Millionaire pulls out of city academy

Tony Blair's plan for city academies was dealt a major blow today after a millionaire backer pulled out of a London project.

A charity founded by supermodel Elle Macpherson's partner, financier Arpad Busson, had promised to sponsor an academy for three- to 18-year-olds in Islington.

But the scheme involved merging a comprehensive with a primary school that was unhappy with the plans, and the charity - Absolute Return for Kids (Ark) - has now decided that the project is not feasible.

Ark's involvement with the Islington project triggered a protest outside the charity's Westminster offices last week by parents and teachers against "fat cats" taking over state schools.

Its decision to pull out is the latest in a series of blows to Mr Blair's ?5 billion pet education policy.

Last week a report commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills showed that bullying is a bigger problem in academies than in the failing comprehensives they replaced.

The report was published days after another high profile sponsor, Global Education Management Systems, pulled out of sponsoring two ?25 million academies in Milton Keynes following a parents' revolt.

Shortly before that, Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough - one of the first academies to open - was judged to be failing by education watchdog Ofsted. And despite costing about twice as much to build as ordinary state schools, exam results achieved by academies are still extremely poor.

The education department, which is closely involved with each of the academies in development, tried to put a brave face on Ark's pull-out.

"Ark is an excellent sponsor and will continue to sponsor a number of other academies in London," a spokesman insisted.

The original scheme involved bringing together three schools - Islington Green, Morelands and Richard Cloudesley special school - on the same site.

But Paul Dunning, co-chairman of Ark Education, said the prospect of rebuilding the schools while children continued to be taught on both the Islington Green and Morelands sites was too complex. He added: "We're sorry not to have the opportunity to work with the three schools but wish the new academy every success."

Last month Islington had to rethink plans for another academy after plans to close St Mary Magdalene Primary and incorporate it into an academy were vetoed by governors of rival schools.