Blog week ending 12th March
Congratulations to all our new Stone Lodge students who received their offers to join us in September. We are proud to welcome you into our vibrant and supportive school community. Over the coming terms, you’ll be invited to a series of transition events designed to help you settle in, meet new friends, and feel fully prepared for September. I look forward to meeting you and your families very soon.
At Stone Lodge we champion a rigorous academic education – and our classroom learning is underpinned by an exceptional schedule of educational and life-enhancing residential trips, immersive practical activities and community schemes. This whole-child approach provides a real-world application to learned knowledge as well supporting overall personal development and wellbeing. Our Learning Beyond the Classroom programme provides our children with an unparalleled choice of truly thrilling opportunities designed to enhance learning with lived (and loved!) experience.
All existing families will have received letters regarding this Summer’s trips and in-school experiences (every in-school theme includes day trips!) The deadline to choose your child’s residential trip has passed – but there are a few places still available on our Year 7 Bushcraft & Year 8 Dorset Trip – details below. Please contact trips@stonelodgeschool.co.uk to secure your child’s place or find out more.
This year students will be travelling to a range of residential trip locations including Disneyland in Paris, Ferrari Land and Barcelona in Spain, Berlin in Germany and Bushcraft skills in Northampton.
Our Learning Beyond the Classroom Theme Weeks run 13-17 July – thank you to all parents/carers who have already completed the ‘expression of interest form’ and selected their top 3 choices – last call to complete the form, please click here LBC Week 2026- Expression of Interest
Theme Weeks are;
Media Week – includes tour of National Theatre, see The Mouse Trap, go to the cinema – all years
Immersive Art Week – exhibition in London, riverboat cruise, Green Park – all years
Business Week – (includes visit to Greenwich Market and shopping area)
Skills Week – teamwork, first aid (includes visit to local Country Park and giant obstacle course) – all years
Wild Week – (includes trip to Port Lympne – all years
Criminology – (includes trip to London Dungeons & see Witness for the Prosecution in London County Hall) – all years
Fashion Week – includes trip (and budget) to visit Greenwich Market to purchase charity shop items – all years
A Taste of Europe – includes trip to the V&A in London
Space Week – includes trip to Science Museum
Click here to view – trips and activities presentation https://stonelodgeschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/LBC-Theme-Week-presentation-2026.pdf
All recent letters – please click here to view – News and Events – Stone Lodge School
Below, a tiny selection of photos from last year!
PTA Update. Thank you to all families, staff, PTA members and students that attended our recent Quiz – it was a hugely fun night, not least of which due to our quizmaster extraordinaire Mr Naylor! Congratulations to the winning team, which was comprised of staff, parents, PTA and students … a winning formula indeed! Thank you for all your continued support – all monies raised are spent on items that directly benefit our students!
We ‘may’ have had a ringer in our midst at our recent PTA Quiz Night?! It has come to my attention that Head of English, Mrs Evans has had previous quizzing experience as part of a successful East London University team on the University Challenge!! (photographic evidence below!) … but I’d like to point out, Mrs Evans wasn’t part of the Stone Lodgers winning team!!
The PTA will be serving teas and coffees at all Parents’ Evenings (dependent upon availability of volunteers) Please do get in touch if you would like to join our PTA or are able to volunteer at any of our events! Contact ptatreasurer@stonelodgeschool.co.uk for more information
Our PTA offers a pre-loved uniform shop – please fill in the form with your request. Pre Loved uniform – Fill out form
Thank you for all donations to the Clothing Bank in our carpark – we have just received a cheque for £145! We are grateful for donations to the clothes bank of any clean wearable items.
