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The Durham Dales Partnership is a group of six small rural primary schools that came together in November 2025.




Reception and Nursery are enjoying experimenting with growing and did some great writing about it.
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Squirrels are enjoying our DT unit Remarkable Recipes and we are now very good at chopping, peeling and slicing. Today, we explored how food change when they are cooked and the reasons why we cook food.
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Butterknowle We had a wonderful afternoon celebrating the special people in our lives at out Mothers day afternoon tea.
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Palm Sunday Creativity in Class 1! Today Class 1 learned all about Palm Sunday and why it is such an important part of the Easter story. The children explored the meaning of palm branches and how they were used to welcome Jesus. To bring the story to life, everyone made their own palm leaves using handprints and lolly sticks a lovely mix of learning, creativity, and little hands hard at work. The results were fantastic, and the children were so proud of what they made. A wonderful afternoon of faith, art, and imagination from our brilliant Class 1.
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St John's Chapel & Wearhead Northern Gas Workshops Today the children took part in some fantastic workshops led by Alex from Northern Gas Networks. They were fully engaged and learnt so much about energy, safety, and our environment. Key Stage One explored: What bio gas is How to detect a gas leak The impact of greenhouse gases Key Stage Two learnt about: Climate change The UK's commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 Teamwork and problemsolving through an exciting escape box challenge, where they worked together to save a polar bear The children were enthusiastic, curious, and brilliant throughout. A huge thank you to Alex for such engaging and informative sessions.
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As part of our geography Bees have been learning about the water cycle. We made water cycles using food bags and blue water and placed them on windows around school to see the water cycle in action.
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Wearhead Primary School Today the children in Class 2 took some time out to lose themselves in a book.
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Hamsterley Primary School We've had such a lovely afternoon at our second Stay and Play session! The children really enjoyed exploring the activities and spending time and playing together. Thank you to the parents who were able to join us today We're already looking forward to seeing you again next time!
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Butterknowle In computing we have been looking at secret codes and how computers can help to crack them. We enjoyed looking at different type of codes and helping each other to solve them.
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St. John's Chapel Primary School The children in EYFS arrived at school this morning to find something magical had happened overnight... A giant beanstalk had appeared in our classroom! The children suggested finding some little people to be Jack and his mother so we went on a hunt in the classroom. Not only did we find Jack and his mother, but we also found the giant and his wife, Bess the cow, the golden hen, 5 gold coins, a house and the all important 5 Magic beans. Unfortunately, we didn't have a golden harp......so we made one! The children coloured in lolly sticks to make them golden and added sparkly golden strings. Once we had completed our scene, we had a visit to our greenhouse to find some real magic beans which we will be planting later this week. While we were there, we admired the beautiful flowers and plants in our planters. Back in class, we continued our Jack and the beanstalk enthusiasm by listening to and retelling the story. Reception children then wrote some fantastic sentences to begin retelling the story. Well done EYFS! What a fantastic start to our day!
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Hamsterley Primary School Class 2 had an amazing time in Forest School today! To celebrate British Science Week, the children took on a brilliant investigation: designing and building their own bird nests. They then put their creations to the test using a peg (our "pecking bird"), a watering can to mimic rain, and today's windy weather to see which nests were the strongest and most durable. Lots of teamwork, problemsolving, and scientific thinking on display. We also enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year with Chinese mudpainting numbers and some fun Chinese yoga poses. A lovely mix of creativity, culture, and outdoor learning. What a fantastic day of handson exploration and discovery for Class 2!
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St John's Chapel Primary School Mini Beast Explorers in Action! Class 1 had a brilliant time today on our minibeast hunt. The children were full of curiosity as they searched high and low to see what tiny creatures call our school grounds home. We found wriggly worms, slimy slugs, and plenty of exciting places to explore. It was wonderful to see everyone so enthusiastic, working together, asking questions, and showing such care for the little creatures they discovered. A fantastic afternoon of learning through nature and adventure. Well done, Class 1 true nature detectives!
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Durham Dales Partnership 'Stay and Play' Sessions Just a reminder about our Stay and Play sessions this term! Our next session is at Hamsterley Primary tomorrow (11th March) @ 1.30pm Parents and carers of children in Nursery and Reception are warmly invited to come along. These sessions are also open to any other children in our communities aged 0 to 4, so please feel free to share this with anyone who may be interested. All sessions are completely free we hope to see you there!
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