3Es, a charitable foundation run by Kingshurst City Technology College, in Solihull, Birmingham, has contracts to support two Surrey schools, including the first in the country to be “privatised”, the former Kings’ Manor school, in Guildford.

It oversaw the school’s re-opening as Kings College for the Arts and Technology, with a new principal.

3Es director Stanley Goodchild is now appointing someone to lead the former France Hill schol in Camberley, now Kings International College. The school had no serious weaknesses but was facing a sharp fall in pupil numbers.

Mr Goodchild is confident others can adopt the 3Es approach - as the Green Paper proposes. He said 3Es had disproved pundits who had said ethos and skills could not be transferred between schools because they depended on the head.

But Nicholas St Aubyn, Guildford’s MP, said private-sector firms would not apply for such contracts unless they were sure they would have the power to manage improvements without being hampered by governors.