The school was established in 1951 by journalist Stephen Eckard. Eckard, an American national, was employed by the
BBC at the time. It was first situated in Eckard's home, and was a school primarily for 13 students. The school's colours, orange and black, are inspired by Eckard's alma mater,
Princeton University. Prior to that, the school's official colours were red and black. In addition to changing colors, the school has also adopted the Eagle as their mascot. The newly-founded school soon added three teachers and moved to a space in London's Chelsea neighbourhood. The school's first
graduation took place in 1960. According to the
Good Schools Guide, 80% of the 1,350 students hold
United States passports, and half of those are multi-passport holders from
dual national families. In 2021, The Head of the School Robin Appleby announced her resignation as the school had been accused of indoctrinating its pupils in
critical race theory. Following a December 2021 inspection, the school was downgraded two ratings by Ofsted to "requires improvement". Ofsted had inspected the school following media reports of political indoctrination. While the school was found to give "strong importance to equality and inclusion", the report continued "Sometimes, however, teaching places much more weight on the school’s approach to social justice than on learning subject-specific knowledge and skills". Reporting on the teaching of humanities in the lower school, Ofsted found that pupils "spend much time repeatedly considering identity (including analysing their own characteristics) rather than learning, for example, geographical knowledge". As of 2023, the school had maintained the "Outstanding" accreditation from Ofsted, which had been reinstated in November 2023. ==Current and former heads==