Established in 1972 at the height of the alternative education movement, the school has no fees, no uniform and no examinations until Year 12.

The school is located in a small former Wesleyan church in the busy commercial district.

The school attempts to keep class sizes particularly low in comparison to the rest of the state, although this has been hampered by severe funding cuts in the last fifteen years.

It attempts to provide more opportunities than simply academic ones, giving strong attention to topics such as art, photography and music, which allows it to help some students who may otherwise drop out altogether.

Staff, parents and students of the school were heavily involved in the highly public campaign to save the former campus' gymnasium from demolition in 2003, even occupying the site for several weeks, as had been done with the successful Fitzroy High School campaign.