Education expert Mike Tomlinson will advise the company

Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), which already owns schools in Milton Keynes and Southampton, runs about 30 private schools in the Middle East.

It is now looking at spending "several million pounds" on building new schools in the UK as well as acquiring existing ones, it was revealed on Sunday.

It was looking for sites within half an hour's drive of major towns and cities and has already bought Bury Lawn School in Milton Keynes and Sherborne House, a prep school in Southampton.

We are definitely aiming at offering more choice within the lower [fees] bracket so more parents will be able to afford independent education GEMS schools director Simon Cummins

GEMS has appointed Mike Tomlinson, the former chief inspector of education watchdog Ofsted, to act as an adviser.

GEMS is owned by businessman Sunny Varkey, chairman of parent company the Varkey Group.

Some private boarding schools are now charging more than �20,000 a year, but GEMS said it wanted to run "affordable" day-only institutions.

Bury Lawn currently charges up to �7,035 a year and Sian Jones, GEMS head of marketing, said: "We don't plan on any radical changes whatsoever.

'Market-driven'

"We are very conscious that parents have bought in at these levels."

In the case of new schools, fees would be "market-driven", she added.

Half a million pupils are now educated privately.

GEMS schools director Simon Cummins said: "We are definitely aiming at offering more choice within the lower [fees] bracket so more parents will be able to afford independent education."

GEMS hopes to prosper by offering excellent "hospitality-style service" to pupils and parents and by offering plenty of extra training opportunities for teachers, said Ms Jones.

Other recruits to board

Mr Tomlinson went straight from heading the government's inquiry into what went wrong with A-levels last year to leading its review of education for 14- to 19-year-olds.

He also now works as chair of the Hackney Learning Trust, set up to run the education service in the London borough following a series of critical Ofsted reports on its performance.

Joining him on the GEMS advisory board will be Sir Gareth Roberts, president of Wolfson College, Oxford.

He will chair the GEMS advisory board.

Mr Varkey's parents, who originally came from southern India, set up Our Own English High School in Dubai more than 30 years ago.

He expanded the operation into a chain after taking over in 1980.

As GEMS and its parent were both private companies, Mr Cummins declined to say exactly how much money they had to spend.