The Durham Dales Federation is a group of small rural primary schools, formed in September 2023. From November 2025, our schools will join with Butterknowle, Frosterley, and Woodland Primary Schools to form the Durham Dales Partnership.
Staff across all schools work collaboratively to share expertise and to plan and deliver the curriculum. Our subject leaders coordinate their subjects across the federation, ensuring that all pupils receive the same high-quality learning experiences.
St John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary Cookery Club Tonight, the children made chocolate pastries! They tasted delicious!
View this PostSt John's Chapel Primary School Music Magic Our KS1 and KS2 pupils have been stepping into the wonderful world of ABBA! We started off with some fun rhythm and pitch games to warm up, then sang Mamma Mia all of the way though with great energy. To finish, the children played glockenspiels during the instrumental adding a creative touch to the performance. It was great to see their enthusiasm and love for music shine!
View this PostWearhead Primary School Today in Music the children in Y2 - Y6 have been learning all about the musical notation of crotchets, quavers, minims and rests to play a beat on a glockenspiel.
View this PostButterknowle Primary - Maths in Action! This week, children in Y5/6 have been exploring numbers up to 1,000,000. Using place value charts, they've been deepening their understanding of how each column follows a consistent pattern: ones tens hundreds thousands ten thousands hundred thousands millions.
View this PostButterknowle Primary - Early Years Art Adventures! Our little artists in EYFS have been having a blast exploring printing with body parts from fingers and hands to elbows and feet!
View this PostSt. John's chapel and Wearhead Primary The children in Class 1 have had great fun this week settling back into school and exploring the new classroom layout. The class also welcomed new children into our nursery, showing them how to play nicely and care for each other.
View this PostSt John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary Schools As part of our Science topic 'Animal Nutrition and the Skeletal System', Year 3 & 4 have been learning all about the importance of a balanced diet. We showed fantastic teamwork as we worked in groups to sort different foods into their correct food groups and the discussions were brilliant! It was especially impressive to hear the children's thoughtful reasoning around foods that could belong to more than one group. Their curiosity, collaboration and critical thinking really shone through. Super work, everyone!
View this PostWoodland Primary School The Squirrels have been learning about Claude Monet, an important Impressionist painter, in Art and Design. Impressionists were inspired by how light and colour changed throughout the day and year. We learnt how to create tints, by adding white, and shades, by adding black, then attempted our own water lily paintings inspired by Monet. Please take a look at our masterpieces.
View this PostWearhead and St. John's Chapel Primary School This morning, we have celebrated the achievements of our pupils. The new reception children have had a brilliant start to the year and all received a certificate for settling in so well. We have also had some reading awards and 'Good to be Green' certificates. Well done, everyone!
View this PostSt John's Chapel & Wearhead Bright Minds in Years 5 & 6! This morning, our curious scientists in Years 5 & 6 have been exploring the fascinating topic of how light travels. From investigating shadows to experimenting with mirrors and torches, they've been discovering that light travels in straight linesand how it reflects and illuminates the world around us! The classroom has been buzzing with hands-on activities, thoughtful questions, and plenty of "lightbulb moments" as pupils tested their ideas and deepened their understanding of this key scientific concept.
View this PostCookery Club Fun! Today in Cookery Club, we rolled up our sleeves and got stuck into making jammy oat bars! Everyone had a go at weighing out the ingredients and mixing them together teamwork at its tastiest! There's a sweet surprise hidden in the middle, and we can't wait to tuck in tomorrow. A big well done to all our budding bakers!
View this PostSt John's Chapel Primary Class 3 have been exploring place value like never beforeworking with numbers all the way up to 1,000,000! Using place value counters, they've been building, breaking down, and comparing huge numbers with confidence. From hundreds of thousands to single units, they're mastering how each digit holds its own special place and value. We've seen brilliant teamwork, sharp number sense, and lots of "aha!" moments as they tackled challenges and created their own number stories.
View this PostSt John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary Schools Yesterday we had a special visitor, Venita, who was responsible for the craft competitions at the Weardale Show. She came to present lots of certificates to our children in celebration of their hard work and creativity. We are super proud of their achievements and look forward to even more entries next year.
View this PostSt. John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary School At after school club tonight, the children went for a walk through the fields. They stopped by the river for a snack, to have a paddle and to skim stones.
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