WILLIAM Morris Special School in Walthamstow is to be taken out of special measures after making improvements.

The school, in Folly Lane, caters for 131 children with severe learning difficulties and hopes to apply for academy status, which would free it from local council control.

Watchdog Ofsted placed it under heightened monitoring last year after inspectors said it was too reliant on outside help and that procedures to ensure children's safety were inadequate.

But in a report this month Ofsted said new executive headteacher Gary Pocock had made many changes since being brought in and that the school had a "strong capacity" to improve further.

However it rated William Morris "satisfactory" overall due to on-going concerns that the quality of teaching and pupil progress was still patchy.

Ofsted's report said:" William Morris School has improved well since its previous inspection and now provides a satisfactory education for its learners.

"The sixth form also provides a satisfactory quality of education.

"The school agrees that despite its strong capacity to improve, it is not yet a good school as teaching is not yet consistently good and not all groups of students are regularly making good progress."

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