Staff, pupils and parents at an Island school are celebrating after the announcement it is no longer in special measures.

Richmond primary was found to have made sufficient progress following its fifth Ofsted report in less than two years.

The Nursery Close school was rated as “inadequate” in a damning report in October 2011 and was ordered to make urgent changes.

The latest inspection, carried out on July 9-10, found overall the site “requires improvement” but it means frequent monitoring visits are no longer needed.

According to the report: “Achievement [of pupils] is not yet good and requires improvement because too few pupils make rapid enough progress over time.”

It found the quality of teaching is consistently good in “large parts” of the school except Reception, and Years 3 and 4, so overall, it needs to progress.

The conduct and safety of pupils is “good” and the inspectors noted “behaviour is very well managed and, as a result, learning is rarely interrupted by incidents of poor behaviour, which were common in the past”.

The report rated leadership and management as “good”
and states “a great deal has been achieved in a short space of time”.

It went on to say: “Staff, parents and carers, and pupils rightly say that the school is well led, improving rapidly and that there is great optimism about the future.”

Kent County Council appointed education company Lilac Sky Schools to turn Richmond’s fortunes around in July last year.

At the time, the firm’s director of education, Trevor Averre-Beeson, vowed to bring it out of special measures within a year – a promise which has now been kept. The company appointed principal Annie Donaldson soon after.

Ms Donaldson said: “I am very proud that everyone has worked very hard indeed to make huge changes and therefore much progress at Richmond.

“The pupils and staff deserve huge congratulations for all their hard work and success and the parents and carers for all their support.”