A two-layer dual strategy is proposed in this work to construct a new family of high-order finite volume element (FVE-2L) schemes that can avoid main common drawbacks of the existing high-order finite volume element (FVE) schemes. The existing high-order FVE schemes are complicated to construct since the number of the dual elements in each primary element used in their construction increases with a rate $\mathcal{O}((k+1)^2),$ where $k$ is the order of the scheme. Moreover, all $k$-th-order FVE schemes require a higher regularity $H^{k+2}$ than the approximation theory for the $L^2$ theory. Furthermore, all FVE schemes lose local conservation properties over boundary dual elements when dealing with Dirichlet boundary conditions. The proposed FVE-2L schemes has a much simpler construction since they have a fixed number (four) of dual elements in each primary element. They also reduce the regularity requirement for the $L^2$ theory to $H^{k+1}$ and preserve the local conservation law on all dual elements of the second dual layer for both flux and equation forms. Their stability and $H^1$ and $L^2$ convergence are proved. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the convergence and conservation properties of the FVE-2L schemes. Moreover, the condition number of the stiffness matrix of the FVE-2L schemes for the Laplacian operator is shown to have the same growth rate as those for the existing FVE and finite element schemes.