Our Federation

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. 

Pupils and staff from Hamsterley join the other schools for educational visits and the annual residential experience for our KS2 children and sometimes complete interactive sessions together via Teams.