In July 1883 plans were submitted to the board of governors for a school for girls in Napier, and the following month the board advertised for a lady principal who would be required to teach English, Latin, French and mathematics and take charge of the boarding establishment.
Mary Hewett was appointed, and the school opened on 29 January 1884. The original school course included English, French, Latin, German, drawing, singing and calisthenics. 39 pupils were on the books that first day, and one boarder was enrolled. The original school building had classrooms on the ground floor, and rooms for the boarders upstairs. It stood where the main hostel building, Hewett House, now stands. It was badly damaged in the
1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake, and had to be demolished. The main building of the present school, named Spencer Building after A.E.J. Spencer, the school's third principal, stands in what was the original playing area of the first school. After bad damage,
Napier Technical College was disestablished by the minister of education and was almalgamated into Napier Girls' High School and Napier Boys' High School. The entrance to the school hall features a large mural painting by renowned New Zealand artist,
Rita Angus. Hewett House provides boarding accommodation for 160 boarders adjacent to the school, including five day and seven day stay. The girls are housed in double cubicles or dormitories, and some have single rooms. Matthews House accommodation opened in 1988, and contains single cubicles for senior girls. == Enrolment ==