The school was founded with a fund bestowed to Corpus Christi College, Oxford, by Richard Pate in 1574.

At GCSE level in 2004, 100% of pupils entered earned five A* to C grades,[3] and the school came twelfth in the BBC table of performance in A-/AS-Level.

[7] In 2012 Pate's achieved the fourth best state secondary school results in the United Kingdom.

[11] The Old Patesians club has grounds and a clubhouse in Leckhampton, which was built when their previous premises were demolished to make way for Cheltenham's tallest building, Eagle Tower.

The Gothic premises in the High Street were demolished in 1967 to make way for a concrete supermarket, at a time when many other historic buildings, which would now be listed and protected, were also lost.

The majority of pupils lived in more affluent areas on the opposite side of the town and needed to commute by public transport.

The building opened in 1965 and was designed by the architects Chamberlin, Powell & Bon, and featured innovative use of concrete and brick construction, a copper-clad dome over the library and a moat, but its striking appearance was not universally popular, frequently drawing comparisons with a prison.

This also involved upgrading the school canteen to a cashless catering system operated by sQuid.