The school was founded in 1880 by the future archbishop Edward White Benson, then Bishop of Truro.

During the early 1970s it was a direct grant grammar school before becoming independent when the tripartite system was abolished in 1976.

Both boys and girls were in both its nursery and sixth Form at various stages in its development.

A history of the school was written by her daughter Amy Key Clarke.

Over the last 20 years, the school has subsumed the previous Daniel Girls' Secondary School site to provide the Daniel Road campus which houses English, art, drama, modern foreign languages Departments as well as the performing arts studio and studio theatre.