Shrewbury's Grange School is taken out of special measures

The Grange School, in Harlescott, Shrewsbury, was criticised in March 2012 after inspectors from the government body said the overall quality and effectiveness of the teaching was 'inadequate'.

The school on Worcester Road was placed under special measures but an inspection in February saw it making 'good progress' over almost all areas.

And it has now been removed from special measures completely after they became part of Shropshire's first multi-trust academy with Sundorne School.

As a result, staff and parents of pupils are delighted.

Geoff Pettengell, principal of Shrewsbury Academies Trust, said: "It is fantastic that this has led to the Grange being taken out of special measures so quickly, but in truth we were expecting this to happen this summer anyway after such glowing feedback from Ofsted's last two monitoring reports.

"It is all extremely positive and there is a real buzz about the Grange at the moment."

While Mr Pettengell oversees both the Grange and Sundorne as principal of the academy, Rob Hatch and Alex Raeside are the schools' respective headteachers.

Mr Hatch, who took up his post in January, said that the atmosphere at the Grange has improved enormously since pupils and staff learned that it was no longer in special measures.

"We are all really pleased about the formation of the academy and being taken out of special measures," he said.

"Added to that we are delighted with the maths results which have just come through – we are really confident that we can now follow Sundorne's example and achieve outstanding results."

Alex Raeside, head of Sundorne, said he was confident that the academy trust would prove a huge success.

"While the two schools within the trust operate independently of each other, each one has areas of specialism which it is able to offer the other," he added.