Adcote School links-up with Chinese investment company

It is now destined for a truly global flavour – with a target of about a third of pupils being from around the world.

IQ Education has sealed an investment contract with Adcote School, an independent girls' school founded in 1907 and set in 30 acres of grounds in Little Ness, near Baschurch.

The company specialises in overseas recruitment of pupils, and the tie-up will mean that the school will develop its global reach.

Dr Andrew Short, operations director of IQE, said the transfer to limited company status, managed by IQE, would take effect next month and would allow the school to select the best students from across the globe. IQE, based in the UK in Birmingham, has admissions offices in Thailand, China and Nigeria.

Dr Short, a former head of the British International School of Moscow, said: "Our strength is in creating networks in different countries. We believe the best education prepares students for the 21st century and creates global citizens."

Under the stewardship of former headmaster Gary Wright, Adcote has already welcomed pupils from China, Hong Kong, Russia, Nigeria and the Ukraine.

Dr Short said appealing to the global market would not dilute the British feel of the school.

"Neither market wants that," he said. He said he was aiming for a 2:1 local to international split.

"It's vital that the experience we give here is reflective of an English girls' boarding school. We're in the middle of a field in beautiful Shropshire. That's our market. We have to continue to offer what the school has been offering for the past 109 years."

Adcote has now appointed a new headmistress Diane Browne, director of studies at the all-girls Westonbirt School.

Dr Short said: "The girls will come to school as they always have done. There's no revolution – it's evolution. Their initial experience will be the same.

"Firstly, we aim to steady the ship and provide sustainability."

Reception to Year 2 classes are to close as the school is remoulded according to a traditional preparatory school model. Further restructuring will see heads of departments replaced with faculty heads from September.

IQE would like to see pupil numbers rise from 250 to 300 in the short term and will not be seeking to expand buildings or facilities until that number is reached.

Dr Short believes the link with China is an extremely positive development for the school. He said: "I have been in education for 23 years and I am genuinely amazed at the value that is placed upon education in China – education is seen as a gift that we should be grateful for, not something taken for granted.

"The Chinese investors come to us with a genuine interest in and love of education. The idea of education providing a service to the community is integral to Chinese culture."

IQE is also behind the UK's newest independent school – Myddelton College in Denbigh, which will open in September and is partnered with Yinhai College in China's Shandong province.