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.
Hamsterley Primary School In computing this week, the Year 5 & 6s studied the history of some computers that changed our world and presented it to the whole class. They produced very informative and well structured presentations!
View this PostWearhead, SJC and Rookhope Schools Congratulations to our special certificate winners!
View this PostAre you looking for a fun and stimulating environment for your toddler? Do you know that we offer a range of childcare provision for 2 to 4 year olds in our governor-led pre-school? Contact us now to find out more. 01388 537 332 stjohnschapel@durhamlearning.net www.durhamdalesfed.co.uk
View this PostSt John's Chapel and Rookhope Primary This afternoon, we were learning all about costal erosion. We demonstrated the physical process of costal erosion, practically, using key vocabulary to talk about what was happening. We talked about the importance of sea defences and how they help protect our coastlines from erosion. We then drew our own labelled diagrams to document our learning.
View this PostChapel Tots is on today at St John's Chapel Primary School from 1.30pm - 3.00pm. It is open for all children aged 0 - 3 years old and is FREE! Refreshments will be available for all. We hope to see you there!
View this PostHamsterley Primary School Our Star Award winners for last week. Well done and keep up the amazing work!
View this PostHamsterley Primary School This afternoon in Art, Yr1/2 have delved deeply into the visual elements of flowers. We have printed flowers using ink, made spiral flowers out of paper plates, cut out flowers to make a collage and flower printing. We have looked closely at the shape and form of a flower Reception have made some incredible sea creatures using clay!
View this PostRookhope, St John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary Well done to this week's special certificate winners!
View this PostWearhead Primary School This week, children in class 1 made flowers using different techniques. They discussed shape, form and texture.
View this PostSt John's Chapel, Rookhope & Wearhead In Computing, the children in year 3 and 4 have been learning about variables. They have created a maths quiz using a conditional statement.
View this PostSt John's Chapel and Rookhope Primary In our topic lesson this week, Class 1 were looking at a map of a costal town. We predicted what physical or human feature some of the symbols might represent, explaining our reasoning. Then, in pairs, we looked at the same map but this time it included a key. After looking at the key, we identified that some of our predictions were correct and used the key to answer some questions.
View this PostHamsterley Primary School In Topic today Class 1 learnt all about Coastal Erosion. We started our lesson by taking part in a demonstration. In a plastic box we built sandcastles in a row to make a cliff. We then placed a wooden block on the top to represent a building and lastly added water to show the sea. Waves were then created by moving the water back and forth. This showed that the waves eroded the cliff causing the building to fall. We then repeated the experiment with a minor change, we added large rocks to represent the sea defences. Everybody then got to create the waves to see if they could make the building fall, it didn't fall. The experiment showed the children the value of sea defences with regard to defeating the erosion of our coasts.
View this PostHamsterley Primary School Today in Computing, year 3 and 4 have been looking at creating variables in scratch. They have been programming a quiz that is able to keep track of the score and identify if the answer is correct or incorrect. The children's sprites are also able to interact throughout the quiz.
View this PostSt John's Chapel & Rookhope In our Topic lesson today, the children in KS2 have been using OS maps to identify human and physical features and six figure grid references.
View this PostWearhead Primary School This afternoon, Class 2 have been looking at OS maps of our local area and using 4 and 6-figure grid references to locate various places of interest.
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