A TROUBLED free school taken over by an academy chain in January has been praised for improving behaviour, attendance and plans to expand its curriculum.

Dixons Kings Academy in Lidget Green, Bradford, is the product of the takeover of the Kings Science Academy by the Dixons Academy chain.

The takeover had been preceded by a rocky 18 months, that the free school's principal and founder Sajid Hussain Raza and two former staff members charged with fraud.

The school, which has more than 700 children in four year groups, was told it required improvement at the last Ofsted inspection in December, although inspectors said it was on its way to improving. In April inspectors returned for the first time since the takeover.

A letter to new head teacher Neil Miley written since the monitoring inspection, and now made public, praises the way the school has turned around in just one term since joining the Dixons chain.

The letter says: "A key driver in the improvement plan is the consistent implementation of whole-school systems, already tried and tested in other Dixons’ academies.

"The principal has made a rapid start on this. There has been a sharp focus on establishing a purposeful climate in which the best learning can take place. Well-ordered routines ensure that students start the day on time and ready to learn – with the right uniform, equipment and conduct. Punctuality has improved considerably as a result.

"Low-level disruption to learning has decreased, as has the number of detentions and exclusions.

"Plans for significant improvements to the curriculum from September are well under way. Creative subjects are being introduced and staff have been recruited to deliver these. The introduction of a whole-school approach to promoting students’ literacy skills, including their oracy, is in hand.

"The school day is being revised and students will be offered extra-curricular opportunities for new activities and sports to enrich their learning and personal development."

It also points out that the school is working to deal with the above average levels of persistent absence.

Mr Miley said: "I think the highlight of the letter is that Ofsted make no recommendations for what the school needs to do to improve. That is something that rarely happens with a monitoring report into a school that requires improvement.

"If you look back to reports from a year ago it is like you are hearing about two different schools. Dixons wants to make sure that children in Bradford get the best possible education."

He said both student and prenatal feedback had been supportive of the re-branded school.

Former Kings Science Academy principal Raza, 42; former head of department Shabana Hussain, 38, and former director of finance Daud Khan, 43, will go on trial in July 2016, charged with a number of offences relating to their involvement at the school.