A Romford school, which was previously in special measures, has now been rated “good” by Ofsted.

Crowlands School, in London Road, was given the lowest rating in May 2010 for its inadequate provision and for its effectiveness of leaders, managers and governors.

After being taken into council control and several monitoring inspections later it was upgraded to “requires improvement” in September 2012.

It has since been rated “good” after a glowing report published last week, which highlighted the improvements pupils in Year 6 have made and Key Stage 2 pupils’ reading, writing and mathematics being “above national expectations”.

Headteacher Hayley McClenaghan, who joined the school permanently a year ago, was praised by inspectors for her “clear vision for the school” and “success at raising staff morale”.

During the inspection 37 lessons or parts of lessons, including some joint observations with the headteacher were observed. The inspectors heard pupils read and, with the headteacher and deputy headteacher, looked closely at samples of pupils’ work. Meetings were also held with groups of pupils chosen at random and discussions were held with senior leaders, subject leaders, teachers and other staff to get a full picture of the school.

From these investigations, Ofsted found that the most-able pupils were sufficiently challenged and their needs were well met, enabling them to reach the higher levels of attainment.

The team also found that the school enjoyed strong links with parents, who supported a recent “stay and learn” week, spending time in the classroom with their children.

The parent–teacher association also raises large sums of money to support the school’s work and parents were found to play a key role in children’s development.

Mrs McClenaghan, said: “I am extremely proud of the staff and pupils who have continued to work hard to ensure that Crowlands gets the recognition it deserves.

“It has been down to the dedication and commitment of all stakeholders that we are now judged by Ofsted to be a “good” school.

“We will be continuing to work hard to maintain and improve our standards even further.”