Established as the Schools of Science and Art in 1893, it is situated on Marlow Hill to the south of the town and has a capacity of about 1,150 boys aged between 11 and 18.

[3] In the early 1890s a fund was set up to raise money for an art and technical school in High Wycombe to help support the traditional skills in the town of cabinet making, carving and polishing.

To make up the shortfall needed to pay for the building the schools' trustees and general committee ran a three-day fair in the grounds of Wycombe Abbey, the home of the then Lord Carrington.

The Great Western Railway also ran excursions from Maidenhead, Thame, Aylesbury and Chinnor and the revelries were led by the band of the 17th Lancers.

Courses were run at the school at all times of the day but most were in the evenings and weekends so that pupils could also work in the local furniture trade.

Unfortunately the outbreak of the First World War meant that the Wycombe High School buildings were needed as a hospital so the girls moved into Easton Street and the boys had to wait.

At the same time the Institute set up a training school for ex-soldiers and sailors who had become disabled in the war to prepare them for the furniture trade.

The Easton Street buildings also soon proved too small and were significantly expanded and a series of wooden huts were installed to be used as classrooms.

The schools changed their names to Wycombe Technical Institute and tuition was offered in most subjects (except French).

In 1927 land was rented from Lord Carrington to become the school's playing fields – until then the boys had used the Rye for sports fixtures.

Consequently, the High Wycombe College of Further Education was set up on its present site (now Bucks New University) although the final separation of pupils did not come about until 1963.

Most of the valuable historic reminders of the early days of the Technical Institute ended up on a bonfire in the massive clearing out operation when the school moved to Marlow Hill.

The lockers were designed in 1919 by Mr Shaw Wilson, head of the wood carving department and created by wounded soldiers who had returned from the war.

[20][21] The new building, named the "Innovation Hub", was opened in October 2021 by football executives David Dein and Karren Brady.

[23] The management of the original schools was vested in the trustees who in turn entrusted day-to-day control to art masters Henry Bayfield and Shaw Wilson and the Education Committee secretary WT Pycraft.

Nokes retired after 16 years in service in July 2016, replaced by Tracey Hartley in September 2016, the school's first female headteacher.