The school was established in 1860 with 40 girls together with a seminary for young ladies open to the daughters of citizens and farmers in the Paarl district.

An American, Virginia Lee Pride, was appointed to the school administration and under her leadership the enrollment increased from 80 to 240 in 1899.

In 1914, two of the school's teachers were killed in one of the first fatal car accidents in Paarl.

[2] During the 1960s, approximately 400 people were forcibly evicted from their land in order to provide the school with about two hectares to be used as hockey fields.

The high school is located at a site in Faure Street in the centre of Paarl.