A Newham school has been removed from Special Measures by Her Majesty’s Inspectors.

Cleves school, in Arragon Road, which serves 500 pupils and their families had been deemed to be failing in December 2009.

Since that time, huge strides have been made in improving the quality of teaching and learning as well as opportunities for all pupils.

A government report has now highlighted that “determined action has been taken to deal with the areas of weakness identified two years ago. Pupils’ achievement is rising and the gap between the attainment of pupils compared to the national average is closing quickly…”

It also says: “Cleves is a happy, calm and friendly school. Pupils are proud to be part of the school community; they behave well and attend regularly. All students feel extremely safe and secure. A particular strength of the school’s work is the way in which pupils contribute to the life of the school and the local community and are interested in learning about a wide range of other cultures.

“The school’s improvement is largely due to the head teacher’s intelligent and unwavering leadership and the resilience and determination of the staff. There is a strong sense of purpose amongst staff, governors, parents and carers to bring about and sustain further improvement.”

Cllr Quintin Peppiatt, Newham Council’s executive member for children and young people, said: “This is great news. Cleves has made great strides and is very much on the up, as this report recognises. Staff and pupils have both worked phenomenally hard to turn things round and should be applauded.”

Head teacher Charlie Morris who joined the school just as it went into Special Measures said, “HMI’s judgement is vindication for mammoth effort put in by staff, governors, the local authority and of course our families in turning Cleves around. It has been a challenging two years but as a result every member of staff is a better practioner and more importantly every child is getting a better education.

“I would like to highlight the role that our neighbouring schools in the E13 Learning Community and those across Newham played in helping Cleves when it was most in need.

“The school is now looking forward to progressing even further.”