Morgan Sindall Event Day

13th May 2025Sophie Renfree

The Dales School had the pleasure of attending a special event hosted by Morgan Sindall. For over two years, Morgan Sindall has been a wonderful partner, organising volunteer days and providing support for the train, and garden projects at both BlythDale and Ashdale.

 

We participated in a photography event with Morgan Sindall related to the Northumberland line. During this event, former students were photographed holding old images of the Northumberland line to commemorate the opening of the new stations. These photos were displayed on hoardings at all the new stations and even featured on the cover of The Journal newspaper.

 

A big thank you to Morgan Sindall for the invitation and for their ongoing partnership with The Dales School. And we can’t forget to mention what an amazing cake!

 

Blythdale Garden

11th April 2025Lee Wilkinson

We extend our gratitude to the following companies and individuals for their invaluable assistance in transforming our Dales School Garden into a remarkable space for our children. Throughout the year, the garden serves as a venue for classes to engage in planting and growing activities, as well as for the garden club and Forest School. Without the support of businesses and individuals, we would not have the necessary resources to bring this vision to life.

D A Johnson

We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to D A Johnson for generously supplying us with 5 tons of topsoil. This will be utilised by all our classes as they engage in the growing and planting theme during the summer term.

Craig Langlands

We would like to express our gratitude to Craig for supplying the cable reels, which have been transformed into tables and one will soon be used as a slide for the children during forest school sessions. Additionally, I appreciate the wood provided to assist in the construction of our planters.

High Sheriff Awards

11th April 2025Lee Wilkinson

On March 25th, the Garden Club team had the honor of attending an awards ceremony organised by the High Sheriff and presented by local celebrity Alexander Armstrong. This event was far from pointless; it was an extraordinary evening. The Dales School received a grant of £1,000 to support the purchase of equipment for the after-school and dinner-time Garden Club.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to High Sheriff Lucia Bridgeman for orchestrating such a remarkable event.

Winter Forest School Fun

20th February 2025Lee Wilkinson

We’ve had an absolute blast during our first winter term at Forest School! The kids have really embraced the chance to build resilience, tackle problems, and, most importantly, enjoy playing together.

Take a look at all the incredible activities we’ve been up to!

 

Mud Kitchen fun

Cooking sausages for Burns Night and practicing fire safety

Learning about Knights and making our own bow and arrows

Whittling

Hammock fun

Wooden Cookie Tattoo Art

 

New Fire Pit & Shelter

20th February 2025Lee Wilkinson

A wonderful new feature has been added to Blythdales Forest School garden! AB Playgrounds has set up a fantastic Fire Pit Shelter, which will allow us to enhance our fire safety and cooking skills all year round.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to AB Playgrounds for their outstanding work and to The Harrison Foundation for funding this project. We truly appreciate your support!

Official Opening of the Train

21st July 2023Lee Wilkinson

The train was officially opened after the recent completion of the STEAM hub.  The Dales School had a chance to say thank you to the different organisations, volunteers and community who have helped make the train so fantastic.

We were also featured in the Chronicle and News post leader.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/blyth-school-officially-opens-converted-27313084

The Train is used as a resource to help children with life skills and basic skills, as well as developing early career aspirations, railway safety and reading for enjoyment.

Thank you to the Laurel trust, Harrison Foundation, Hargreaves foundation, Platten family Fund, Dreager, the Freemasons, Northern Rail, Barbour, Port of Blyth, Blyth Town Council, Avery Dennison and TEXO for the amazing support and funding.

On the journey of the train we have had some fantastic volunteers and workshops from Morgan Sindall, Northumberland County Council, AECOM, Network rail, the Police cadets and Aln Valley Railway.

Our amazing ticket office and waiting room was donated from Wickes and built by Blyth Manshed. Elaine Bambrough also worked hard in the STEAM room with painting and joinery.

In preparation for teaching early careers aspirations and learning how to travel on the railway we have had some amazing support from Marie Adderson from Northern rail, Nicola Buckley from Transpennine Express and Rachel Bateman and Mark Ellis from the Northumberland line.

Thank you to Mick Hodgeson from Network Rail for laying the train track and also Noel Forte from Henkel and Gary Barnes from Network Rail for donating products and helping to weatherproof the train. We would also like to thank Neil Blagburn for all the amazing support and local MP Ian Levy.

We have made some fantastic friends along the way. It was great to see everybody at  the train event and look forward to working with you in the future.