A town secondary school is celebrating after it received a glowing report from Ofsted inspectors.

Sittingbourne Community College was rated ‘good’ in its latest review published on Friday – only the second time it has reached the grade in more than 20 years.

The report highlighted the “profoundly positive” impact of leaders’ actions on improving the school and singled out executive head Seamus Murphy for injecting “renewed energy and ambition into the school at all levels”.

Mr Murphy, who joined Swale Academies Trust in April and took over the reins from former head Fiona Trigwell in July, said: “The key to the success at the school is the urgency with which leaders have acted on previous underachievement and acted collectively on what was a bit of a dip.

“As an executive head I have been able to work with a team of high quality people so we were able to make a difference very quickly.”

The school achieved its first ‘good’ rating in 2013.

Nearly half of the school’s pupils are disadvantaged, according to government definitions, and the proportion eligible for the pupil premium is well above national average.

Mr Murphy added: “It’s a community that is not the most advantaged so therefore there is a strong moral purpose to ensure that the pupils get the best education and we can’t waste a minute.

"There is a strong moral purpose to ensure that the pupils get the best education and we can’t waste a minute." - Seamus Murphy

“In order to achieve that, the leaders have to understand what it is they need to do and get on with it.”

The latest Ofsted report pointed to a new, “enhanced approach” to setting targets and tracking progress as a reason for the school’s rapid improvement.

Mr Murphy, a former Ofsted inspector and head teacher at Dartford Grammar, said under the new system pupils are set ambitious goals of what they are expected to achieve by the time they leave and there was no reason less well-off groups should have different expectations from others.

Additional funding for disadvantaged pupils ensures this group gets additional support such as through extra teaching outside of normal lessons.

Mr Murphy said despite the school being “a bit of a building site” with ongoing work to construct a large scale extension, pupils enjoyed going to school and their relationship with staff and schoolmates was positive.