Stone Lodge School is a co-educational secondary free school for pupils aged 11 to 19, located in Stone, a village near Dartford in Kent, England. It is a member of the Endeavour Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). The school admitted its first cohort of Year 7 pupils in September 2019 and relocated to a purpose-built permanent campus in early 2022.
History
Land
The land on which Stone Lodge School now stands has a long industrial and rural history. In the early twentieth century it formed part of the Kent Portland Cement Works, itself developed from the former Stone Court Chalk Works, and quarrying activity continued on the site until the 1980s. Following the exhaustion of chalk reserves, the pit was infilled as landfill between 1981 and 1993 and subsequently restored to rough grassland.
By the 2000s the area consisted largely of open green space interspersed with recreational facilities, including bowls clubs and a rugby club on Cotton Lane. The Stone Lodge Judo Centre, an Olympic-standard dojo, opened on the site in 2006. Beyond these uses, the land remained substantially undeveloped through the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
In August 2018 Dartford Borough Council submitted an outline planning application for a mixed redevelopment comprising an eight-form-entry secondary school, up to 140 residential dwellings, and public open space.
Construction and campus Construction of the permanent school building took place in 2020–21 on land overlooking Cotton Lane and London Road. BAM Construction was awarded the main contract, valued at approximately £29 million, in early 2021. Works included ecological surveys, diversion of public footpaths, and substantial earthworks to reshape the former landfill mound. Highway improvements were carried out concurrently, including a new access road and roundabout on London Road serving both the school entrance and the adjacent housing development. The building was completed in early 2022 and the school relocated to the permanent site in April of that year, having operated from temporary accommodation on-site since its opening in 2019. Prior to the school’s opening, its senior leadership team met with then Prime Minister Theresa May at 10 Downing Street as part of preparations for the school’s launch in 2019.
The campus consists of a three-storey academic block and a separate sports block, designed with a capacity of up to 1,450 pupils and 250 sixth-form students. The sports facilities are integrated with the existing Stone Lodge sports hub, with the school's sports hall and gymnasium adjoining the Judo Centre and bowls facilities. Outdoor playing fields and multi-use courts were also provided as part of the scheme.
Curriculum Stone Lodge School is funded by the Department for Education and governed by Endeavour MAT. The school follows the National Curriculum, with an emphasis on both academic and practical subjects, and has developed partnerships with local colleges and sports organisations. At Key Stage 4, pupils study towards GCSEs and Level 1 & 2 BTEC Diplomas, with a high proportion entered for the English Baccalaureate suite of qualifications. Sixth-form students have the option to study from a range of BTEC Extended Diplomas.
Ofsted inspection Stone Lodge School’s first full Ofsted inspection, carried out in October 2023 and published in November 2023, judged the school to be Good overall and rated Leadership and management as Outstanding.
Admissions Stone Lodge is a free School with a non-selective admissions policy.
References
External links Stone Lodge School official website