It is an all-through school, which exists primarily to provide an education to children of EU staff and officials based in Brussels leading to the European Baccalaureate as their secondary leaving qualification.

Its alumni include the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Boris Johnson (former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom).

[7]: 8–9  In September 1959, the school relocated to its current main campus, made available by the Belgian State, in the leafy Brussels suburb of Uccle.

[7]: 8–9 Demand for school places increased following the merging of the executives and Councils of the three European Communities (EC) in 1967, with most of their departments relocating permanently to Brussels, along with their staff and families.

[8] The first wave of enlargement of the EC in 1973, also saw the same States accede to the Statue of the European School, in order to provide an education to children of staff seconded or hired from their respective nations.