Management at Sedgehill School have been trumpeting their success now that the school is no longer under “special measures”.

The Lewisham school in Sedgehill Road received its latest Ofsted report at the start of this month where it was marked as “requires improvement”.

This leaves the school a long way off a 'good' or 'excellent' rating, but compared to the school's recent years shows a marked improvement.

The school has previously lurched from bad news story to bad news story. In 2014, students marched to not replace the then current pool of governors, but were ultimately ignored by Lewisham Council who said the latest Ofsted reports saying it required improvement had forced their hand.

In 2015 once the new board came in, they said they discovered a £900,000 funding deficit and had to make drastic cuts to the budget.

Whatever measures were made evidently did not help the teaching standards as next year an Ofsted report came in that branded the school “inadequate” and placed it under special measures.

A year later the school was brought under the United Learning academy group to help turn around its dismal Ofsted showings.

But now executive principal Jan Shadick has called the recent improvements a "stepping stone”.

She said: “There is still a long way to go but what is clear from this report is that what we have introduced this academic year is making a positive difference and that there is a great deal to be confident about for the school’s future.

“It is also particularly encouraging that we have made this improvement more quickly than most schools are able to. It shows the ambition that we all have for Sedgehill and our determination to make the school securely Good in all areas in the near future.

“We have a strong, dedicated team of staff here and we are all working towards completing Sedgehill’s journey to being an excellent school.”

Sara Williams, Lewisham Council’s director for children and young people, said: “We are very pleased with the outcome of Sedgehill School’s Ofsted inspection, which reflects the dedicated and hard work of the school leadership team, staff and United Learning.

“I also want to pay tribute to the Interim Executive Board members, past and present, who have overseen this improvement and also to the Lewisham Secondary Challenge consultants, highlighted in the inspection for their timely and effective support, complementing the work of United Learning.

“We will continue to work with the school to help ensure that it continues this rapid pace of improvement.”