Located in the historic parish of St Margaret's, the academy's history dates back to 1910 when it was founded as a replacement for a secondary fee-paying day school established in 1904.

The school was originally designed to accommodate 320 pupils with the site comprising eleven acres of which seven were playing fields.

In June 1940, soon after the start of the Second World War and as a result of the danger from air raids on Lowestoft, 327 pupils together with the Head Master and 21 members of staff were evacuated to Worksop.

After the end of the war there was a population boom, which caused a rapid rise in the number of pupils attending the school.

[4] On 5 September 2016, Peter Marshall left the school after resigning to "explore other career opportunities closer to home".