Central Foundation Girls’ School has its roots in the City of London. It was in 1726, when a small charity school for poor boys established in the crypt of St. Botolph’s without Bishopsgate church, was able to take in its first 20 girls.

Due to the efforts of Sir William Rawlins, the Sheriff of London, this small charity school expanded to 350 boys and girls by 1821. In 1891, the Central Foundation Schools of London Trust came into existence and the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools were divided into separate establishments.

Central Foundation Girls' became an ‘Aided’ school in 1903, and under the 1944 Education Act, all fees were abolished. During World War II, the school evacuated to Ely, returning to Spital Square (Bishopsgate) in September 1943.

When the Central Foundation Girls' moved to Bow from Spital Square in 1975, it changed from being a selective girls’ school to a comprehensive one after it amalgamated Bow Brooke Girls’ modern school on Bow Road. As an all ability school, it now served the East London community within Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney.

In 1996, a new building was built in Harley Grove (Bow) funded by the Department for Education, and in 2002 the school entered the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Group Schools Private Finance Initiative (PFI) to refurbish existing buildings and to construct a new Sports Hall.

In 2007, the Trustees purchased a large building adjacent to the Harley Grove campus to enable the school to become a single site school. Work was funded by the LB Tower Hamlets Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and by a substantial contribution from the Foundation. The refurbishment was completed and the building opened in 2013 as the school’s Sixth Form. Also, the BSF project enabled the school to build state-of-the-art science facilities and a new block on the Bow Road – creating and impressive entrance and housing a large dining room and auditorium.

Today, Central Foundation Girls’ is both a historic and a modern, vibrant school; it has grown to become one of the top providers in the country for attainment and progress at both GCSE and A Level. The energy, determination and the professionalism of staff, provide an exceptional, holistic experience for students. The school delivers a high quality education and shapes its students to be women of confidence and high achievement - ones ready to make an exceptional contribution to the world.