Green plans £1.25m schools sponsorship

'Charles Clarke, responded by saying: "This is a significant and exciting new partnership. "It's just the sort of relationship between schools and business that is at the heart of much of our five-year plan for education.'



This is very disturbing, business will now directly (instead of covertly)have an direct impact on education and teaching,Philip Green's Arcadia group will give around 50 schools up to £1.25m, a maximum of £25,000 each, as they seek to become specialist business and enterprise colleges. Having the power to directly appoint Governors, obviously business and commerce specialist schools(orwellian title)will have a particular ethos not conjusive to challenging the status quo.

This is serious stuff, the Jusuits once said, 'give me the child at seven and I will give you the man' and one only has to look at the City Academy sponsered by a North Eastern businesnam where creationism is taught, are we going backwards to the 19th century? However, as usual the left/anarcho, direct action scene focus on the 'sexy' issues: peace, refugees, environment (just count the posts on here)to the exclusion of such on here. One day it will be too late and we will have a nation of Thatcherite consumer aotomatons. er, I think we may already have...

I wonder if trade unions will be able to so the same?




Polly Curtis and agencies
Friday July 9, 2004

The entrepreneur bidding to take over the Marks & Spencer company is venturing into education, announcing plans to sponsor 50 comprehensive schools today.Philip Green's Arcadia group will give around 50 schools up to £1.25m, a maximum of £25,000 each, as they seek to become specialist business and enterprise colleges.

The move is part of the government's specialist schools programme, which will see every school bidding for extra funds for one subject area. Such schools are expected to use their specialist subject - sport, IT, maths or arts among others - to drive up standards across the curriculum. The programme expansion was announced yesterday as part of the government's five-year plan for education, which will also also see 200 new privately sponsored city academies set up. Mr Green, whose latest bid for Marks & Spencer was rejected by the retailer yesterday, said he would be helping to develop his future employees. "I really wanted to support the 11 to 16 age group in encouraging and developing these young people's entrepreneurial talents whilst they are still at school, as well as helping to prepare them for work by teaching them industry-related skills."
Pupils at the schools in question would get work experience and careers advice from Mr Green's empire, which would also provide governors, Arcadia said.
The education secretary, Charles Clarke, responded by saying: "This is a significant and exciting new partnership. "It's just the sort of relationship between schools and business that is at the heart of much of our five-year plan for education." The Specialist Schools Trust welcomed the announcement and said it would work with Mr Green in selecting the comprehensives to benefit from his sponsorship. Specialist schools have to raise £50,000 in sponsorship as part of their application. If schools can show that they have developed expertise in one area and are exploiting it to raise standards in other subjects, they will receive up to £600,000 extra from the government over four years.