eight. We played seven games throughout the morning drawing four, losing two and winning one (in which Harry scored). We were then split into four groups and played an extra three games. (v Summercourt, Chacewater and Truro High). We drew, lost and won. Gwyddion and Leon scored. Kayden was chosen as sports person of the tournament for our school and was awarded a drinks bottle. Jayden was spotted by a scout and invited for a free session with Southwest Saints. It was a great day and everyone was awesome and a credit to the school. Many thanks to Mrs Watts and Mr Bruford for looking after the children for the day.

June - Bikeability – Tregonning Class Wednesday 22nd June – Friday 24th June

For three days this week pupils in Tregonning class had the opportunity to take part in Bikeability training. Seven Year 6 children completed the Level 2 course, which included riding into Camborne. Six Year 5 achieved their Level 1 Bikeability. Martin, the instructor, commented that the children were both motivated and well behaved.

Written by Kaiden: On Wednesday and Thursday morning seven children took part in a biking course from Year 6 in Tregonning Class. We did some basic skills on how to signal and look behind us and how to be safe while riding a bike. We rode our bikes and we went to Camborne Park to have a bike journey.

June - Science Workshops – Energy Live Show in school for all classes

On Tuesday 21st June, Nerys from the Royal Institution in Bristol came to Penponds School to present science shows for us. In the morning, KS1 and KS2 watched the same show (at different times) all about energy. Nerys showed us some experiments to do with different types of energy. It included: fire, magnets, explosions and very loud noises. In one experiment, Nerys turned a plastic water bottle into a rocket that launched over the room. It was very cool. After lunch, the whole school came together to watch a second show. Some parents were invited to come as well. In that show, Nerys created fire using oxygen, flour and a blow torch. Unfortunately, the fire alarm went off twice! At the end of the show, she propelled many rockets off at once – it was extremely loud! Written by Bella and Freya.

June - Developing the Rainbow Promise

School councillors from across the Rainbow schools went to a special meeting last week tasked with creating a list of 30 things you will do/experience/achieve in your time at one of our Rainbow Schools. The list was full of wonderful ideas from the children and the final article will be shared soon! Watch this space! Thank you School Councillors: Rights Ambassadors!

May - Quad Kids Event at Carn Brea Leisure Centre

On Friday of last week a team from Tregonning went to Carn Brea leisure centre to do some sports. We did 600 metres running, 75 metres sprint, javelin throwing and long jump. The 600 metres run was really hard and we ran out of breath fast. The 75 metres run was fun though. We travelled to the leisure centre by bus and the journey was short. After the event, we walked back up to the car park and travelled back to school. We are now waiting to find out how we did and if we will be going to the finals. Our team was Olivia, Evie, Lily, Freya D, Jasper, Brody, Gwyddion and Jowan.

May - Trevithick Day

Camborne Trevithick Day Display Penponds School entered the Trevithick Day School’s Display competiton this year and received a 'Highly Commended' award for their fantastic display. Well done to everyone involved!

May

Minack Theatre Trip This week Tregonning class headed west to the Minack theatre to watch a new show Calvino Nights. The rain arrived but the show was wonderful. Despite being soaked, everyone seemed to have enjoyed the experience; the fire alone was quite spectacular. Story telling at the highest level!

May - SATS tests

Year 6 pupils have this week completed the six SATS tests. I was very proud of their effort and attitude towards the tests. We discussed too how they are only a snapshot checking their recall of certain learning to date. There are many, many things the tests don’t measure; the list was a long one. Following their hard work, the end of this week seemed an appropriate time to hand out the Year 6 hoodies. For the Year 6 children these are now considered part of the school uniform.

May - Newspaper Reporters Recruited at Penponds

Roll up, roll up – get your Penponds newspaper here! Trencrom and Tregonning Classes are starting their very own newspaper this term. Some children have been selected to help report on an array of matters, both globally and locally to help create a school newspaper. We are very excited to get this underway!

