Copyright dailymail
A UK state school is opening a fee-paying branch in Dubai to help finance its British counterpart. Historic Queen Elizabeth’s School (QES) in north London will become the first state funded school in the UK to open a school overseas when it launches next August. Experts say the landmark move could trigger a wave of similar ventures as state schools look to top up state funding in lucrative international markets but could leave failing schools even further behind. Previous attempts by state schools to cash in on the estimated £100 million market by doing the same have ended in failure. St Olave’s School in Bromley, Kent, axed its controversial plans to open international campuses in China. But QES – a 450-year-old all boys’ state grammar school in Barnet recognised as one of the best in London and consistently rated as outstanding by Ofsted – is set to go ahead with its plans for its new co-ed school in Dubai Sports City after they were greenlit by Dubai authorities. The school will charge up to £32,000 a year and will also be called Queen Elizabeth’s. Applications have already opened for pupils from nursey level right through to Sixth Form. Pupils will be taught the UK National Curriculum and will be admitted to the new school through academic selection with older pupils undertaking an academic assessment similar to those used by UK prep schools. QES will be tapping into the market previously cornered by some of the most famous British private schools including Rugby and Charterhouse who have all opened successful counterpart schools overseas. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s former private school Reigate College also has popular schools overseas, including in Saudi Arabia. The international market is widely seen as the next step for UK private schools as they reel from the damage inflicted on schools in the UK by Labour’s VAT on fees policy which has resulted in a string of school closures. Latest Independent Schools’ Council (ISC) figures show that ISC schools operate 115 campuses overseas educating nearly 87,000 pupils. But with state schools who have attempted to cash in in the past failing, finance experts have previously warned that state schools are sailing close to the wind under the rules of their academy funding. QES, which is working with an international education partner called GEDU Global Education, is also planning to open two schools in India. All three schools will be fee paying and will be named after their parent school. Funds will be gifted back to QES in Barnet through a subsidiary set up by its parents’ association, The Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s School – a registered charity, to manage the commercial side of the partnership. The new school will be headed by Dan Clark who is currently Deputy Head of the Princess of Wales’ former school Marlborough College. QES Barnet Head Neil Enright said the new school would ‘allow us to generate additional funds which will be invested back into our school in Barnet – improving further our facilities and the breadth of education for our pupils’. He added: ‘Our focus is to provide a state school experience like no other for the 1300 plus pupils we have on roll who are selected for our school in Barnet on academic merit alone and therefore come from a very wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. ‘This international partnership is new for us and, we believe, a first for a state school’. Head Christine Cunniffe from LVS Ascot, an independent school in Berkshire, said she believed such ‘entrepreneurial’ ventures by UK state schools could become ‘popular’ because there was ‘money to be made abroad for schools’. She said: ‘If it benefits UK state schools it could only be positive’ but also warned that only the best state schools were likely to benefit. She said: ‘I do think that the brands that would attract investors might not be the schools who need the money the most.’ She also advised there needed to be a ‘huge amount of due diligence over the partnerships and how that might affect the control the investor might have in the UK.’ International education consultant Dr Helen Wright said international demand for a British education was high and there was nothing to stop state schools from benefiting. She said: ‘There continues to be significant demand for English curriculum schools overseas - and there is no reason for state schools to hold back from seeking partnerships. But they do need proper advice, and to invest properly in this business development; it requires time and effort.’ It comes amid a funding shortage across the nation's state schools, with increased Government funding not enough to meet the spiralling costs. Academies are able to fundraise to top up the money they get from the Government, and many manage to rake in tens of thousands via parental donations and other sponsorship. In the case of the QES project, the Dubai school is separate to the Government-funded academy trust, which is why it is able to charge fees. QES is then able to receive donations from the money generated by the Dubai school because under academy rules, 'trusts are permitted to transact with related parties, including charities'. The Academy Trust Handbook states that trusts must 'ensure regularity, propriety, and value for money in all financial arrangements', and that 'any such entities must not compromise the trust’s ability to meet its obligations as a publicly funded body'.
