A DERBY junior school where 24 different languages are spoken by pupils has been told it is "improving rapidly" and removed from special measures by inspectors.
Pear Tree Community Junior School was told it was "inadequate" in December 2012 and since then has been working to improve and also to head off becoming an academy, which had been suggested by the Government as a solution to its poor performance.
During the latest inspection this month, the team from the Office for Standards in Education decided the school had made progress but that it still requires further improvement to be "good".
In the newly-published report, the inspectors praise the "strong, very determined focus on achievement" by the head teacher Kudsia Batool, "well supported by senior leaders".
Ms Batool took up her position in September 2013 and eight new teachers have been appointed since then.
An interim board was set up to drive through change headed by Christopher Hassall, who is also head of an "outstanding" school in Leicestershire.
He said: "This is a very good report. The school has made exceptional progress in the past 15 months since the new head teacher was appointed.
"School improvement is all about team work, hard work and more work. We have an excellent team of teachers and support staff who are totally committed to the children and their families. I have every confidence that the school, with Mrs Batool at its helm, will go from strength to strength."
The school, in Pear Tree Street, has 93% of its pupils from minority ethnic groups, including 53% white gypsy Roma heritage and 28% Pakistani heritage and for 75% of the pupils English is not their first language.
Mrs Batool said she was delighted by the inspection report. She said: "We still have a long way to go but this gives us a firm foundation to build on.
"It means we won't be under the threat of becoming an academy, which will give us more stability to move forward."
Inspectors were pleased with the improvement in the quality of teaching and also the way in which the interim executive board and Derby City Council had supported the head and senior management.
They observed parts of 19 lessons, received five responses from parents online, spoke to other parents at the start of the school day and studied 45 responses to a staff questionnaire.
Ms Batool said: "Since I took up my post, I introduced rapid, radical and much-needed changes.
"They have had a very positive impact on the standards of children's work, the quality of teaching, pupil behaviour and the school's leadership.
"Parents, their children and the Pear Tree community all tell me how happy they are with the work which is going on in the school."
In 1998, the school was praised for the work it did with the pupils, which at that time came from 19 different cultures.
It was first placed in special measures in May 2006 but came out again in March 2008 before being placed in them again almost two years ago.
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