It opened with just seven students under the guidance of nuns belonging to the Company of Mary Our Lady, founded in Bordeaux in 1607 by Jeanne de Lestonnac.
Conscious of the vital role of women in the church and society and the urgent need for their education, the Company became the first religious order of female teachers approved by the church.
By 1640, the sisters had established 30 convents throughout France and quickly expanded to other parts of Europe, North and South America, and later Africa and Asia. The sisters’ mission ‘to serve in a way that is always new’, continues to be the guiding light of today’s school.
Surviving many changes since its founding, including a devastating fire in 1970, the school is now managed by a charitable trust, several of whom are sisters from the religious institute.
