Described as a fusion of "the old and the new", the school hosted a community viewing on Friday morning. Though, the tour was unceremoniously shelved by the morning's storm.

"The main work was done on the old parish hall, that's been renovated back to its original glory. It was an old building, but we found the original church, its architecture, it was all in a quite good nick," said assistant principal Jim Ross.

While restoring the high-ceiling, pieces of the school's long-forgotten history were unearthed.

"It's such a beautiful building, and actually as it happens, [restorers] uncovered the parish's original artworks, so we've been able to use those to recreate the building as it once was."

"Over the entryway, it says 'Sanctus Sanctus' [Latin for 'holy'], with a cross in the middle. That was all covered before and most people didn't really know it was there under the floating ceiling."

At the centre of the schoolyard, the restored parish will now be used as a multi-purpose library learning space.

To flank, the 1890s-dated structure is the two newly-built learning areas, named 'Mercy' and 'Crawley' to pay homage to figures of the town's church history.

Also retained for the sake of posterity are the original school's bell and the statue of St Joseph standing at the entrance. More than 300 engraved brick pavers purchased by alumni are now being set between the old parish and the statue.