Ms Ayling’s Year Year 9 History students took part in an immersive and ground-breaking lesson bringing virtual reality technology into the classroom. Delivered in conjunction with Testimony 360 and the Holocaust Educational Trust, students were able to access a digital education programme that combined digital eyewitness testimonies with virtual reality, revolutionising access to survivor testimony and providing an invaluable opportunity for students learning about the Holocaust. Throughout the lesson, students used interactive eyewitness testimony and Virtual Reality (VR) technology to ask their own questions of Holocaust survivors via pre-recorded interactive testimonies, as well as explore recordings of the sites where the Holocaust took place, all without leaving the classroom!
KS3 students were invited by Teacher of English, Ms Croucher to take part in a number of Young Writers competitions, giving them the opportunity to be published. Forty-seven short stories and poems have been published, scanning topics from ‘Stranger Sagas’ and ‘Grim Tales’, to ‘I have a Dream’. Every student who entered, received a certificate and a bookmark and some of the students bought the book their work was published in! All students were awarded their certificates during a special celebratory assembly – it was wonderful to hand out so many certificates.
Should anyone else like to enter the newest competition ‘Wild Wonders’ – a poem which captures or celebrates the wonders of the natural world. Please see Ms Croucher in C114 after school any Tuesday or Friday to discuss, and collect an entry form.
STEM On Track is an immersive educational initiative focusing on hands-on-learning through kart design, construction and racing! Our student team build their own racing Karts, learning STEM concepts along the way. As you can see, Mr Ofosu-Apea’s students are very much on track for the testing day in May ahead of the STEM On Track National Finals – which will see them compete against over 100 school teams in a final endurance race at Whilton Mill International Kart Circuit. The final event also includes a STEM Futures Fair as well as live panel discussions with industry experts. This is a brilliant and enriching initiative that aims to create pathways into STEM and motorsport careers while fostering teamwork and resilience. Pictured below – this year’s club team working on their Karts and below that .. last year’s competitors in the Final!!
Mrs Igwe’s Design and Technology Year 7 students are finishing off their ‘dream bedroom’ designs and prototype models. Students explored length, width and surface area calculations to draft their scale 2-D plans before going on to make their 3-D models.
Year 11 Drama Students visit the Mousetrap at St Martin’s Theatre. On Tuesday, our Year 11 Drama students travelled to St Martin’s Theatre in London’s West End to see the legendary play The Mousetrap, written by Agatha Christie. The trip formed an important part of their GCSE Drama studies, giving students the opportunity to experience professional theatre and to analyse and evaluate performance techniques in a live setting. As part of their GCSE course, students carefully observed the production and took detailed notes on elements such as acting, staging, lighting, costume and sound. These observations will support their preparation for the Component 3 written exam, which they will sit on 8th May.
Students thoroughly enjoyed the performance and were captivated from start to finish. The famous twist ending certainly had everyone talking afterwards – although, in keeping with theatre tradition, we have all been sworn to secrecy! A huge thank you to Mr Bailey who organised the trip and to the students for representing the school so brilliantly.
Mrs Fellows’ Year 11 Scientists explored the colourful world of chromatography this week, using practical experiments to separate the different pigments hidden inside everyday inks. Students prepared their chromatography paper, set up their solvent beakers, and watched as the colours travelled and separated into striking patterns. The lesson sparked plenty of curiosity about how scientists use this technique in real investigations, from analysing crime‑scene samples to testing food dyes. It was a hands‑on session that brought chemistry to life and showed just how much information a simple ink dot can reveal.
Careers Update. Year 10 students travelled to North Kent College to take part in a taster session for student considering a career in the construction sector. The event featured hands-on opportunities for students to experience practical construction activities, such as bricklaying, carpentry and painting and decorating, as well as a VR immersive classroom experience on the use of drone technology in construction. Students also met with employers working on major projects in the local area. Students who express an interest in going on to work in the sector will also have the opportunity to undertake business mentoring with the employers.
Our Latest Careers Newsletter details free resources and information including Year 10 Unifrog and virtual work experience such as Medicine, Law and Performing Arts – all can be read here https://stonelodgeschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/SLS-Careers-Newsletter.pdf
Year 7 Football team victorious in first match! Team manager, Mr Boon was delighted with the 1 : 0 score line against Saint John’s commenting “it was a solid team performance with a goal from Max S, Captain was Bobby H, well done everyone, a deserved win!”
