A leading UK independent girls boarding school, Wycombe Abbey, has partnered with BE Education, an education provider in China, to launch Wycombe Abbey International Schools later this year.

Affordability and the growing presence of one year foundation courses are contributing to making the market more competitive, according to providers at the British Boarding Schools Workshop last week.

With their sights set on the UK's higher education system, parents new to the world's middle class are sending their children overseas earlier in an attempt to secure access to elite universities. Enrolments in teen learners at UK boarding schools are up over the last two to three years according to The Parthenon Group.