A previously under-fire secondary school plagued with poor results and bad behaviour has made an impressive turnaround.

Spires Academy has been heaped with praise and rated good by Ofsted in all areas, the first time in its chequered history.

Principal Nicki Mattin says it is thanks to her staff, students and parents who continued to believe in the school, even when it was struggling.

“We are beside ourselves,” she said.

“In the last Ofsted things were starting to improve and that has just accelerated.”

Two years ago, the Hersden secondary was ordered to improve by the education watchdog, with inspectors criticising the teaching and behaviour of some pupils.

They found rates of exclusion were higher than the national average and there were problems with low-level disruption.

Attendance was also below average.

That same year, just 17% of students achieved the benchmark of five GCSEs at grade C or above, including maths and English, marking a dramatic decline in performance.

But significant improvements reported soon after have continued, leading to an impressive change in fortune.

Ms Mattin puts it down to her clear vision for the 600-pupil school.

“We’ve been able to recruit the staff that have the skills to make it happen, we have a parental body which has stayed with us and believed in us despite what’s been said, and a student body who want to improve,” she said.

“If it wasn’t for the students and their desire and determination to take advantage of the opportunities here, we wouldn’t be where we are.

“When students arrive they are significantly behind the national average so they have a large catch-up to make in the five years they are here.

“They come in feeling they have failed because they didn’t pass the Kent Test. What we have to do is make them believe.

“The work we do with the students shows them they can achieve. The learning culture is supportive and nurturing and it makes them believe, the thing about out students is they have a can-do belief.”

Ms Mattin says it is a significant result for the school and community

“The very fact that students can say they go to a good school is amazing,” she added.