The head teacher of a poor-performing primary ordered to improve by Ofsted has turned its fortunes around, earning it a 'good' rating.

Matthew Harris, who runs Northdown Primary School in Margate, likened it to "scoring the winning goal of the World Cup".

He admits there were tears of joy from some staff members, who had been at the school when it previously came under fire by Ofsted inspectors for reasons including pupils' poor behaviour and insufficient teaching.

But four years on, the primary, which is in a ward with one of the highest numbers of children in 'absolute low income' families, has seen a remarkable turnaround, gaining a 'good' rating in every area and overall.

The school was praised for its well-behaved pupils, quality of education and leadership, and inspectors highlighted its "ambitious curriculum".

Mr Harris says it means so much because of the journey they've been on.

"For four or five years and beyond, the children needed champions and we needed to dig deep to get where we are," he explains.

"We're now reaping the benefits of it.

"When you hear 'good' it's spine tingling. You think 'have we actually done it, is this real?' and to be able to share that with the staff that have been here for years, there were tears of joy.

"The feeling is incomparable."

Mr Harris took over the school, which is run by the Kemnal Academies Trust, in September 2020, while it was still graded as 'requires improvement'.

In 2017, Ofsted inspectors had criticised the school, saying parents lacked confidence in the primary, teachers were "confused" by what was expected of them, and too many pupils were not being correctly identified as having special educational needs.

"We had a great group of strong teachers but they just needed a bit of direction"

This time, however, inspectors found leaders were ambitious for SEN pupils and had a strengthened curriculum enabling teachers to deliver "well-thought through learning".

Mr Harris says when he first came to the school, he and his team found the curriculum wasn't fit for what they wanted to achieve.

"We had a great group of strong teachers but they just needed a bit of direction," he said.

"So we looked at exactly what it is we wanted for our children, knowing that 72% are pupil premium.

"It means we have a high number of children from a deprived area so we decided what our intent was, what we wanted our children to know and learn, and what we wanted them to represent when they left us to be successful going into secondary school.

"We took all those factors in and designed a curriculum that allows children to explore new horizons, new experiences so they are actually able to build on their cultural capital.

"Once we were able to do that, we knew that by setting a set of core values within the school, if they travelled through these it would raise their aspirations and they could become the best version of themselves whatever that may be."

One of the main aspects of their learning is books, which he says have been carefully chosen to allow children to explore things such as diversity, LGBQT and cultural differences.

"We know that our children of today, especially in the last two years during the pandemic, there's a lot of screen time and what we wanted to do was build upon their vocabulary," he said.

"When we're focusing upon reading, the children are able to understand what it is that they're learning and with that understanding it breaks down barriers so that children become more engaged.

"We allow them to build upon their curiosity and with that developing, it builds their confidence to try new things. That determination comes through and they achieve. That's feeding their desire to be the best that they can be."

He says trust from the parents in the school has also returned after the previous report, which he admits raised serious concerns.

"When you want to go on a journey of improvement, it's important you listen to concerns from parents and use that as evidence to say to staff 'this is how the world views us right now'.

"We've worked hard to create our school as it is now."

In the 2017 report, persistent absence by disadvantaged pupils was flagged up.

In the latest report inspectors said pupils’ attendance has improved over the past two years overall, but too many are still persistently absent.

Mr Harris says the curriculum has helped create a positive experience within school so children want to be there.

Northdown is in the Dane Valley ward, which in a Children in Poverty 2021 report by Kent County Council was listed in the top 10 wards in Kent for children in absolute low income families.

This means living in a household with income below 60% of the average income.

In Dane Valley, more than a quarter - 26.9% or 536 children - are living in such a household.

But Mr Harris insists the school's challenges are no harder to tackle than other primaries in Thanet.

"If you get the formula right then you're able to break down any barriers that are presented," he said.

"It does come with its set of challenges and mine may be different to other schools in Thanet, but I wouldn't say it's harder, you just have to really understand the context in which you're working in and use all the information available to you to be able to be successful and that's what we've done."