Ark Elvin Academy

Ark Elvin Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Wembley area of the London Borough of Brent. 92% of students are of minority ethnic origin, 36% qualify for free school meals, and over 50 different languages are spoken by students. Teachers and students alike speak many languages including Tamil, Arabic, Albanian, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Punjabi, Russian, Shona, Somali, Spanish and Urdu. HistoryCopland Community SchoolAs Copland Community School, a foundation school administered by Brent Borough Council, the school was led by Alan Davies as its headmaster for more than twenty years from 1988. Speaking in Davies' defence at his later trial, his barrister said that in that time he had led the school "from the very bottom to very near the top"—the school had been on the verge of being closed for poor performance when he took over. Davies was knighted in 2000, and Dr Richard Evans, a deputy head at the school, received an MBE for services to education in 2003. Davies received £130, 960 bonus in two years on top of his salary. This took his annual salary to more than £160, 000. As a result, the teachers at Copland declared a vote of no confidence in him, and threatened strike action after three teachers were suspended for revealing details of the bonuses to the mediaStaff suspensions and criminal trialIn 2009, Davies, Evans, and school bursar Columbus Udokoro, were all suspended due to "serious" allegations about pay and bonuses. The suspensions came after a former Copland teacher and union representative claimed that almost £1m had been paid in bonuses to the senior management team at the school over the preceding seven years. Children's Secretary Ed Balls spoke of his "grave concerns" about the allegations and said he was pleased that officials had acted "swiftly and decisively". Balls sacked the entire governing body of the school, including its chairman, Dr Indravadan Patel, who had publicly supported some of the bonuses.

Ark Elvin Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Wembley area of the London Borough of Brent. 92% of students are of minority ethnic origin, 36% qualify for free school meals, and over 50 different languages are spoken by students. Teachers and students alike speak many languages including Tamil, Arabic, Albanian, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Punjabi, Russian, Shona, Somali, Spanish and Urdu. HistoryCopland Community SchoolAs Copland Community School, a foundation school administered by Brent Borough Council, the school was led by Alan Davies as its headmaster for more than twenty years from 1988. Speaking in Davies' defence at his later trial, his barrister said that in that time he had led the school "from the very bottom to very near the top"—the school had been on the verge of being closed for poor performance when he took over. Davies was knighted in 2000, and Dr Richard Evans, a deputy head at the school, received an MBE for services to education in 2003. Davies received £130, 960 bonus in two years on top of his salary. This took his annual salary to more than £160, 000. As a result, the teachers at Copland declared a vote of no confidence in him, and threatened strike action after three teachers were suspended for revealing details of the bonuses to the mediaStaff suspensions and criminal trialIn 2009, Davies, Evans, and school bursar Columbus Udokoro, were all suspended due to "serious" allegations about pay and bonuses. The suspensions came after a former Copland teacher and union representative claimed that almost £1m had been paid in bonuses to the senior management team at the school over the preceding seven years. Children's Secretary Ed Balls spoke of his "grave concerns" about the allegations and said he was pleased that officials had acted "swiftly and decisively". Balls sacked the entire governing body of the school, including its chairman, Dr Indravadan Patel, who had publicly supported some of the bonuses.