After Word War II, the number of people moving into the Hokowhitu grew quickly, and so it was decided another Catholic school was needed.

The Parish first decided to build a Church-school – a Church that would be used as classrooms during the week, and then turned back into a Church for Mass on Sunday.

However, it was soon decided that a separate Church and school needed to be built. So more land was bought for a new school, however the church was never actually built. The new school was named St James School and was opened in 1958. On the first day there were 48 students.

The Mercy Sister continued to teach at St James’s School until 1973.