Public school's Pimlico bid fails

A bid by one of Britain's top independent schools to sponsor a city academy in London is set to be rebuffed.

Westminster School wanted to take over Pimlico School after the comprehensive was failed by education watchdog Ofsted.

But tonight Conservative-controlled Westminster council is expected to decide its preferred sponsor is John Nash - a venture capitalist who backed David Davis's campaign to be Tory leader.

Labour councillors said the decision to pick a Tory donor - who has pledged the full £2 million in sponsorship for the new academy - was "scandalous".

Westminster School, founded in 1179, tops education league tables consistently. The council's decision to snub it comes after the Department for Children, Schools and Families launched a campaign to get more private schools involved in the academies programme.

A fortnight ago, Schools Minister Lord Adonis told a conference of private school she wanted their "educational DNA" to help make academies a success.

Pimlico School, a mixed comprehensive for 11- to 19-year-olds, is known for its progressive ethos and distinctive Sixties "brutalist" architecture. But it was put in special measures after it failed an inspection by Ofsted, and will become an academy.

Mr Nash put in a bid to take it over via Future, a charity for the "underprivileged young" he founded with wife Caroline. He is chairman of Sovereign Capital, a private equity firm that owns for-profit schools operator Alpha Plus Group. Alpha's schools include Davies, Laing and Dick College, an exams crammer in Marylebone.

Executive members of the council will make a decision tonight after considering a report from officials recommending Mr Nash's bid. The Evening Standard understands members will back the report.

Sarah Richardson, executive member for education, said: "Through his company Mr Nash is involved in running a number of highly successful schools and colleges, and was one of the potential sponsors recommended to us by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

"Our only concern is to make sure pupils at Pimlico get the best possible education and the quicker this can be done the better."

Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the council's Labour, group said: "It is absolutely outrageous that the Conservatives are handing control of Pimlico School to prominent Tory supporters. Many parents will be horrified.

"It is a scandal that John and Caroline Nash's Conservative connections are not mentioned in the [council] Cabinet report."

However, several academies in other parts of the country have been given by the Government to prominent Labour backers.

Mr Nash rejected Labour's criticisms. "This has absolutely nothing to do with politics," he said. "We passionately believe that one of the largest issues facing our country is that we have children who perhaps don't have in many cases the pastoral support that they used to have."

He said that if his sponsorship bid was successful he would like to work with Westminster School, as well as local state schools. No one at Westminster School could be contacted for comment.