Gems chief executive Zenna Atkins quits after just seven weeks

The world's biggest private education provider – Gems – has lost one of its leading executives after just seven weeks. Zenna Atkins, a former chair of Ofsted, was appointed chief executive of the firm's UK, Europe and Africa wing earlier this year. She told the Guardian she had "quickly realised that the company wasn't for her". She would not say why she left, nor whether it was a mutual decision, only that "she didn't want to be a part of it". Gems has more than 100 schools, mostly in the Middle East. It has 12 non-selective private schools in the UK. Atkins' salary was reputed to be at least £200,000. She is now working for Zail, a new enterprise that aims to deliver public services using private sector investment. She will be involved in its education wing. Earlier this year, Atkins berated headteachers who "lack the courage to get people to move on or improve". She was reported in the Sunday Times as saying, that "every school should have a useless teacher" so that children learn how to deal with incompetent authority. A spokeswoman from Gems said: "We can confirm that Zenna Atkins is no longer working for us. We would like to wish her every success moving forward. The board has put in place interim management arrangements and will reach a longer term conclusion in due course."