Reporting Journalists: Maddie, Joel, Orla, Ia, Mia, Annabelle, Kaira, Laurie, Freya B, Ava, Bella, Jasper, Gwyddion, Sophia

Editing team: Griffin, Zabe, Chloe, Jowan, Jayden, Kaiden, Freya D, Isla B, Eadie

May - Camborne Trevithick Day

Thank you to all those that supported Penponds school last weekend for Trevithick Day. It was a fantastic event and lots of fun was had by all! It was so lovely to see, after the missed years due to the pandemic. 23 children represented our school dancing through the streets in traditional dress. All were excellent ambassadors for our school. We were so proud of each and every one of you. It was so lovely to see so many of our school community cheering on our dancers and banner holders!

Rocksteady Music School Came to Town! - April

We were visited on Wednesday 27th April, to be introduced to the new music lessons being offered to us at Penpond, by Rocksteady Music School.

We learnt all about the instruments on offer to us to learn - drums, vocals, electric adn bass guitar and keyboard. We were able to have a go with the instruments and were even entertained to a live music rock concert! Within our 45 minute session, the band could already play part of a song. It was incredible!

If you would like to have Rocksteady music lessons, fill in the form sent home for the team to begin the arrangements. Lessons will be in school time on Friday afternoons. All arrangements and payments will be made directly with Rocksteady.

There are bursary and funded placements available too - so please ask us about it!

Check bags for the letter on how to sign up! Let's get music making!

April

We were delighted to welcome Simon Bailey, international bass-baritone opera singer (and Mrs Bailey's brother-in law) into school today. Simon spoke to children across the school about: *alternative careers and job opportunities

*to think outside the box

*to follow their dreams with hard work

* live out our school vision of 'Aiming High, Achieving Our Best'.

He shared his own journey of being a boy who grew up in musical family and the love for singing and the stage. He shared how he started out, his education and where he is now, travelling and singing across the world.

The children also experienced live music and listened to Simon sing, He explored his use of voice and range and took questions from the children.

To find out more about Simon Bailey visit www.simon-bailey.com or go and see him currently performing in the Welsh National Opera tour of Don Giovanni - nearest venue to us is Plymouth Theatre Royal Don Giovanni Mozart | WNO

Spring Term - There's No Planet B Topic Learning Flip Book

April

Rainbow Holi Red Nose and Spoon Race We were due to be fundraising like the rest of the country for Comic Relief a few weeks ago, but as so many children and staff were not able to be in school due the Covid-19 outbreak we decided to postpone it to Friday 1st April – we didn’t want so many missing the fun! It was also the Hindu festival of Holi. Many of our children have been learning about Hinduism in their RE lessons and we felt that we would try and mark both events together. Holi is the festival of love, colours and spring and it is traditionally celebrated by people getting very colourful by throwing powder paint and getting very messy and colourful! The One Show took part in the Red Nose and Spoon Race Challenge and we felt that we could do our own version in school and link it to learning about Holi too.

April

Trencrom and Tregonning classes have worked together to form great reading partners.

April

Chess match v Trythall School On Wednesday last week the chess club welcomed eight pupils from Trythall School, Penzance for a chess match. Everyone worked together to make it a success. I was very proud of how our children looked after the visitors. As well as friendly games, we played a match between two school teams of six. Penponds team consisted of Gwyddion, Jasper, Harry P, Bella, Brody and Elijah. They came out winners by a score of 3 1/2 points to 2 1/2. Well done to everyone!

March - Eden Project Trip

Tregonning class had a trip to the Eden Project. The workshop we took part in was a new one focussed on ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint. Following a short discussion about climate change, the children were organised into groups and searched the grounds for clues, which they then linked to answers from a list provided. It was impressive how familiar many of the children are with the layout of the Eden Project. They could remember when they stayed in pods and hardly needed the map to find their way around. Following a short break, we then visited both biomes before leaving. The day was well organised and the main message was clear: there are solutions to help us deal with climate change; and we can all make a difference

March - Dr Bike – Sustrans

A big thank you to Dr Bike for his enthusiasm and hard work on Monday last week. He spent all day servicing bikes, often working with children to explain what he was doing - and why. It was great to see so many bikes in school. The children were encouraged to partake in the Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel week promoting being active and more energised, help the environment by replacing a car journey.