Congratulations to Elayna C of 8B who has excelled in her most recent trampolining competition, medalling .. and qualifying for a National Gymnastics Competition in Birmingham. This is a fabulous achievement and we all wish her the very best for her forthcoming competition.
We celebrated World Book Day in our library all week. Thanks to the generous donations from Waterstones in Bluewater our Librarian was able to run competitions with students winning free books. Our students were very competitive making as many words as they could from the word ‘pandemonium’. The record was – 46 words! Amazing!
All Year 7 and 8 students received Book Tokens during their weekly Library lessons as part of our World Book Day activities. Students from other year groups who would like a token can still collect them from the library. Mrs Nguyen still has a number of spares too, so if your child would like another one or two, they can come and see our Librarian during the week to collect it.
Additionally, we watched Nathanael Lessore (author of a number of bestselling books and the winner of The Carnegie Shadower’s Choice Medal for Writing), talking about his latest book “Against All Odds” – a funny and authentic story about the joys and challenges of dreaming big and showing the world you don’t have to fit into just one box. Nathanael talked about the young adult books he enjoyed reading, and gave his top tips for enjoying reading. On top of that, our students had a chance to get creative designing their own bookmarks and book jackets.
It is our annual tradition to encourage students to get artistic and take part in Design a National Book Token Competition. There are great prizes to win! Please collect the forms and bring your designs and signed entry forms to the library and Mrs Nguyen will send them off to the organisers. The closing date for entries is Friday 27th March. Winners will be announced in May 2026. https://www.worldbookday.com/competitions/design-a-national-book-token-competition-2026/
Stone Lodge students can also enter another fantastic World Book Day competition to win Yoto Ultimate Reading Bundle – 24 audio books. The competition closes on the 15th of March 2026. To enter, fill in the quick and easy form. https://www.worldbookday.com/yoto-competition/
Let’s not forget reading has so many benefits! Reading provides a workout for their brains, a bit like physical activity for their bodies, improves vocabulary, helps them to understand different ideas and increases knowledge. It also supports positive mental health! By encouraging children to get involved in World Book Day and reading more, you as a parent/carer will be helping them to set a solid foundation for a lifelong love of learning and personal enrichment!
Happy reading! Mrs Nguyen – Librarian
Become a School Governor. Our school governing bodies represent different groups of people who have an interest in the school: staff, parents, carers and the community. Serving as a school governor is a highly rewarding experience, offering numerous personal and professional benefits. While we do not have any Parent Governor vacancies at the moment, we do have some Community Governor vacancies in other schools across the Trust. If you a looking for an opportunity to use your experience and skills to help make a difference within your local community and to help shape people’s futures, please contact governance@endeavour-mat.co.uk for further information on the role of a school governor.
Year 9 Parents Evening Thursday 19th March 2026. For the upcoming Year 9 Parents’ Evening, we will be moving from School Cloud to the appointment‑booking system within Arbor. More details on how to book is available in the letter from Mr Naylor (which can also be viewed by clicking here)
The Education People & KCC have shared the below poster with us regarding their Easter Programme of activities and support.
Forthcoming Dates;
Year 11 & Parents/Carers Mock Results Evening – 18 March click here to view letter & timings
Year 9 Parent/Carer Evening – 19 March 4-7pm click here to view letter
Year 9 Deadline for Options Forms to be completed online – 23 March – please click here to complete
Years 8, 9 10 School Photography – 24 March
Year 8 Parents/Carer Evening – 26 March 4-7pm
Whole School, Student Legacy Award Evening – 30 March 7-8pm
Last Day of Term 4 – Thursday 2 April
First Day of Term 5 – Monday 20 April
Best wishes,
Catherine Cusick
Headteacher
