ENTERPRISE is set to flow through every part of the curriculum at the county's first school to win business status.

Invicta Girls Grammar in Maidstone will net more than £500,000 over the next four years from the coveted Government award.

The cash is being invested in a £170,000 Internet café, staff training, student projects and practical help for the community through six linked schools.

While the school has no intention of changing its name to Invicta Plc, it would not be out of place at a place permeated by business and enterprise culture.

It has such a tradition of success in business studies, Young Enterprise and other related projects that the school's management team, working with Kent County Council, convinced officials it was worthy of the new status.

Sue Glanville, the head teacher, is happy to admit to being the school's chief executive with a conviction that the spirit of enterprise influences every area of life. She believes "our whole economic well-being" depends on business.

She has no doubt that encouraging enterprise and risk-taking will give her 1,250 pupils an edge in their adult lives and career choices. "We are trying to put very able students in a context and letting them fly," she told Kent Business.

"We never looked at applying for specialist status until they brought out the business and enterprise category. That was Invicta because it fulfilled everything we stand for. It was the one which we think best reflects the school."

School chiefs admit there is a risk that parents may think the school is dominated by a profit-making ethic at the expense of traditional grammar school teaching. Or that the school becomes known only for business studies.

But Mrs Glanville insists there will be no narrowing of focus or dilution of traditional subjects. "We are giving an extra dimension without losing the core business of the school." The emphasis would be on "enterprise" not "money-grabbing." Invicta is working with Canterbury Christ Church University College on a business ethics course

The school raised £50,000 to qualify for its bid. Support came from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Medway Ports Authority, parents and pupils. A sponsored walk raised £9,500.

Its success entitles the school to a one-off £100,000 grant for a building project, and £120,000 a year for the next four years, £40,000 of which has to be spent in the community.

The new Internet café, due to open in September, will be available to partner schools and other groups, including Mid Kent Women's Refuge.

Pupils will run the café and be closely involved in other projects, including mentoring pupils at partner schools--Valley Park, Swadelands, Bower Grove, All Saints, East Borough and St John's. More will be encouraged to take up GCSE business studies.

The new status has challenged staff to produce teaching plans incorporating business and enterprise elements.

For example, music could include CD sleeve design, the economics of the music industry and other commercial aspects of the subject.

Chemistry might include lessons on the pharmaceutical industry, a particular strength of the Kent economy.

Engineering will be developed in conjunction with The City University, London, with girls encouraged to consider it as a career option.

All staff have attended at least one day's placement with local employers and several staff have experience of running a business.

Mrs Glanville said: "Our profit is not in monetary terms, it's the added value we can give to the school."