The Group’s origins date from the foundation in 1931 of DLD College ‘to provide tuition for the entrance examinations to Oxford and Cambridge universities and to the British Civil Service’. The College has moved campus five times and now occupies a state of the art building near Westminster Bridge, where it educates a diverse range of home and international students.
The Alpha Plus brand was created in 2002 from the acquisition of the group of schools and colleges owned by DLD by Sovereign capital. Delancey’s DV4 Fund acquired the Group from Sovereign Capital in 2007 and expanded it through organic growth, opening new schools and bringing others into the Group.
The Alpha Plus Group is now the second largest private schools provider in the UK and is the largest in London. 17 schools and three colleges now operate under the Educational Governance, Operational and Line Management of the Board of Alpha Plus.
Of the establishments in the Group, St. Anthony’s School is the oldest, founded in Eastbourne in 1893 and currently educating boys from 4-13 in Hampstead. Its sister school, St Anthony’s School for Girls is the newest arrival in London, having opened its doors to girls in September 2017. Since 2017, the Group has also expanded beyond the UK, with the opening Wetherby-Pembridge New York in 2017.
Further acquisitions will happen as a response to opportunities; the Group supports projects where it is confident it can create or develop a school or college that will meet the Group’s Gold Standard.