The school was founded before World War II as the Canterbury Technical School for Girls. It shared the old hospital site on the north side of Longport, along with the equivalent for boys and the Technical College. It moved across the road to the present site in 1945. Past Headmistresses were Miss E. Blackith and followed by Mrs V. Arnold. On 1 September 2011, Barton Court Grammar School became an Academy. Barton Court did not change its name as it wished to keep it the same.
Campus
The school stands on what was the farm of St Augustine's Abbey across the road; 'Barton' stems from 'bere tun' or 'barley enclosure'. The school is built around the lake in which the monks of the Abbey farmed fish. The campus has the sixth Ginkgo tree to be introduced in England from China. The other five were planted in Kew Gardens. The main house of the school was built in 1750 as a manor house with the name 'Barton Manor'; the other buildings include a 1961 block, which is now the hall and corridor, a language block in 2001 and technology classrooms in 2007.
Curriculum
From September 2007 the school replaced A-levels with the International Baccalaureate. From September 2011 the school re-introduced A-levels but kept the International Baccalaureate, giving students the option to do either. The school currently holds a Foreign Language College status, and the school has transferred to the International Baccalaureate award scheme for those pupils in Years 12 and 13. Study of this course has begun from September 2007, and the first set of official results were published on 6 July 2009. The results were above the world average, and the school put the Middle Years Program into use. MYP was stopped shortly before the end of 2010 and was replaced on the timetable by ICT. The International Baccalaureate was also discontinued in 2015.
Extracurricular activities
The school offers a range of extracurricular activities including an orchestra, choir and debating club.
Awards and recognition
Before it converted to an academy, the school was rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted under its old URN of 118916. Following an OFSTED inspection during May 2014 the school was rated as "Outstanding" again. An inspection during February 2020 downgraded the school's standing to "Good". All Ofsted records for the school can be found .