March

Over the past few weeks, Tregonning have been working on a DT project, which we finished this week. We’ve made 9 wooden stools. The legs were made from green wood (hazel), measured and cut to length. The tops of the legs were shaved to a certain circumference. The seats were shaped from an old piece of plywood. We used an old hand tool (brace and bit) to drill holes in the seats at the correct angles, causing the legs to splay out. We fixed the legs by inserting wedges at the top. These were then sawn level. When using the hand tools, it was interesting to hear the same comment over and over again: “This is so satisfying.”

March - Youth Speaks

Over the past few weeks several pupils in Tregonning have been practising for the Youth Speaks competition. As a precaution it is not being held ‘live’ again this year, meaning that teams had to submit a video recording of their presentation. Ellie, Freya, Issie and Lily have met weekly to practise after school and learnt their speeches off by heart. They have been assisted by Alvine, who kindly awarded them certificates for their participation (as well as Easter eggs). We will now wait to see what the judges think of their entry – but whatever the outcome, well done to all of them for their efforts.

March - Basketball Event

We took eight Year 5 and 6 children to partake in a basketball taster session at CSIA. They were split into teams and mixed with other schools. They learnt how to defend, dodge, mark and shoot. It was a great session and the children all enjoyed themselves. At the end they each had a match with another mixed team which was really good to see how they used all they had learnt from the session in a game of basketball.

February - Meet our prefects!

The Spring term has welcomed more prefects to Penponds school! Congratulations to all!

February - NSPCC Number Day!

Today we all came in dressed up for the NSPCC Number Day event to help raise money for the NSPCC. We had an extra-special fun day of Maths activities. Thank you everyone for taking part and so far we have raised £52. If you haven’t done so already please donate £1 for you child on Parentpay. Much appreciated.

January - CSIA Sports Alliance Cross-Country Event

This morning some of our Year 3,4,5 and 6 children took part in a Cross-Country Sports Alliance Qualifier event. All competitors ran extremely well and were a credit to the school with their excellent attitude and behavior. Well done to all the runner but especially to Mia and Lily who won their races.

January: Tour of Britain – Land Art

Today we had a certificate presented to us by the mayor and some members of the council for the land art that we created for the Tour of Britain back in September. We achieved highly commended out of all the pieces of work across the country.

To see what we did please scan the QR code or the website below:

Janurary 2022

Tregonning have been focussed on literacy and art in the first week. The children have written some wonderful poetry. Two examples are shown, one by Laurie; the other by Bella. Our art studies have taken us from abstract soundscapes (linked to the work of Georgia O’ Keeffe) to detailed sketching, similar in style to Maria Sibylla. We hope to share some of the art work when the unit is completed

December - End of Topic Celebration of Learning Flip Book and Play

Click the picture below to see our Flip Book celebrating our learning about The Grrovy Greeks and see our video of our play The Minotaur!

December - New Prefect

I am delighted to be able to announce our second prefect of this academic year – Daniel As usual, children in Year 6 wrote letters to the Headteacher (me this year) and Mr Hooper explaining why they believed they should be considered for the role of a prefect at Penponds. I was truly blown away by the quality of the letters and genuinely couldn’t choose between them based on the letters alone. I spoke to the Year 6 children and we decided that this year we would choose prefects based on their actions. Children detailed how they would be the perfect prefect in their letters, so we agreed they would need to show this in action to be awarded their badge and tie. Daniel is an absolute delight to have in school. He is particularly kind to our younger children and is the model ‘buddy’ to our reception children. He is consistently polite to all he encounters in school and is always on hand to help. He has a mature attitude beyond his years, but his dry sense of humour reminds us that he is only in Year 6! Well done Daniel!

December - Science, Light and Colours

This week Tregonning conducted a science investigation to look at which colours make up light. We used a prism but also created colour wheels using the colours of the rainbow. We made them into spinners. If we worked hard enough, they would spin and the colours blended. We didn’t quite achieve white, but maybe we weren’t fast enough.

December - First Prefect of 2021/2022 Academic Year!

