Queen Elizabeth’s School - a selective academy grammar in North London - is oversubscribed and thriving. More than 3,500 pupils apply to take the entrance exam for the boys’ grammar school every year, competing for just 192 places in Year 7.

But over the school’s 450-year history things have not always been plain sailing, explains headmaster Neil Enright, who has been head for 15 years but has worked at the school for over 20 years.

“This school is one that’s had lots of ups and downs over its 453 years,” he says. “It’s been on the point of closure at various times.”

Enright’s hope is that the decision to become the first English state school to open fee-paying affiliates overseas, beginning in Dubai next year and with plans for two more schools in India, will help to bring an end to any “financial precarity”.

State schools looking overseas

At the moment, he points out, the school’s “very special state education, like no other” is made possible by topping up state funding through philanthropy and some commercial activity.

Enright argues, therefore, that “it would be irresponsible not to look at diversifying that and adding to that for the benefit of future generations”.

“We are not blessed with - like many of our peers in both the state and independent sectors - a wealthy endowment that generates additional income each year,” he says.

“So this is just another stream of commercial activity we are involved in - as many other schools are - that felt right for us.”

To this point, the school website says that any money raised through opening affiliate schools overseas will be “invested into the school here in Barnet, thus further improving educational opportunities within the state sector”.

The obvious question, then, is how much will be raised? Enright is tight-lipped.

“It will depend on the revenue generated in the individual schools...how many pupils they have on the roll, what other activities they are doing in those schools to generate income. So it’s way too early to understand and know that in detail,” he says.

“But obviously we wouldn’t be starting to undertake something like this if we didn’t think it was going to be material.”

Another education system gap?

Whatever the income may be, it’s clear that Queen Elizabeth’s School (QES) sees its plan as a step towards a more robust financial future.

Yet there are hundreds of other state schools in England facing financial precarity, likely operating within significantly tighter margins, which do not have such an option. “Don’t expect Grange Hill Singapore any time soon,” says one international school leader.

Therefore, the move - and any similar moves by other state schools - could create another education gap between state schools that have the brand to go down this route and those that do not. This is perhaps why education unions have been cautious about the plan.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says that while opening overseas offshoots is a chance “to fly the flag for British education” and “identify a revenue stream in times when national funding for education is very tight”, he notes that the ability for schools to do this is “generally pretty limited”.

Given this, he believes it could have “serious implications for the equitability of provision across the country, and runs in the opposite direction of the government’s aim of breaking down the barriers to opportunity”.

Meanwhile, Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, says that while schools have “a long history” of undertaking different types of fundraising, she questions if many will follow QES’ lead: “It would be surprising if opening international branches was a priority for many school trusts.”

‘Jumping on the bandwagon’

Nevertheless, although most state schools will not be able to emulate QES, Neil Roskilly, who was chief executive of the Independent Schools Association for over a decade, is clear that “other grammars will want to jump on the bandwagon”.

He says: “Will this grow? You bet. It’s a good income stream at very low risk. The school just franchises its name for use overseas.”

He notes, though, that while the financial risk is low, “the downside is no control on standards”: the Department for Education “has no jurisdiction” overseas, the schools “won’t be inspected under the Ofsted framework” and if a school wants to reclaim its brand, this will likely be “very difficult and expensive”.

Ultimately, Roskilly says, the only rules are the “local laws that apply in-country”.

In Dubai, however, Enright says he has been reassured by the “heavily regulated environment for education”.

However, this regulation - meted out by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority - also extends to what can and cannot be taught, with some topics off limits.

The QES website says the Dubai school “will follow England’s national curriculum”. But while secondary schools in England integrate LGBT content into the relationships, sex and health education curriculum, this cannot be taught in Dubai, where homosexuality is illegal.

School leaders with experience of working in the country also say this can impinge on the teaching of subjects like biology and go beyond the classroom - even extending to the books available in the school library.

Asked how he feels about this, Enright says schools in different countries “are rooted in a different culture and a different legal framework and regulatory framework” and whoever leads the school will have to “ensure compliance”.

Partnership approach

Linked to this compliance point, Enright says a key part of the success of QES’ overseas expansion will be having the right partner.

Since he became head over a decade ago, he says, there have been “lots of speculative enquiries” from organisations keen to partner with the school and open affiliates overseas.

But, he says, it was only when Global Education (GEDU) entered the scene and there was “real values alignment” that the decision was taken to proceed.

Enright continues: “All of the potential cons come back to partnership: who you’re partnered with, who is going to deliver this for you, and how are you going to work with them?”

He also explains that technically it is not the school that has entered into the partnership with GEDU, which will be the vehicle for establishing the QES brand abroad.

Instead, it is a “commercial entity” - FQE International Enterprises Ltd - created by the charity Friends of Queen Elizabeth’s, which was set up in the 1960s to support the school and its pupils, that has engaged in the activity.

Cash questions

That may feel like a moot point for cash-strapped schools watching on as a selective state grammar looks forward to revenue from fee-paying parents in Dubai - and from two more schools coming online in India, near Delhi and GIFT City, in Gujarat, as well.

It may also get them wondering about the reality of staff at a state-funded school working on a commercial project like this.

Enright says that while he has been “heavily involved” in the project, this work has been done “outside of term time”, such as during holiday periods, given that any time spent on it “can’t be funded by state grants, state income”.

The school website also says GEDU “will shoulder much of the administrative burden involved in bringing the project to fruition and in managing the new schools once they are open”, leaving “Enright and his senior colleagues free to focus without distraction on maintaining the very highest standards at QE Barnet”.

Government silence

However, speaking more generally, Roskilly says there “has to be a drain on resources on the host school” and that independent schools that have sponsored franchises overseas have “suffered as senior staff have been distracted by overseas ventures”.

He continues: “The main concern will be that UK senior staff will be distracted and will spend time on nice but not essential overseas trips, even if the costs are covered by the overseas operator.”

Cruddas at CST also stresses the importance of the core work of schools always being “adequately funded by the government” and of commercial activity being “properly ringfenced” and only used for “extras”.

Roskilly says he believes franchise arrangements like this should involve finances being made public, including payments and senior leadership team time spent on the project.

He also says the government should put out a clearer policy on this sort of activity.

“The 2010 Academies Act means that exempt charities such as academies are responsible to the [secretary of state]. Currently grammars are restricted in terms of their expansion, and Labour policy isn’t to encourage satellite schools such as this.

“Ministers should announce their policy as a matter of course.”

So what does the Department for Education make of all this? After all, the government recently pulled funding for International Baccalaureate courses in state schools, so does it really want state schools opening up international campuses?

Tes asked the DfE for its stated position, if it has any plans to develop any more specific policies on the issue and if there should be more transparency in how state schools use any funding to develop overseas campuses.

It declined to comment.

However, it could be that in the not-too-distant future the DfE will be forced to take a position if, as has happened in the independent sector, and as Roskilly predicts, more state-funded schools opt to boost their reserves by setting up offshoots overseas.