The Durham Dales Federation is a federation of small rural primary schools, which was formed in September 2023. Staff from all schools work together to share expertise and to plan and deliver the curriculum. Our subject leaders co-ordinate their subjects across all the schools within our federation, which ensures that we can offer the same high-quality experiences to all pupils in our schools.
The Upper Dales schools of Wearhead and St John’s Chapel work together on a regular basis each week. At the start of the week, each school works in their own building and on Thursdays and Fridays, the schools come together on the St John’s Chapel Primary School site. On Federation days, we take advantage of the opportunities to work in larger groups with other children of the same age, and we often arrange visits and visitors for these days so that everyone can participate.
St John's Chapel & Wearhead Thank you to everyone who attended our Easter Service this afternoon. The children did a wonderful job. We hope you all have a lovely Easter Holiday.
View this PostHamsterley Primary School Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Easter Service this afternoon! We think the children all did a fabulous job and we hope you all have a lovely Easter holiday.
View this PostHamsterley Primary School The children all enjoyed having an Easter egg hunt this afternoon as a special treat for all the hard work they have done this term!
View this PostHamsterley Primary School Meet our ducks - Fluffy, Tiger, Fluffball, Tinker and Sweetie Some children loved holding the ducks and some other children wanted to look. We can't wait to see them grow
View this PostSt John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary Schools Congratulations to our GREEN all term award winners! We are delighted to recognise the pupils who have earned the 'Green All Term' award for their outstanding behaviour throughout the term. It's great to see that lots of our children are following our federation rules and setting a good example to others! We hope to see even more children achieve this award next term. Keep up the fantastic work!
View this PostSt John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary Schools Well done to our young musicians who have received special music certificates from Ms Millar and Mrs Unwin. Durham Music Service
View this PostHamsterley Primary School Over the course of this half term, class 2 have been doing the DT topic 'Engineer'. They have looked at different types of bridges and the different shapes that bridges use to make them strong. Their end task was to create a strong bridge using paper, masking tape and art straws.
View this PostSt John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary Schools Well done to this week's special certificate winners!
View this PostWearhead Primary School We have had so much fun this afternoon doing an Easter Egg hunt followed by Easter crafts. Our grown ups seemed to have had lots of fun too
View this PostHamsterley Primary School Do you like the sound of rain? This afternoon in Science, Reception have been exploring the sounds that a rainstick makes. The rainstick made us feel clam, peaceful and happy. We then used materials to make our own rainstick and painted them.
View this PostSt. John's Chapel Primary School This week in forest school, whilst enjoying the welcome sunshine, the children were busy making rubbings of bark and leaves. Of course, no forest school session is complete without an edible element and this week's choice of caramelised apple slices was a big hit!
View this PostSt John's Chapel Primary School The children in EYFS have been enjoying the sunshine this week
View this PostHappy Easter! To celebrate Easter and recognise the hard work our pupils have put in this term, we are thrilled to announce a generous donation of Easter eggs from Aldi Darlington! Aldi's commitment to community partnerships is truly commendable, and we are delighted that they chose our schools for this special occasion. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Aldi Darlington for their generous contribution, which reflects their understanding of the importance of supporting local schools. Thanks to Aldi, each child in our federation will enjoy an Easter egg over the holidays. Happy Easter to all!
View this PostSt. John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary School On Thursday, Tom Lowther, our Community Safety Responder, came into school to lead an assembly for the Fire Brigade's Easter Arson Campaign. The children were really interested and had lots of questions about fires and keeping safe. We learnt lots today.
View this PostHamsterley Primary School Easter Craft Afternoon Thank you to all of the parents who were able to come and join us for our Easter craft afternoon!
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