It is a member of the Upper Canada District School Board, and draws pupils from Carleton Place and the surrounding Lanark County area.

In recent years CPHS has hosted students from China, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Switzerland, and South Korea.

For nearly 30 years the people of Carleton Place were considering the question of better school accommodation, but owing to the exigencies of the times, such as loss of population, removal of industries and expenditures on other public undertakings, small progress was made.

The Canadian's files recount some of the turbulence that accompanied building of schools, including a riot which once decided the place for the town hall.

The succeeding administration, supporting objections to its location refused to accept the school and in 1879 began converting the town hall into classrooms.