At the start of the 1980 school year, we opened as The Northern Territory Secondary Correspondence School. Based in temporary accommodation at Dripstone High School, there were on the first day, five teachers, one admin staff member and four students. By the end of that first year, we had seventy students and eleven teachers. Teaching was quite different then; we used radio and printed booklets and there were long travelling times to visit students.

In 1985, we moved to the former Darwin Primary School site in the city and in 1986 to Chrisp Street in Rapid Creek. The building was shared with many and various other departments and organisations. Over the years we continued to grow, having 35 staff members and 400 students, thus requiring more and more space in the building.

In January 1998, our name was changed to The Northern Territory Open Education Centre (NTOEC) and we grew further to now have 835 students! 

Up until the end of 2007, NTOEC provided secondary education for students in Years 8 - 12. In 2008, NTOEC became a senior secondary school, providing education for students in Years 10 - 12.

In January 2014, we moved to the campus of Nightcliff Middle School where we stayed for two and a half years.

In July 2016, our name was officially changed to The Northern Territory School of Distance Education (NTSDE) and we moved into our purpose built building on the grounds of The Bullocky Point Education Precinct where we have been ever since.