New students were joined by some familiar faces as a Cranbrook school opened its gates at the start of a new academic year for the 75th time this week.

Dulwich Preparatory School in Coursehorn welcomed back 15 of the school's original pupils on Tuesday as part of its anniversary celebrations.

The school was founded after 135 boys from Dulwich Prep in South East London were evacuated to the town at the outbreak of the Second World War.

The school stayed open after the children, aged between five and 13, moved on a year later, when Kent was deemed unsafe, and has remained in the same location ever since.

As part of the anniversary former students who originally made the trip from West Dulwich Station on September 1, 1939, returned to Cranbrook on Tuesday to talk to pupils and tour the 50 acre site.

Year 8 pupil Tom Woolgar, who was a guide for the former pupils, said: “It made me realise how lucky we are now, the old pupils were amazed at how the school looks now. In their day they had to make their beds out of straw.”

Now attended by 540 boys and girls from the ages of three to 13, the school, which was a three-mile walk from the former Cranbrook station in Hartley, originally consisted of six wooden huts, several tents, a marquee and some kitchen equipment.

Headteacher, Paul David, said: “It has been wonderful to welcome some of our founder pupils back to school. Our Year 8 children have so enjoyed hearing what life was like back in the early days of our school, and the hardships endured by the boys during the harsh winter of 1939-40.”

Another highlight of the anniversary celebrations will come on Friday, October 17, when years 7 and 8 will retrace the steps taken by the 135 boys when they arrived in the pouring rain at the outbreak of war.