The children of Penryn Primary School showed they certainly weren’t chicken as they got up close with a host of creepy crawlies last week.

Around 125 children at the school enjoyed a visit from Penryn Rotary president Ann Congdon and her daughter Nicola, who brought in spiders, a snake, snails, and millipedes, along with a hedgehog and a chicken.

During the Friday afternoon activity, organised by Naomi Jones of Penryn College’s Interact Club, the year three and four pupils were given a talk before being split into year groups, with one introduced to the animals while the others took part in a colouring competition, for which four prize winners will soon be selected by Ann and her fellow rotarian Jim Henderson.

Teacher Vicky Skerratt said the children could not stop talking about the show, and Jim said: “Naomi, of the Interact Club, who came down from Penryn College, went back full of how she had taken the creatures round and talked to the youngsters about the animals, something she had never done before.”

All the children made a small donation for the afternoon, which will go towards the Interact Club’s nominated charities for the year - Literacy in a Box, which provides educational material for children in developing countries, and the Lily Foundation which supports children with mitochondrial disease.

When Penryn became Penryn Primary recently and changed their logo, Ann and Jim collected the old uniform shirts and jumpers and are sending them via Rotary charities to schools in Africa.

Falmouth Packet:

Falmouth Packet: