MALVERN College's prep school and the Downs School, Colwall, are to join forces in September 2008.

The new school, which will be called the Downs, Malvern College Preparatory School, will be sifted at the Downs's 55-acre rural campus, at Brockhill Road.

A major investment programme is planned to modernise facilities there. And the current college prep school site, between Wells Road and Abbey Road, once the site of Ellerslie school, will be sold off.

The new school will cater for boarders and day girls and boys aged from 2 to 13, and will include a nursery. Total number of places will be 386, comparable to both schools combined today.

Head of the new school will be Alistair Ramsey, current head of the Downs. Peter Moody, head of the college prep school, is retiring at the end of July 2008, Mr Ramsey said: "This is a wonderful opportunity to create a strong, vibrant co-educational prep school building on the close ties the two schools have established over many years. Both are schools that enjoy great success and I am confident the new school will set new standards in preparatory education in this country."

Lord MacLaurin, chairman of Malvern College Council, said: "Malvern College has long enjoyed an enviable reputation. We are sure that many pupils will continue to come on to the college from the new prep school, and we are all excited about the possibilities which the future holds."

In 1992, Malvern College took over Hillstone prep school and Ellerslie girls' school, both in Malvern.