Before moving to its current location, the school was based in Derngate, Northampton town centre. This site included 78 Derngate, a building with interiors and some windows designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, which was used by the school between 1964 and 1993, initially as offices and subsequently as classrooms. It is now a museum. The school moved to new premises at its present location in 1992, whose construction was financed by a grant of £13m from the Cripps Foundation, and the original site was sold for housing development.