State head on £130,000 bonuses puts his family on the payroll

A LEADING London headteacher who took home at least £130,000 in bonuses employed three family members at his school, a whistleblower claimed today.

The bonus culture at Copland Community College in Brent saw £1million paid to senior school staff over seven years, according to a teacher at the state comprehensive.

The head, Sir Alan Davies, personally received bonuses of £50,000 two years ago and another £80,000 last year.

The school insisted Sir Alan had been paid for hard work and excellent results. Last year 52 per cent of his pupils achieved the Government's target of five C grades including English and maths at GCSE. This was just one percentage point higher than the average for London.

According to teacher Hank Roberts, Sir Alan's son and son-in-law are employed as caretakers, while his sister works in the school office.

Mr Roberts, formerly head of geog-raphy at Copland, works full-time as a union official but still has a formal contract with the school.

While there was no suggestion that these appointments were unlawful, Mr Roberts told the Standard: "I do not believe that state-funded schools should be family firms."

Mr Roberts, claiming protection under legislation for whistleblowers, said he believed the bonus payments should not have been allowed. "This is part of a totally unacceptable bonus culture that has spread to state-funded education and must not be tolerated."

He condemned the "gold rush" in state schools, particularly among heads of privately sponsored city academies.

The school's chair of governors, Dr Indravadan Patel, confirmed Sir Alan's bonuses. He will receive no bonus this year because of the credit crunch.

Dr Patel said the money was paid for extra work Sir Alan carried out "above and beyond what would be the normal duties of any head".

He added: "I'm proud to say at Copland we pay our staff very well. This is not money for nothing. We expect them to work hard for it, and they do, which is why we have such excellent results." He said Sir Alan had taken over running a primary school in special measures, brought in more than £300,000 in sponsorship, attracted £2million for a new school and ran a Saturday school.

Dr Patel said Sir Alan's leadership had "turned Copland School into one of the most successful inner-city comprehensives in the country".

He went on: "We believe that Sir Alan is worth every penny and we are proud to have him as our headteacher."

Schools Secretary Ed Balls backed the payment of bonuses to headteachers. He thought such payments were "rare" but acceptable, provided they were done responsibly and in recognition of genuine results.

Sir Alan's wife declined to comment at their home in Mill Hill last night.