The four schools, which are attended by more than 2000 students in total, are the Literargymnasium, the Realgymnasium, the Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliches Gymnasium and the Kunst- und Sportgymnasium Rämibühl.

The Literargymnasium and the Realgymnasium, which focus on languages and humanities, were the first Swiss state-run schools to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme.

After two years, students decide to focus either on biology & chemistry or physics & applied mathematics as core subjects.

The current school headmaster is Rektorin Susanne Kalt (replacing Dr. Daniel Reichmuth in 2023) The vice-headmasters (Prorektor) Samuel Byland, Adriana Mikolaskova and Roman Staude.

It served as a preparatory institution for higher technical or academic education, in connection with the University of Zurich, which was established in the same year.

(Realgymnasiums) Alfred Berchtold (1925–2019), historian (Literargymnasiums) Tadeus Reichstein (1897–1996) Nobel Prize winner in medicine in 1950 (Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Gymnasiums) Gottfried Keller (1819–1890), writer (expelled from school in 1834) (Mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Gymnasiums) In July 2009, the concerned mother of a pupil anonymously filed a civil complaint against German language teacher Daniel Saladin of the Literargymnasium Rämibühl in Zurich, a German scholar, book author and high school teacher.