A COMPREHENSIVE head teacher has been paid more than £400,000 in a single year after clinching a series of lucrative deals including a contract to work as “project manager” on a development at his own school.

Sir Alan Davies, knighted in 2000 after turning round academic results at Copland community school in Wembley, northwest London, was suspended earlier this year. He is undergoing disciplinary proceedings for gross misconduct.

He and senior colleagues are also alleged by auditors to have made “nepotistic” appointments, including three relatives of Davies.

The scandal at Copland highlights the growth of a culture of bonuses and “consultancy” contracts to boost the pay of state school head teachers.

Earlier this year, The Sunday Times reported the case of Greg Martin, head at Durand primary school in Stockwell, south London. He more than doubled his £70,000 salary by charging fees for managing the school’s health spa and other facilities.

Davies’s pay deals came to light after questions were raised by Hank Roberts, a teacher at the school and representative of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL). Davies and three other senior staff are estimated to have made £1.2m in bonuses and other add-ons over four years between them.

The head’s bumper year was 2007-8 when he was paid £403,278. In addition to his salary of £103,000, his payments included £129,000 as project manager for a planned building on school grounds, £80,000 in bonuses and £66,500 for “additional duties” including “curriculum responsibilities”. The board of governors that approved the payments has been replaced.

Davies is also alleged to have bought large amounts of flowers for the school at a shop run by a close relative.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL, said it was now widespread for governors to offer lucrative side deals in addition to salary to lure heads.

Often a school sets up a company to run a nursery or consultancy for other schools. The deals, which bring in extra cash for the school and for top staff, are often kept secret on the grounds of “commercial confidentiality”. “Copland is a useful warning of what can go wrong,” said Bousted.

The council confirmed that Richard Evans, the deputy head, Columbus Udokoro, the bursar, and Michelle Bishop, the human resources manager, had also been suspended. Davies declined to comment beyond confirming his project management work.

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