In 1920, the Sisters of Mercy decided that they needed to set up a new convent and a school in Epsom to help care for the many Catholic families living in the area. There was no Church in Epsom at this time, so the community were very happy to have the Sisters come to live in Epsom and teach their children about God.

The Sisters built a convent in 1921, which they called the Holy Cross Convent. They had classes in the convent, until a new school building was finished. The new school was called Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School, and had three classrooms. As there was no Church, one of the classroom was used for Mass on Sundays.

The first Sisters to teach at the school were Sr Benignus Henson, Sr Borromeo Halpin, and Sr Cordelia Walshe.

On the first day there were 33 children. The Sisters also invited girls to board at the convent if they lived too far away to travel to school every day.

Unfortunately a fire destroyed the convent in 1928. The girls who were living in the convent had to move to St Mary’s Convent in Ponsonby. A local priest gave up his presbytery for the Sisters to live in so the Sisters could continue to teach at the school until a new convent was built for them.

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