I am delighted to be able to announce our first prefect of this academic year – Kaiden As usual, children in Year 6 wrote letters to the Headteacher (me this year) and Mr Hooper explaining why they believed they should be considered for the role of a prefect at Penponds. I was truly blown away by the quality of the letters and genuinely couldn’t choose between them based on the letters alone. I spoke to the Year 6 children and we decided that this year we would choose prefects based on their actions. Children detailed how they would be the perfect prefect in their letters, so we agreed they would need to show this in action to be awarded their badge and tie. Kaiden has already shown his ‘perfect prefectness’ (our new dubbed phrase) by supporting a member of the public and her child with additional needs at the swimming pool recently. The member of the public was so impressed and touched by Kaiden’s kindness, that she wrote an email to the school praising him. In addition to this, Kaiden is always friendly, polite, kind and caring – not to mention his infectious sense of humour! He really does embody everything needed for ‘perfect prefectness’

December - Advent and Christingles

Trencrom and Tregonning Classes have been busy decorating the school Christmas tree, making Christingles and preparing for Christmas. Many thanks to Olive Stevens for providing everything that we needed for our Christingle making.

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November

BBC Children in Need

Today we celebrated Children in Need. This year’s theme was “Together We Can”. To mark this Penponds School children came to school dressed in certain colours of the rainbow. Each Year group was allocated a colour.

Year 6 Red

Year 5 Orange

Year 4 Yellow

Year 3 Green

Year 2 Blue

Year 1 Indigo

Reception Violet/Pink

We created a whole school rainbow to share - “Together We Can”. Thank you for all your donations to Children in need. We have raised £52 today. If you would like to donate please pay £1 on Parentpay.

November

Tregonning have been diving into Greek playscripts. We’ve looked at the features of a play script and had a go at first rehearsals. In science we have started on a new topic for this half term: light. We investigated how it travels in straight lines. We also had elections for School Council representatives. After some excellent speeches, children voted for Laurie for Year 5 and Bella for Year 6.

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October

On Wednesday both Trencrom and Tregonning classes spent the day at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. As if a first trip in two years wasn’t exciting enough, we travelled by double decker bus! In the morning, one class looked around the museum while the other attended a workshop; in the afternoon we swapped around. Tregonning’s topic is Ancient Greeks. We sketched some pots and were allowed to handle some artefacts which are nearly 3,000 years old. We also enjoyed a hands on workshop, in which the children made clay tiles in the shape of different pot designs. These should air dry at school over the next week. It was interesting how the children all had different exhibitions as their favourites.

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October

It’s been another full week in Tregonning. We had our third swimming lesson on Monday and have been able to exercise most afternoons. We have carried on learning about the ancient Greeks: this week looking at their systems of government – a first form of democracy – but no votes for slaves or women! This led to an interesting discussion about whether prisoners in the UK should have the right to vote at elections. In science we are learning about materials and our last two investigations have been evaluating which metals are the best conductors and exploring different ways of separating a mixture of materials.

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September

The main news from Tregonning class this week is that we (or some of us) were on the news. The BBC were reporting on an initiative at Cornwall’s hospitals to repurpose the daily mountain of used face masks into other items. All schools and colleges in Cornwall have been sent two litter pickers made from old face masks. Y6 children were filmed using the litter pickers and some children were interviewed for the article. They all spoke confidently and clearly - a credit to their community.

Litter picking with the BBC!

September

It has been a wonderful start to the year in Tregonning class. Everyone has worked well together and a Year 5 pupil said today that they felt they had been in the class ‘for ages’. The whole class went swimming on Monday, which was the first lesson for some time. We’ve made the most of the warm weather when possible and Thursday was our busiest day so far. A BBC reporter visited in the morning, filming the Y6 children. The initiative they wanted to report was that disused face masks from Cornwall’s hospitals are now being recycled into litter pickers, which have been sent to all schools and colleges in Cornwall. We talked about our concerns about the amount of plastics in the environment - and how this was a very practical, engaging and worthwhile project to take positive action. Later during the afternoon Y6 pupils visited CSIA for a science lesson about ‘bubbles’. The children were thrilled by the science and I am now being encouraged to liven up my science lessons with explosions and dry ice! It was a great experience so thank you to CSIA for the opportunity.

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