The Stanley British Primary School was originally organized in 1972 as a model classroom housed in a local church. Through a partnership with Metropolitan State College and the federal Model Cities Project, the laboratory classroom was set up to demonstrate the English Primary School approach to education. The BPS program grew tremendously in popularity, and the demand for places in the classroom began to far exceed available space.

In the fall of 1983, an energetic group of parents joined forces with BPS teachers in an effort to expand the program. After many months of work, the group purchased the Stanley School building located in the historic Montclair neighborhood. Originally opened in 1891, the building housed the first public school kindergarten in Denver.

After extensive renovation, much of it done by parents, the school was reopened in the fall of 1984 as the Stanley British Primary School (Stanley BPS). When the school opened, it housed eighty kindergarten, first, and second graders.

The school continued to grow and prosper at its new site - adding a third grade by 1985. In 1991, after a successful $1 million campaign, Stanley expanded the program to accommodate children through the fourth grade. A new addition to the building was opened in January 1992 and a fifth grade was added in the fall.

In 1994, another group of dynamic parents, this time hoping to see BPS expand to the middle school years, spearheaded the successful effort to acquire land and facilities at the former Lowry Air Force Base. The fall of 1995 saw the establishment of Stanley's first sixth grade class in the former Officers' Club on a spectacular 10.5-acre campus, with the seventh and eighth grades added by 1997. As of September, 2000, the entire school, grades K-8, was housed on the Lowry campus.The Stanley community has always been committed to expanding the BPS philosophy in the wider educational community and to serving as a bridge between the private and public sector. A contract between Stanley and the Denver Public Schools has brought the British Primary program directly to two DPS elementary schools, Ebert and Steele Elementary, with plans for expanding to other public schools in the Denver area.

From a single classroom serving 28 children in 1972, Stanley has evolved into a thriving school serving over ten times that number with an additional150 students enrolled in Stanley's public school classrooms. The BPS teacher preparation program prepares and license up to 30 teachers each year. As Stanley continues to expand its horizons and to take on new risks and challenges, there is cause to celebrate its accomplishments and to look forward with optimism to its future.