A school which was judged as failing by Ofsted is on the road to recovery after being pulled out of special measures.

Meeching Valley Primary School in Valley Road, Newhaven, was deemed inadequate by the schools' inspectors in and put in special measures in March 2012.

Now, following a recent inspection, it has been moved up a grade to “requires improvement”.

Ofsted classes schools which “require improvement” as “not yet good schools, but not inadequate.”

A school which is “inadequate” is one with “serious weaknesses [which is] inadequate overall and requires significant improvement.”

Headteacher Davina Wakelin said she was delighted the school was no longer deemed to be failing to provide pupils with an education and hoped one day the school would receive a top-of-the-class “outstanding” rating.

This is the highest possible rating a school can receive.

Mrs Wakelin said: “It's taken us two years but we are now out of special measures.

“We've worked very, very hard. We are still working incredibly hard to eventually get an outstanding rating.

“We know there are areas we need to improve but overall it is really positive. We are pleased - and now we want to be outstanding.”

In the latest report Ofsted said children felt “safe” in the school. The report praised “the management of pupils' behaviour”.

It said: “This has improved pupils' personal development and attitudes to learning. Most pupils enjoy the various incentives to help them behave well and to attend regularly.”

It also commended the school's newly-formed parents' forum as “significant breakthrough for the school in terms of getting more parents and carers involved in supporting their child's learning”.

But it added: “Teaching requires improvement and is not yet good because in some lessons teachers fail to challenge pupils sufficiently, leading to a slow pace of learning.”