NEWSPAPER ARTICLE The Evening Standard (London, England)

The Secrets of Arki's Ark (or How to Raise [Pounds

Sterling]11m in One Night to Save London's Failing
Schools); Arpad 'Arki' Busson, the Millionaire City
Trader and Elle Macpherson's Ex, Has Persuaded His
Hedge-Fund Buddies to Back His Children's Charity,
Ark. but Do They Have the Staying Power to See
through Controversial Education Plans?
Article excerpt
Byline: PAUL PALMER;ROBERT LEA

THE Geoffrey Chaucer secondary school near Elephant and Castle is not far along the south
bank of the Thames from Battersea power station. But, in one particular instance, the two
places are worlds apart.

Geoffrey Chaucer is a technology college for children aged between 11 and 16 in one of the
most deprived parts of London. Nearly half the pupils are from black-African families and a
third have, in the past, been registered as having special needs.

What connects it to Battersea is an event two months ago at the former power station: a gala
dinner organised by the prominent children's charity, Ark (Absolute Return for Kids). A
thousand invited guests, made up of some of the richest and most powerful hedge-fund
managers from the City, attended the evening last April.

The host was Arpad "Arki" Busson, 42, the chairman of Ark: a multimillionaire City trader
better known as the former boyfriend of Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson, although
the couple separated amicably last month.

In that one evening guests raised an astonishing [pounds sterling] 11,130,000 in a charity
auction - bidding for a chance to dance with actor Richard Gere; to take part in an art lesson
with leading British artist Anish Kapoor, and for the opportunity to become a space tourist
with one of the first seats on Virgin's galactic space trip, a gift donated by Virgin boss Sir
Richard Branson.

Certainly, Ark - and Busson - have the ability to attract attention. Three years ago, as part of
its educational fundraising, the Duchess of Cornwall, Sir Elton John and model Sophie Dahl
attended another Ark event at Somerset House in central London. The style of the event
epitomises Busson's approach to charity: high-profile, celebrity-oriented, with his rich City
friends waving chequebooks.
The connection between the Battersea event and the Geoffrey Chaucer school became clear
this week. In a bold attempt to improve schools in London, Busson's charity announced its
intention to create a number of special "city academies". Despite having no track record in
running or sponsoring schools, the charity's plans are ambitious: it intends to invest at least
[pounds sterling]14 million in London and appoint an educational board of experts who will
work with existing schools' staff to improve standards. Geoffrey Chaucer is earmarked to be
the first such Ark Academy.

ARK'S current plans for London schools are influenced by an American model known as
"charter schools", which effectively removes schools from local authority control and hands
the power back to teachers and parents.

To that end, Ark has already employed the services of Jay Altman, an American teacher from
New Orleans and one of the pioneers of charter schools.

Ark's plans are a version of the Governmentbacked city academies, but what differentiates
them is the charity's ambition to create a network of "schools within schools" - from nursery
through to pre-university age with one principal overseeing separate head teachers. The
charity argues that its aim is to improve standards.

The woman overseeing the plans is Lucy Heller, a former general manager of The Observer
newspaper and now managing director of Ark Education.

But to date, Ark's venture into education has been erratic. Last month, it withdrew from a
scheme in Islington after both the charity and local council agreed that the proposals were
"too complicated" for a number of schools in the borough. Regardless of that, Ark intends to
promote its vision in boroughs such as Hammersmith, Hackney, Lambeth and Westminster.

Questions are also being asked about Ark and the source of much of its money: the City
hedge-fund business, and the donors to the charity who have earned their fortunes from it.

Although perfectly legal, hedge funds are famously cut-throat: they generally make their
money from destabilising capital markets. …

Article details

PUBLICATION: The Evening Standard (London, England)

PUBLICATION DATE: July 7, 2005
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