The school site, Charlton Park, was a hunting lodge that belonged to Edward the Confessor (1003–1066), the only English monarch to have been canonised.

[1] In 1935 the property was acquired by a religious order, the Sisters of La Sainte Union, originally from France, who established a convent in the house and added new buildings for classrooms.

[2] The need for a similar Catholic school for boys in the Cheltenham area was met in 1958 when the Carmelite order of priests and brothers acquired another historic site, Ashley Manor, less than a mile away on the London Road.

For some years Catholic children who passed their 11+ were awarded places at the schools by the local education authority.

The parents at Charlton Park and Whitefriars were keen that the Christian education provided in the schools should continue.