An ancient chantry school founded some time in the Middle Ages, Bromsgrove was re-established as a Tudor grammar school between 1548 and 1553. The endowment of Sir Thomas Cookes in 1693 produced the first buildings on the present site and also the historic link with Worcester College, Oxford. At the foundation of the Headmasters' Conference in 1869, Bromsgrove was one of the original fourteen members. During the Second World War the School moved to Wales while the buildings were used by British Government Departments. Throughout all of this, however, Bromsgrove was a relatively small, albeit highly successful, school. It was only towards the end of the twentieth century that rapid growth in numbers and an extensive new building programme began.

Bromsgrove is now one of the country's larger independent schools but it has grown because so many people want what it offers. Crucially, the House system ensures that a warm and secure micro-environment exists for every pupil within the larger community, and the ethos of respect and inclusion is reiterated constantly.