As a response to Labour’s plans to tax school fees, independent schools are looking further afield to counter the expected drop in UK admissions.

Stafford Grammar School is recruiting new pupils from overseas, after obtaining a licence from the UK Visa and Immigration Services, The National has reported.

Head teacher Nick Pietrek said: “It’s something we are looking to really develop over the next couple of years as a result of these developments.”

The school plans to recruit pupils from markets such as mainland China, Hong Kong, and possibly the Middle East, and having the new pupils looked after by guardians, either through a guardianship service or with school families.

Pietrek said: “That would then provide, potentially, for those parents in the school, another revenue that would pay the difference. It would be a win-win really, for everyone.”

LVS Ascot, a day and boarding school in Berkshire, is also looking to recruit more pupils from abroad.

LVS Ascot head teacher Christine Cunniffe has visited China on a recruitment drive and plans, over the coming months, to visit Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Dubai, Mexico and Brazil.

Cunniffe said: “The message that we are getting when we travel all over the world is you can’t beat the British education system.”