MALVERN College this week unveiled a £20 million expansion plan.

The project will involve re- locating the prep school and building two new houses for day pupils.

The plan is in response to a 25 per cent increase in pupil numbers since 2000.

The new site for the prep school is the Firs, a large house surrounded by trees at the end of College Grove.

The land once belonged to the Cunard shipping family and has been owned by the college since the 1920s.

The house would be converted and new buildings erected around it. But most of the trees on the site would remain.

Headmaster Hugh Carson said: "We will absolutely not be flattening the woodlands. It's a very sensitive site and we will be very careful."

The existing prep school buildings along Wells Road - the former Ellerslie School - will be sold off to help pay for the expansion project.

More cash will come from an appeal made to former college pupils.

As well as the relocated prep school, the college is planning the two new houses off College Road, which will include new kitchens.

Mr Carson said, although planning applications have not yet been made for any of the buildings, the school had been working closely with the district council's officers.

A scheme to extend the existing pavilion with 14 new classrooms for language teaching has already received permission.

Mr Carson said the increase in numbers was due largely to the increasing popularity of the International Baccalaureate, which the school offers alongside A'Levels.

"When Labour came to power they abolished the assisted places scheme and we were quite worried we would see a drop in numbers, but that hasn't happened," he said.