Train Update

22nd July 2022Neil Simpson
We were invited by Northern Rail to take a ride on the new Northumberland Line. Some children were able to see their houses, we also passed the school. It was very exciting. Northern Rail handed out goody bags to all the children, with a special book included.
We had a ride on three trains in one day. It was a very busy day. We learned a lot about how to travel by train. We waited for the train at Newcastle Central station. It was very busy and we saw loads of different trains. The children are becoming very good train travelers.
The weatherproofing for the train was completed this term. Noel Forte and Barry Lewis from Henkel kindly helped to demonstrate how to apply the Weatherproofing products. We would like to thank Henkel for donating £50,000 of products to help waterproof the train. Noel and Barry have gone above and beyond to help the Dales train project, we could not thank them enough.
Noel is running the great North run in memory of his Son Luke for the charity YoungMinds. Please see the link to his just giving page
We had a visit from Neil from the Aln valley Railway. Neil helped to take out the train controls for the new driving simulator installation. Thanks for all the help Neil.
Thank you to all the help from Northern Rail, Network Rail, Henkel, Northumberland CC, The police Cadets, British volt and Morgan Sindall AECOM,Neil from the Aln Valley railway and TEXO

Queen’s Jubilee Medals

28th June 2022Neil Simpson

Thank you to Cllrs Grant and Susan Davey for coming into school to hand out special medals for the Queen’s jubilee. The medals were donated by Blyth county council. The children were very excited to receive them. We even had a special guest driving the train. We would also like to thank Blyth council for funding our Jubilee party at school. We all had a great time.

Train Update & Justgiving

7th February 2022Lee Wilkinson

We had some great news this week, RW Mann Trust have kindly donated to the train project. Thank you so much, this will go towards developing out STEM carriage.

Also a big thank you to Mr Holmes who kindly made a donation to help. On this note we have created a ‘Just Giving’ campaign to help raise £10,000 to aid in the carriage development. If you would like to donate please go to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/thedales-school.

Thank you to Ian Levy and the chronicle for appealing to the public to help the train project  https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/dales-school-blyth-pacer-train-22947145

We had a trip to Kirkmerrington School in County Durham. They showed us around their Class 142 Pacer train. We wish you all the best for your project. We are looking forward to Lesley visiting Blythdale to see our Train.

More exciting news to come next week.

Welcome to the Train Blog

28th January 2022realsmart admin

You may know that The Dales School acquired a train which we are currently refurbishing to be used a a learning space. This blog will provide updates as we go through the project.

Children in Need JustGiving Page

12th November 2021Neil Simpson

This year were fundraising for BBC Children in Need! We’re holding a BBC Children in Need Day on Friday the 19th of November to raise vital funds for children across the UK.

If you would like to donate on behalf of The Dales School, please click the following link.

The Dales JustGiving Page

Summer Holidays

8th July 2021Lee Wilkinson

The children will break up for the Summer Holidays on the 16th July at 12pm, we reconvene on the 8th September. On behalf of everyone at The Dales we hope you have a brilliant summer.

Update from Dr. Sue

3rd February 2021Neil Simpson

Dear Parents and Carers,

As we get nearer to half term, I’d like to update you on the situation in school and our plans for after half term.
As you know, we have tried very hard to offer as many children as possible time in school. Our limiting factors have been available staffing and our risk assessment restricting group sizes to no more than 6 (8 in classroom 11B due to the size of the room).
We know that the current lockdown will remain in place, with schools closed to the majority of pupils, until 8th March at the earliest, but we are hoping to be able to offer more places, probably part time initially, after the half term holiday. About one third of parents told us last month that they would prefer to keep their child at home. Over the coming days, the family support team will be in touch with you to ask you about your preference for after the half term holiday. We will do what we can to help.
Glynis, Tracy or Demi will be in touch soon. Please let them know what you would like for your child. We will do our best to increase our capacity to meet as many requests as we can.
As ever – thank you so much for your ongoing support at this very difficult time.
Keep safe and take care,
Sue

Further COVID Update

5th January 2021Neil Simpson

Dear Parents and Carers,

 
As you know we have been working on a plan today to offer the children of key workers and the most vulnerable children time in school from tomorrow. You will be contacted by text if your child has been included and the days each week that they are able to attend school. They will be educated on the same site as usual for them – Ashdale and Blythdale are both able to be used this time.
 
Today’s plan has been shared with Nikki from transport and we believe that transport should be in place from tomorrow.
 
If your child is poorly, please do not send them to school – we must all do our very best to keep everyone in school safe from germs. If you are a key worker, please share your working days or shift patterns as far in advance as you can so we can possibly offer some days in school to other children. 
 
If you do not receive a text message this afternoon, then your child will be learning at home for now and we will support you with this by providing learning opportunities that we believe your child should be able to access and learn from. Your child’s teacher will contact you each week to offer support and to try to tailor the learning opportunities to how your child learns best at home. Glynis, Tracy or Demi will also contact you regularly to keep in touch and help if we can.
 
If you need our support, please don’t hesitate to make contact with us and we will do our best to help. Our telephone will be answered during normal school hours or you can email us and we will get back to you as soon as possible. We know this is a difficult and stressful time for everyone and we want to help where we can.
 
Thank you again for your support – we all really appreciate it! 
Take care and keep safe and well.
Very best wishes,
Sue

School Closure Update

5th January 2021Neil Simpson
Dear Parents and Carers,
Once again I’d like to apologise for the late change of plan yesterday. I’d like to explain the situation as well as I can and offer what reassurance I can in the circumstances.
Yesterday, before 8pm, the Government had asked all Primary Schools to remain open. Those with staffing difficulties, like The Dales, needed to try to find a way to support as many children as possible to have as much time as possible in school. That’s what we did – we asked you whether or not you wished to send your child back to school, and those of you who did were included in the best plan that was possible to create yesterday. Our plan was shared and we were ready to go.

 

However, at 8pm, the Prime Minister instructed all schools to close from today and only offer time in school to the children of key workers and those classed as ‘vulnerable’. In a mainstream school all children with EHCPs are classed as vulnerable, but in a special school it is those children with vulnerabilities and needs beyond their special educational needs that are deemed to make a child especially ‘vulnerable’. At The Dales, we have always tried to do what we can possibly do to support all our pupils and their families and we will continue to do so.
This announcement from Boris Johnson last night meant that we were no longer able to carry on with what we had planned as the directive from the Government had changed. We also now have less staff available as members of staff with children have their own issues with childcare, as their children’s schools have also been ordered to close. Some of our staff are also shielding again due to their own health needs. So our plan needed to change and that’s what we will be sorting and sharing with you today.
 
Today we will be working on a plan to offer time in school to children who fall into either the ‘key worker’ parent or the ‘vulnerable’ category. If there is any capacity in school left, we will do our very best to respond to families in most need of our support. Parents will be contacted today to ask them if they are key workers and we will be consulting with social care to ensure that all ‘vulnerable’ children have at least some time in school. 
 
Please accept my apologies for the late change of plan last night but be reassured that we will do all we can to help as many families struggling at this time as we are able to.
 
Can I just finish by saying a huge thank you for the support you show to the school and staff at The Dales. We are all living and working through completely unknown times and I just hope we are quick to return to some normality. Please stay safe and well! 
With my very best wishes,
Sue

Breaking up for Christmas

10th December 2020Neil Simpson

Please note that in line with government advice, The Dales will break up for the Christmas holidays at 3:00pm on Thursday, 17th December. Children will return as planned on Tuesday, 5th January 2021.