In 1889 a new wing was built to accommodate around 70 boarding pupils, and in 1915 what is now Franchise House with adjoining land on Surrey Street, was purchased. On this land the present main building was erected and opened in 1926 when there were 238 girl pupils. A year later, the school became recognised by the Ministry of Education. In 1939 additional buildings became available for the dining hall and domestic science and in 1973 the Lady Julian Building, which had formerly housed its prep department, became part of Notre Dame High School. The prep department later became separate and is now an independent school.[1]
Since 1980, the St Peter's Building (Science & Technology completed in 1994), the St Paul's Building (Sports Hall, 1985), the St Julie's Building (Reception and Administration, 1996) and St Catherine's Building (Modern Languages, 1996) have been acquired and modernised. In 1995 the Lady Julian Building (Library, Careers, History and Sixth Form Centre) was refurbished. In 2006, the St Paul's building was extensively refurbished, providing a Drama Studio and four new classrooms for Religious Education. This allowed the old Chapel, up until then used as a Drama studio, to be refurbished and turned back into a chapel. The new St Mary's building was completed by the end of October 2006, and houses a Sixth Form centre, a cafeteria, a library and extensive language classrooms. The St Catherine's building will then be used for staff training. The old St Mary's building, formerly the cafeteria, was demolished. The school has purchased a plot of land, once belonging to Norwich Union, for use as a playground for pupils.
Mr John Pinnington became the first lay headmaster of the school in January 1997, as successor of Sister Mary Cluderay. The school was awarded specialist school status for Languages in September 2000.
The school also has a new teacher training building. Mr. Ed Balls, the former Education Secretary, visited the school on 19 December 2008. Following a long internal and public consultation, it was decided that the school would acquire Academy status on 1 March 2012.
