A school that cancelled Christmas activities last year due to a poor Ofsted report is treating pupils this festive season after converting to an academy.

This time in 2015 angry parents of pupils at Barming Primary School started a petition against then interim head teacher Andrew Gould’s plans to scrap the popular Christmas play so staff could concentrate on getting the struggling school out of special measures after Ofsted deemed it inadequate.

The annual trip to the Hazlitt Theatre’s pantomime was also axed.

Almost 600 people signed the online document calling for the school to reinstate the performance with parents saying taking part boosted pupils’ confidence and gave non-academic children a chance to shine.

But although a Christmas lunch and other activities were allowed, the school play remained banned with Mr Gould saying at the time: “In order to improve the school’s performance I cannot justify large groups of children missing out on parts of the curriculum and furthermore cannot countenance taking teachers and teaching assistants from their core purpose, which is to teach and support learning.”

But this year the school calendar is full of treats as staff no longer have the poor Ofsted inspection hanging over their heads. Activities include a Christmas fair, pantomime, church services, productions in front of parents, a festive lunch, a Nativity play, a Christmas jumper day for charity and a disco.

In July the school became an academy meaning in the eyes of Ofsted and the Department for Education it is a new school awaiting its first inspection, which can happen any time within three years of it opening.

New head Chris Laker declined to speak to our sister paper the Kent Messenger saying, through the receptionist, he wanted to focus on the school moving forward.