Durham High School, an independent day school for girls aged between three years and 18, is be operated by a newly created company, Durham Education, part of the Ruthin Education Group, the Northumberland Gazette has reported.

The partnership has been made possible with an investment from Shangmei Gao, an educationalist and philanthropist and the founder of the Jiangsu Huai’an education group in China. In 2023 Gao acquired Ruthin School in North Wales.

Durham High School’s chair of governors Helen McMillan said there’s no change to the operation of the school, and for pupils it will be “business as usual”.

She added: “The governors believe, in the light of challenging times, this will secure the school’s future. Ms Gao’s philanthropic nature and vision for UK education has resulted in the successful establishment and expansion of Ruthin Education, and we’re delighted to be a part of that expansion.”

Durham High School’s headmistress Michelle Hill added: “It is an exciting move for us which will secure the future of our school so that girls can continue to be educated here for decades to come.”

Nick Grenfell-Marten, chairman of Ruthin Education Group, commented: “All of us at Ruthin Education are delighted that Durham High School is joining our group. In recognising the excellence of the educational provision at the school, along with its great pastoral care, we recognised very early on that Durham High School would be a good fit for our group. We look forward to working with colleagues in the school over the next months and years.”