Teachers from a prestigious performing arts academy in England were due to arrive in Bermuda last night to help launch a scheme to open a similar school here.

Nick Williams and Jacqui Pick, the principal and deputy principal of the BRIT School in Croydon, which has produced top-selling music stars such as Amy Winehouse, Katie Melua and The Kooks, will meet with potential sponsors today to discuss the initiative.

And on Friday they will stage a presentation at Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute at 6 p.m., to which Ministry of Education officials have been invited, to show how they have managed to combine vocational training with an academic curriculum and produce impressive exam results.

The educators are being brought here by the Emperial Group of Companies, which includes Spanish Town Entertainment and Star Turn Productions, and the Centre on Philanthropy, for talks on how to replicate their success in the UK on the Island.

Eugene Dean, director of the Emperial Group, said yesterday that the plan was still very much in the early stages. He said a group of local entrepreneurs had hatched the idea in the hope of working with the BRIT School to develop a curriculum which could be used on the Island.

"The goal is to give the BRIT School an understanding of Bermuda, our education system, the goals and aspirations of our leaders and, most importantly, our young people."

Mr. Dean added: "We are looking to receive a combination of funding from corporate entities and the Government. This is the starting process. During this visit we will be speaking with people in Government about the initiative.

"We don't necessarily have any commitments but we are confident that we will get the funding. This is the first step in this. We would like to follow the model that they have used in the UK and continue to have it as a free school.

"The BRIT School has enjoyed a lot of success in the UK. It's all about being positive. We feel confident that we will be able to bring this project through to fruition."

The BRIT School - which insists it is not a stage or fame academy - is funded by the Department for Education and Employment in the UK and the British Record Industry Trust, a charitable organisation set up by the British record industry.

Sponsors for the school include major record companies such as BMG, EMI, Sony, PolyGram UK, Virgin and Warner.

The academy - for 14 to 19-year-olds - claims to be the only one of its kind dedicated to education and vocational training for the performing arts, media, art and design and the technologies that make performance possible.

Mr. Dean said it was yet to be decided whether a new school would need to be built in Bermuda or whether an existing building could be used.

He said the hope was that students at the BRIT School and its equivalent here - which would be called the Menelik Academy for Technology and the Performing Arts, in reference to the first Ethiopian emperor - could take part in exchange programmes.

"It will be great to have that link," he said. "We don't have a developed entertainment industry here but we recognise that the school can play a major role in this."