A South Croydon school is winning its war with the doubters after fighting off a poor reputation tag.

Haling Manor High School's encouraging mid-term report highlighted the progress made since its last visit from inspectors four years ago.

Then they gave a damming verdict on the pupils' lack of discipline and the poor teaching standards and placed it on the list of schools "showing cause for concern".

But, following the recent visit from Ofsted inspectors in March, when they praised the good leadership, good pupil behaviour and sound standards of education, head teacher John Troake is convinced the Kendra Road school has turned the corner.

The 550-pupil school is currently undergoing a £1 million expansion and looking to secure Lottery money for further improvements.

Mr Troake told the Guardian: "We have had a poor reputation in the local area for a number of years and we are hoping this report will bury a lot of skeletons.

"It gives the message that we are producing a good quality of education.

"We have worked hard to make sure that we have not only good teaching standards but quality facilities for pupils and the community to use; people will take us seriously now."

Chairman of governors Nigel Graves said the news was "extremely encouraging".

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