A SCHOOL which converted to an academy in controversial circumstances a year ago has hailed improved exam results.
Harris Primary Academy Kenley is celebrating a 33 per cent improvement in SATs results for Year 6 pupils, which its head teacher says reflects the "many improvements" made by the school, formerly known as Roke.
The decision to turn Roke into an academy last September attracted widespread criticism and protest from parents, with more than 2,000 signing a petition against the move.
And pupils faced further upheaval in February this year, when severe flooding forced the school, in Little Roke Road, to close for around a month.
During this period, students were bussed to other schools across the borough, including Crescent Primary nearly six miles away in Selhurst.
But despite these obstacles, the first set of SATs results for the Harris school show that 94 per cent of pupils reached national standards in all three of the areas they were tested in: reading, writing and maths.
This is up from 61 per cent the previous year when it was Roke.
Kate Magliocco, who was brought in by the Harris Federation at the start of the school year, said she was "proud" of her pupils.
