Our website is currently undergoing maintenance. Pages for Butterknowle, Frosterley, and Woodland Primary Schools will be available soon!
The Durham Dales Partnership is a group of six small rural primary schools that came together in November 2025.


Celebration Assembly at Butterknowle Primary School On Thursday, we had a wonderful Celebration Assembly with lots of awards to hand out! From Sunshine Awards and Sportsmanship Awards to Helping Hand Awards and Team Player Awards, we were proud to recognise our pupils for their hard work, kindness and positive attitudes. To make the day even more special, all of the grown-ups received an award too! We also took the opportunity to say a fond farewell to Mrs Hodgkinson, Mrs Meroniuk and our fantastic Year 6 children. We wish them all the very best for the future and their next adventures. Well done to everyone who received an award today!
View this Post
Celebration Assembly at Hamsterley Primary School We had a fantastic Celebration Assembly on Thursday, awarding lots of certificates and celebrating our pupils' achievements. We also enjoyed a wonderful Reception Graduation and a brilliant recorder performance led by Mrs Unwin. Finally, we said goodbye to our two Year 6 boys as they move on to secondary school. We wish them every success and happiness in their next adventure! Well done to all our children – we are so proud of you!
View this Post
Wearhead Primary Celebration Assembly & Afternoon Tea On Wednesday, parents/carers joined us for a special Celebration Assembly, where we recognised and celebrated the achievements of our pupils. We also said a heartfelt farewell to Mrs Hodgkinson as she begins her well-earned retirement. Following the assembly, we enjoyed an Afternoon Tea made by the children - it was delicious!
View this Post
Woodland Primary A fun end to a very busy term at Woodland. We all got thoroughly soaked and enjoyed every minute!
View this Post
Butterknowle Primary School What a fantastic afternoon we had enjoying some summer fun! First, we enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch outdoors, then children from EYFS through to Year 6 took part in an exciting Water Fun Afternoon packed with water guns, water balloons and lots of laughter. It was wonderful to see all ages joining in, making memories and cooling off together. A huge thank you to Friends of the School for organising the water fun event and to everyone who helped make the afternoon a splashing success.
View this Post
Woodland Primary Year 1 and 2 have designed, made and evaluated some beach huts. Their confidence has grown during the project when using the tools and measuring carefully. The end results are fantastic and they are very proud!
View this Post
St John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary School Despite the soaring temperatures, today's Sports Day was a huge success! From races and games to plenty of encouragement and laughter, it was wonderful to see everyone coming together to enjoy the day. We are incredibly proud of everyone who took part and showed such enthusiasm and team spirit. Our Sports Day was packed with smiles, friendly competition and lots of cheering from the sidelines. Everyone gave it their all and made the most of a fantastic day together. Well done to all our sporting stars and thank you to everyone who helped keep spirits high (and water bottles full!)
View this Post
St John's Chapel Primary Class 1 Adventure! Class 1 had great fun today taking on the challenge of crossing the river while avoiding the hungry crocodiles! The children showed fantastic teamwork, communication, and problem-solving skills as they worked together to help everyone reach the other side safely. It was lovely to see them encouraging each other, sharing ideas, and never giving up. Well done, Class 1. You were all amazing team players!
View this Post
Frosterley Primary Thank you to all the parents and carers who joined us for our End of Year Celebration Assembly. It was wonderful to come together and celebrate everything the children have achieved this year – they have so much to be proud of!
View this Post
Woodland Primary A huge thank you to all of our parents and carers who joined us for our End of Year Celebration Assembly on Monday. It was wonderful to come together to celebrate the hard work, achievements and special memories made throughout the year.
View this Post
St John's Chapel Primary Water Activity Afternoon Fun! Today we had our Water Activity Afternoon, and what a fantastic time we all had! The children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the different water activities, with lots of laughter, smiles, and splashing throughout the afternoon. It was wonderful to see everyone having so much fun, staying active, and making special memories together. A huge thank you to all the staff who helped make the afternoon such a success. Here are a few snapshots from our fun-filled day!
View this Post
Wearhead and St.John's Chapel The children had a wonderful time on their trip to Tynemouth Aquarium on Thursday. Once we arrived, we dropped our bags off and then headed straight to the beach. Everyone had lots of fun playing in the sand, and some children even enjoyed a paddle in the sea. During our time on the beach, we looked for some of the features and items we have been learning about in our on the Beach and Coastline topics. After our beach activities, we returned to the aquarium for lunch and to watch the seal show, which everyone enjoyed. We even had the opportunity to sing Happy Birthday to one of the seals! Next, we attended an exciting workshop where we learned about the different animals that live in our rock pools around our coastline. The children were fascinated by the creatures they discovered and even had the opportunity to look at and touch some of them. Those who wished to take part were able to touch a starfish, a sea urchin and hold an empty mermaid's purse. The children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and impressed the staff with their knowledge and their excellent answers to questions about rock pools. After washing our hands, we explored the aquarium and saw a wide variety of sea creatures. We even spotted some tiny monkeys! The children had an amazing day and made lots of wonderful memories. A huge thank you to everyone who came along and helped with the trip.
View this Post
St. John's Chapel and Wearhead Primary The beach and aquarium adventures continue in EYFS! Following our amazing trip to Tynemouth, the classroom has been buzzing with excitement today as the children couldn't wait to share their favourite memories. Here is how we followed up on our big coastal adventure: Reliving the Magic We started our day with a fantastic group discussion. The children were bursting with enthusiasm, eagerly telling us all about the sights, sounds, and splashes from our day out at the beach and the aquarium! Masterpieces of the Deep To capture those memories, our little artists got to work drawing pictures of their favourite sea creatures. From graceful stingrays to colourful fish, the creative area was filled with wonderful, detailed designs inspired by what they saw. Super Sentences in Reception A huge shout-out to our Reception children, who took their learning a step further! They wrote some absolutely amazing sentences to go alongside their sea creature drawings, showing off their fantastic phonics and writing skills. We are so proud of how much the children learned and how beautifully they recalled their Tynemouth adventures.
View this Post
St. John's Chapel Primary What a wonderfully busy and imaginative start to the week we had in EYFS! Our little learners have been dive-bombing into new adventures, exploring sensory play, and testing their skills with some brilliant activities. Here is a look at what we have been up to: Splish, Splash in the Water Area! We turned our water tray into a busy bath station this week! The children had the absolute best fun bathing the dolls, practicing their washing and scrubbing skills, and developing their fine motor movements while splashing around. Journeying with 'The Snail and the Whale' Our sand tray was transformed into an ocean adventure inspired by Julia Donaldson's classic story. The children loved acting out and retelling the spectacular tale, and they blew us away with their creativity by making up entirely new versions of the story! Brilliant Builders in the Creative Area The creative sparks were flying as the children designed and built their very own lighthouses. They selected materials carefully, worked on their structures, and added fantastic details to guide our sea travelers safely home. The Great Nugget Race! We put our lung power and focus to the test with a hilarious "nugget race." The children had to blow through straws to race their nuggets across the line. It turned out to be much trickier than it looked, but it brought so many giggles and a lot of determination! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Tell us in the comments which activity your little one enjoyed the most!
View this Post
Our new Reception children have a great full day transition. They had a busy day, working on numbers, writing and lots and lots of play.
View this Post