PUPILS as well as teachers will have to prove they can make the grade at the country’s first “privatised” comprehensive.
Advertisements for four assistant principals at Kings’ Manor school appear in today’s TES, as the failing Guildford school gears up for its relaunch in September as King’s College.
3Es, the not-for-profit firm that has taken over the school, has already said there are no guarantees of jobs for existing staff.
But it is also screening existing pupils. Those with poor behaviour records, currently on the exclusion register, may struggle for a place at the college, accordin to BBC2‘s Southern Eye programme broadcast last night.
Stanley Goodchild, 3Es’ managing director, and other company figures, have been waging a public relations campaign in Guildford, to convince parents to place children at the new school.
Their efforts seem to have paid off, with 109 parents applying for places this September, nearly trebling the number of pupils, says the BBC2 report.
Surrey County Council, which invited in the private sector, believes King’s College is the blueprint for the future. Kings’ Manor was put on special measures in July, 1998.
Karen Thornton
