Miss Louisa Gurney, the daughter of an English clergyman, founded the school in 1887. She conducted classes for twelve girls at a terrace house in Woollahra called Fernbank.

In 1891, Mlle Augustine Soubeiran, who had assisted in the running of the school and taught French, became Co-Principal and, to accommodate the growing number of girls, the School was moved to a larger property in Bellevue Hill called Kambala.

In 1913, with an enrolment of nearly fifty, the School moved again, to its present site in New South Head Road, Rose Bay. Although the property was known as Tivoli, the School retained the name Kambala. The spacious home Tivoli, built in 1841, was the town house of Captain William Dumaresq. In 1881 the architect John Horbury Hunt was commissioned to extend Tivoli and today it is home to Kambala’s boarders in Years 7 - 10.

Succeeding Principals, the Misses Clara and Minnie Roseby and Mrs Flora Stewart, continued to enrich the curriculum and increase the extra-curricular activities offered to the girls.

In 1926 Kambala became a Church of England Foundation School controlled by an independent council. During Miss Fifi Hawthorne’s tenure as Principal, 1933 to 1966, the School grew from 100 pupils to more than 660 and buildings and facilities expanded accordingly.

Miss Hawthorne’s successor, Miss Joyce Gibbons, 1966 to 1984, contributed much to the role of art, music and public speaking in the curriculum. Mrs Barbara Monk, Principal from 1984 to 1987, did a great deal for the growth of Junior School education and the introduction of computer technology. Mr Peter Moxham, Principal from August 1988 to 1999 led the School through a phase of curriculum consolidation and the completion in 1998 of a rigorous building program which commenced in 1994.

The appointment of Mrs Margaret White in 2000 began a new and exciting phase of development to take us into the 21st century at the forefront of educational leadership.