The school was established in 1895 as a girls' day school on Park Road, Peterborough, and moved to the present ten-acre site at Westwood House, Thorpe Road in 1936.

The school is managed by its own governing body, some of whose members are Woodard Fellows.

Its success and the demand of parents led the administration to extend coeducation to the rest of the school from September 2010.

[1] At the High Court in London in January 2004, a father failed to compel Oxfordshire County Council to pay £2,500 a year towards the child's £4,000 a term fees.

[4] The following year, it achieved a 100% pass rate with 64% gaining all A* or A grades.