The foundation of a controversial oil tycoon was among the donors to the New Schools Network this year, new documents show.
In what appears to be a first, accounts published by the NSN this week reveal the names of two donors, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
Set up by government to promote and help set up free schools, the NSN receives more than £2 million a year from the Department for Education, but also takes in hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations and legacies.
In previous years, the charity’s annual accounts have revealed little about the donations beyond the amounts given by its own trustees. However, this year, the NSN thanked the two foundations in its accounts – though it did not reveal how much each one gave.
