Thanks to the effort of, and largely at the expense of, John Bennett Lawes, founder of Rothamsted Research, work was begun to start educating Harpenden's youth in 1847.

A campaign began for a new school and Hertfordshire County Council purchased land on Manland Common.

Arthur Watts took up duties as Headmaster of Manland Common Senior Elementary School, but the opening had to be delayed for a week until 21 September 1939 to arrange for accommodation of evacuees.

The school is split into seven houses, Austen (Red), Britten (Yellow), Hepworth, (Green), King (Silver), Lawes (Orange), Newton (Blue) and Ryder (Purple), named for Jane Austen, Benjamin Britten, Barbara Hepworth, Martin Luther King Jr., John Bennet Lawes, Isaac Newton and Sue Ryder respectively.

The school has a reasonably sized field, large enough for two football pitches and a cricket pitch, and extensive sports facilities, including a large gymnasium, six all-weather tennis courts and an all-weather hockey pitch.By virtue of its Media and Arts speciality the school has media and creative facilities comprising television and media studios, including virtual studios and location filming and recording equipment.

The school also houses a well equipped dance studio, its own animal studies area, and theatre/cinema facilities as well as numerous computing suites.

[7] In 2008, a team of students participating in the Engineering Education Scheme were selected by a panel of judges to represent The Eastern Region in the February 2009 National level of the BA CREST Awards, with their work on the Eurofighter Typhoon in partnership with SELEX Galileo.