History lessons will never quite be the same again at one Kent school - after a Second World War air raid shelter was uncovered in the playground.

Workers at the Dartford Grammar School discovered the site and teachers plan to use it to celebrate the local area's history, giving its students first-hand insight into wartime life.

A main entrance and three exits were uncovered at the shelter and bosses now hope the school will receive National Heritage Lottery funding to continue their excavation later this year.

Deputy head teacher Guy Hewett said: "If the school manages to receive funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, over the summer holidays in 2014 we would continue the excavating.

"We are then looking to turn the shelter into a resource for the students but also to make it bookable by local schools and history groups in the surrounding area.

"It will be significant to recognise the contributions that Dartford Grammar students made in both World Wars, many of whom contributed and gave their lives for the war, on a local scale but also on a national scale."

The junior playground was resurfaced in 1952 at a cost of £1,000 when the shelters were covered up and were not found or entered again until last week.

The entrances excavated so far will be covered up with metal tiling until building work on the school's science building is completed.

Despite being stuck under concrete for decades, the shelter is part of Dartford Grammar's rich wartime history.

During the war, pupils seemed to spend more time in the shelters than outside when flying bombs were raining down on the south east.

The town was directly under the enemy flight path to London which put the grammar school at considerable risk.

High explosive bombs have since been recorded close to Darenth Wood Road, Darenth, and Christchurch Road, Dartford.

Evening activities were impossible, games and sports suffered especially after the pavilion was requisitioned for military use.

After the war, the task of rebuilding and repairing began.

The junior playground, where the shelters were found, was half full of allotments from the Grow More Food campaign.

There was a large water tank and gaping holes to the entrances of the trench shelter.

The water tank was soon taken down and one of the shelter entrances was covered with concrete.

The other entrance was kept in use in case an emergency arose again.

The discovery gives an insight into school life at the time and it is hoped much more can be unearthed about the school's rich history and role in the war.