A new private foreign language school named Shanghai Jiading World Foreign Language School is set to open in Shanghai's Jiading district in September, according to an announcement by local officials on Jan 10.

Yao Wei, an official at Jiading district, Shanghai, announces on Jan 10 that Shanghai Jiading World Foreign Language School will open in September. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn]

The school will first be based in a set of classrooms inside the Jiading campus of a local high school affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, before moving to its new campus once it is completed in 2018.

The new school, including a primary and a middle school, is a joint effort of Jiading district and JuneYao Group, a Shanghai-based conglomerate. The school started construction in 2015, and aims to help balance local educational resources, to improve the quality of local education, and to satisfy local people's needs for education.

If the new school is a success, the district government will allow JuneYao to start a kindergarten and a high school to form a complete pre-college education system under the brand of Shanghai World Foreign Language School.

The exterior of Shanghai Jiading World Foreign Language School, a private foreign language school located in Shanghai's Jiading district [Photo/jiading.gov.cn]

Founded in 1991, JuneYao Group is involved in the education, food and high technology sectors, and it is also the parent company of JuneYao Airlines.

JuneYao took over the private Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School in 2005. It is a college-preparatory school that offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. In 2013, the company set up the first World Foreign Language School outside Shanghai, in Gongshu district of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.

According to local officials, the establishment of the foreign language school will improve the overall educational level of Jiading and attract more talent to work and settle in the district.