A junior school which was taken under the wing of a top-rated secondary school has transformed itself from being rated "satisfactory" to "good" by Ofsted.

Danetree Junior School, in Danetree Road, Epsom, was given the "good" news by the education watchdog after an inspection at the start of this month.

It has been working in a permanent partnership with Glyn School, in The Kingsway, Epsom, since 2010, and formed the GLF Schools Multi-Academy Trust, with Glyn.

Glyn School is one of Surrey’s best-performing and was judged as "outstanding" by Ofsted in 2012 for the second time.

GLF Schools is a trust, made up of eight schools in Surrey and another in Wokingham, which was created around the National Support School status of Glyn - a role which recognises Glyn to be a ‘leader in education’ and which allows it to support other schools in challenging circumstances.   

Danetree started working with Glyn while the junior school was without a headteacher.

From 2010 until 2012, Glyn provided interim leadership for Danetree. 

In September 2012, a headteacher, James Broad, was appointed and Danetree became an academy.

GLF Schools has continued to provide support to Danetree including school improvement, finance, HR and IT.

In 2012, Danetree was judged to be "satisfactory" by Ofsted - but has turned its fortunes around just two years later, with Glyn’s help.

A spokeswoman for Danetree said: "This is a well-deserved accolade for the staff and children at Danetree and we now have the platform to continue to improve Danetree towards making the school ‘outstanding’ in the next two years."

She said Ofsted recognised students were making rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics and the school is clear about what needs to be done to improve further.

It also said that GLF Schools had provided the right level of support to help the school improve rapidly.

Jon Chaloner, executive headteacher of GLF Schools, added: "Having been closely involved in the journey that Danetree has been on since October 2010, it is extremely rewarding to see the efforts of staff and children recognised.

"I am thrilled that GLF Schools has been able to support the school to achieve these improvements."

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