Stone Lodge School opens its doors in Dartford
15:11, 06 September 2019
updated: 15:11, 06 September 2019
A brand new secondary school opened its doors for the first time to 120 pupils this week.
Stone Lodge School in Cotton Lane, Dartford welcomed its first intake of year 7 students on Wednesday 4 September.
Dartford's newest secondary school is run by Endeavour MAT, the trust responsible for both sets of Wilmington grammar schools and sixth forms.
The new school on the site of former Stone Lodge Farm, near to the new Dartford Rugby Club, is to be opened in phases.
Once completed next year the school will house around 1,600 pupils.
Gavin Barnett, the inaugural headteacher will be joined by assistant head teacher, Marc Naylor.
CEO of the Endeavour MAT, Donna Lodge, was in attendance to mark the grand opening.
She said: "It has been such an exciting day today, watching our first cohort enter the doors of our temporary accommodation.
"The journey from an application to open the school back in 2016, through the various milestones to gain planning consent, recruit the highest quality staff, gain DfE and OFSTED accreditation and market the provision to new parents, has been an adventure from the start.
"The smiles on our student’s faces today is the icing on the cake and I am so proud of them all and of the team of staff at Stone Lodge School who have already worked tirelessly to guarantee a successful launch."
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