A long history of educating girls

The founding of the Royal School for the Daughters of Officers of the Army was in large part due to Mr Alfred Douglas Hamilton, a renowned philanthropist. During the Crimean War Mr Hamilton established the Officers Widows and Orphans Fund and the idea for the Royal School grew. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria provided a donation to help establish the school and became one of the original patrons. The first Lady Superintendent, who was recommended by Florence Nightingale, Miss Emmeline Maria Kingdon, was appointed in the Autumn of 1864. On 24 August 1865, the doors opened to the first cohort of Royal School girls, who would live and receive their education at the same beautiful site we are housed in today.

Bath High School was founded with the aim of providing top quality, affordable education to girls of all social classes and was one of the first schools to be established by the Girls' Day School Trust outside of London. The creation of the school was supported by over 90 local individuals and firms who held a strong belief in promoting girls’ education. The first headmistress of Bath High School was Miss Susan Wood, who welcomed the first students to the school on 21 September 1875, at its premises at Portland Place in Lansdown and due to growth in 1926, moved to Hope House.

We're a mixture of these two outstanding independent girls’ schools merging back in 1998, reinforcing the outstanding sense of community, warmth and commitment to girls’ only education that was held by both schools for over a century. We have been, and always will be an inspiring place to study – with a rich history of successes, challenges and achievements, and every student, teacher, parent, patron and supporter has played a key role in shaping who we are today.