The school opened in 1957. Its catchment area grew substantially after the
Court government's closure of
Kewdale Senior High School in 1999, but between 2000 and 2005, there was a decline in the percentage of students enrolling from the feeder primary schools, with the school population shrinking from 790 to 520 in this period. During this period, there were also a number of violent incidents at the school which attracted negative media attention. From 2005 to 2006 onwards, the school instituted a number of reforms focusing on improving the school culture and the efficiency of administration. These included the school-wide implementation of the "Choose Respect" initiative to address bullying, which won a regional award for excellence in 2007 and saw Belmont teachers presenting at Safe Schools events in other states, and a
restorative justice initiative for peaceful conflict resolution. The school also formed a special agreement with the
University of Western Australia during this period for its academic students, and with the City of Belmont for its vocational students. In 2010 the college became one of the first 34 schools in WA to become part of the state government's Department of Education internal
Independent Public Schools scheme. The system retained direct accountability to the Director General of Education while allowing the school to have some control over its resources. ==Special programs==