01 June 2001
The contract, won by private sector education specialist Nord Anglia, will use a sliding scale of financial rewards and penalties to raise standards at Abbeylands Comprehensive school in Surrey.
To obtain these financial carrots, Nord Anglia will have to attract more pupils to the school – currently it runs at just over half of its 800-pupil capacity – and ensure agreed levels of exam success.
It will seek to do this by transforming the school into the Runnymede Business and Enterprise College with an emphasis on vocational qualifications.
Nord Anglia bosses said that although suspicion remained over business involvement in the provision of education services, it hoped similar deals would be 'rolled out across the country'.
'Public policy has to move to accept these solutions but the need for them is very evident,' said Terry Connolly, a service director with Nord Anglia.
The seven-year contract is thought to be worth approximately £400,000.
Nord Anglia's profits from the contract are expected to be minimal, totalling just £20,000, 5% of the contract value.
PFjun2001
