Year 5’s Ballerion Award Endeavours

Our Year 5 pupils have been embarking on more of their outward-bound aspects that make up the new Ballerion Award at Truro School Prep.

The Ballerion Award is a new award programme set up and run by Truro School Prep. It encourages awareness and responsibility for the natural environment through educational visits, physical challenges in wild spaces, a self-guided conservation project and a period of service to the community.

Split into two groups, half or our pupils visited the impressive King Edward mine in Troon, Camborne. During their visit, the children experienced the working machinery inside a real Cornish tin mill, had fascinating conversations with miners, and discovered more about Cornwall’s mining heritage.

Workshops included a STEM activity, which involved making decisions about coding for Lego robotics, and a scientific investigation into the density of rocks. Another popular workshop was panning for gold, which was a brilliant hands-on practical activity involving wide panning bowls and water to separate heavier metals (iron pyrite or fool’s gold) from a dry mixture of mined materials.

The other half of our Year 5 pupils made their way on bikes along the Coast to Coast trail; a mineral trail that runs from Portreath to Devoran. Testing their endurance and skill on a bike, whilst learning about the history of the Bissoe trail and the Poldice Valley, the group had a fantastic day filled with excitement and challenges.

A huge thank you to the wonderful team of volunteers and the education team at King Edward mine and well done to all of our pupils for showing great confidence, courage and curiosity during their respective activities.