School in £1.6 million bonuses scandal ‘good value for money’

Government inspectors praised the head teacher who allegedly claimed £600,000 in "unlawful" bonuses and said his school offered taxpayers "good value for money".

Sir Alan Davies was suspended as head of Copland Community College in Wembley last week over claims that bonus payments to staff totalling £1.6 million broke the law. The bursar and deputy head were also suspended pending an investigation.

But the Standard has established that Brent council received the school's accounts every year, and Ofsted said the school used financial resources well to support children's education.

The praise came despite the fact that Copland's buildings had fallen into disrepair, leaving children to be taught in temporary huts. Teachers' leaders warned that the Copland case might not be an isolated incident and called for tighter scrutiny of school accounts.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "Worryingly, we fear Copland may not be a one-off, but may be an extreme example of a creeping sickness in state schools. We question whether there are sufficient safeguards to ensure the salaries of academy heads are justified and fair."

John Dixon, from the National Union of Teachers, said the issue highlighted "the dangers of lack of local accountability" in trust schools and academies.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: "Ofsted inspects the overall effectiveness of schools including the quality of education provided. Inspectors take an overview to see if the school is managed efficiently and providing value for money, and look at deployment of resources. It is not Ofsted's remit to audit the finances of schools.

"As a foundation school Copland has more control over its budget than a maintained school. We stated in our last inspection report three years ago that the school's overall performance had fallen from 'Good' to 'Satisfactory', and highlighted that the poor state of the classrooms adversely affected the education provided.

"Ofsted is currently carrying out our routine inspection of Copland Community College and the inspection report will be published in due course."

Brent council said it received a copy of the school's audited accounts every year.

"These have already been scrutinised by the independent auditors appointed by the school. There was nothing in these accounts to indicate there was anything untoward," a Brent spokesman said.

"As soon as we were made aware of the allegations of financial mismanagement we took decisive action. We will be considering the accounts as part of the ongoing investigation."