The head of an independent school named this month as the best in Britain has announced plans to build 10 schools in China to fund bursaries at home.

Andrew Halls, headmaster of King's College School in Wimbledon, told The Sunday Times, whose Parent Power section hailed the school as the best in the country this year, he hopes to set up the schools in China over the next 20 years.

Wimbledon Times:

Andrew Halls: headmaster of King's College School in Wimbledon 

This would allow the school to plough an estimated future annual income of £7m back into bursaries so bright children whose parents are not rich can continue to attend King's.

He warned that middle-class families are being priced out of private education by the soaring fees and schools must find alternative income streams so their children can continue to attend.

Speaking to the Wimbledon Guardian today, he said: "It is very hard to know what the income from the project would be, but I would like to move to a day when anyone who is bright enough can come here.

"Obviously, it's not certain it will happen, although the first school is looking increasingly likely in the Shanghai region."

King's College School is a £19,000-a-year day school for boys aged seven to 18, with girls in the sixth form.

The school currently offers bursaries to about 80 pupils at the school, where more than 1,200 children are enrolled. 

Asked how many pupils he would like to see on bursaries, Mr Halls said he didn't have a figure in mind. The teacher, who was educated at a comprehensive, said he would like financial wealth to not be a barrier to education.

Since Mr Halls took over the reins of King's in 2008, the school has become a leader in supporting children from less-privileged backgrounds.

It currently partners with 27 state schools in Merton, Wandsworth and Kingston, sending 350 of its pupils out on Friday afternoons to teach and mentor.

The school also has a 'raising aspirations' programme, which encourages bright state-educated pupils from less-affluent backgrounds to go into higher education.

Mr Halls' announcement coincides with a proposal by shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt that private schools should pay business rates unless they go into partnership with a state school.

Responding to the proposal Mr Halls said: "I don't like being told to do it by a government, left or right, because I think it reads to me like a political strategy that he hopes will mean something for the independent sector generally which I don't support because I think independent schools do a lot more good than they are thought to do and represent a quality of education which is pretty impressive."

"That said, I wouldn't want to be the head of a school which didn't have links to state schools", he added.

He said he thinks schools should only form partnerships if they are passionate about supporting state schools, not just to get a tax break.