The school was founded in 1880 by Mathilde Salomon, becoming the first French non-denominational high school for young women, two months before the vote of the "Camille Sée" law establishing public secondary education for young women, and three years before the opening of the Lycée Fenelon.

The founders, grouped in an association called "Société pour la propagation de l'instruction parmi les femmes", included Paul Bert (1833–1886), former Minister for Education, and a militant for Public Education.

Collège Sévigné was also the first school in France to open a kindergarten, in 1909.

Famous contributors to the education program at the school have been Alain, Gurvitch, Jankelevitch, Dumezil, Braudel, Mounier, Carcopino, Merleau-Ponty, Jacqueline de Romilly.

Collège Sévigné offers classes from kindergarten to the Baccalaureat.