An artist's view of the middle school campus of Shanghai Jiading World Foreign Language School, construction of which is slated to begin in July and be completed at the end of 2018. [Photo/jiading.gov.cn]

The newly-established Shanghai Jiading World Foreign Language School is slated to begin construction of its middle school project in July, local media reported on May 18.

The middle school project, covering an area of nearly 30,000 square meters, is expected to be completed at the end of 2018. It will have 40 classrooms.

The middle school will be part of the foreign language school, which also includes a primary school.

Construction of the new foreign language school started in 2015. The school is a joint effort of Jiading district and JuneYao Group, a Shanghai-based conglomerate, and aims to help balance local educational resources, improve the quality of local education, and 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 with the name Shanghai World Foreign Language School.

Founded in 1991, JuneYao Group is involved in the education, food and high technology sectors, and 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.

The school will start operation in September. Since its new campus is not completed, it will for the time being borrow a set of classrooms on the Jiading campus of a local high school affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University.