A LEADING entrepreneur visited a school yesterday to pledge £50,000 to help it achieve specialist business and enterprise status.

Sir Tom Cowie met staff and pupils of Greencroft Comprehensive School for a tour of the site at Annfield Plain, Stanley, County Durham.

The school is preparing a bid for the new status and plans to improve facilities for children and make parts of the school accessible to the wider community to promote adult learning.

The school started a campaign in June to raise the money to prepare the bid and sent letters out asking for sponsorship from local businesses.

Last month, it learned Sir Tom Cowie agreed to sponsor the scheme in full.

The bid will be submitted next October and if successful it will be able to unlock about £450,000 of extra Government cash over several years.

Deputy headteacher John Gibb said: "The children and staff were all delighted when news of the donation came through.

"It is extremely generous and we are all very grateful to Sir Tom. "We hope to raise standards at the school, both for children and adults who live nearby.

"We now have to work exactly what our targets are, for the school and the community as a whole."

Sir Tom Cowie is a good example to aspiring entrepreneurs.

From repairing and selling motorcycles in a small backyard in Sunderland, he created the Cowie Group, which developed into Arriva and last year had a turnover of more than £1.6bn.