A Kenley primary school is being used as a case study by the Government to promote its ongoing campaign to convert "coasting" schools into academies.

Harris Primary Academy Kenley was one of three schools praised by the Department for Education (DfE) as it launched a consultation on further Government intervention into failing and so-called "coasting" schools, which ministers say are "failing to ensure their pupils reach their potential".

The school, formerly Roke Primary, was taken over by the Harris group in 2013 after being placed in special measures by Ofsted, in the face of parents’ unsuccessful legal battle against academy conversion.

At the time the conversion process was blasted as a "sham" by angry parents after Harris posted a job advert for a new headteacher at the school, despite not yet having been confirmed as the new academy’s sponsor.

After a rocky start to its life as an academy - including publishing a strict new uniform policy containing spelling and grammatical errors - the school was judged outstanding by Ofsted in June this year.

Principal Kate Magliocco said: "By transforming standards quickly, we now have a successful school with a happy and thoroughly supportive parent body."

The latest DfE consultation comes as the new Education and Adoption Bill, which would limit the powers of those opposing academy conversions, makes its way through the House of Lords committee stages.

The DfE claims the bill will "sweep away the bureaucracy previously exploited by opponents with ideological objections who could delay or obstruct the process by which academy sponsors take over to improve the running of schools".

In August, Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted every school to become an academy.

Labour Croydon Council leader Tony Newman said: "Any school that's improved is to be welcome, but on the wider issue we're very clear that there should be much more partnership and accountability with local government and the schools.

"I think the Prime Minister is stuck in rather a tired debate about whether all schools should be academies. There are good academies and there are bad academies. The latest policy is far too simplistic."