The school is non-selective and caters for approximately 550 students from ELC to Year 12, including 65 boarders.

[2] Walford was the first all girls' school in Australia to offer all three programs of the International Baccalaureate (IB) and the first girls' school in South Australia to offer the IB Diploma (students are also welcome to study the SACE program).

[2] The school started in 1893 in Fisher Street, Malvern, in the home of the first headmistress, Lydia Adamson.

[5] In 1956 Walford was incorporated as a Church of England Girls' Grammar School[6] and Nina Morrison, OBE became the first salaried headmistress.

[5] Walford is a member of the Independent Girls Schools Sports Association (IGSSA).