St. Mary Magdalen School grew out of a need to expand the parish facilities for St. Mary Magdalen Parish, which was established in September 1951. In 1953, under the leadership of Father Henry Miller, the first pastor, construction began on a two-story structure that contained eight classrooms, a faculty room, a cafeteria, and a kitchen. The lower level of the building included space for a church facility.

The building was completed and the first mass celebrated on July 22, 1954, the feast day of St. Mary Magdalen. On September 7, 1954, St. Mary Magdalen School opened for its first year with an enrollment of two hundred children: 125 boys and 75 girls in grades one through six. The school was staffed by the Bernardine Sisters as well as several lay teachers. The school was serving students in first through eighth grade by 1956. By 1959, there were 613 students. A modern convent was added to the parish grounds for the Bernardine Sisters, which continues to be used today as the Parish Rectory and offices.

In 1961, the half-day kindergarten program began. St. Mary Magdalen dedicated a new church that could accommodate 1400 parishioners in December of 1967. Renovations in the school converted the lower level space into classrooms. Further changes included the addition of the kindergarten building, added in 1988, which housed three full-day kindergarten classes. In 1989, the Extended Care Program began with approximately eighty students attending each day.

Ground broke in September 1994 for a new $2.5 million multipurpose building. This addition expanded the facility, adding three classrooms and a science lab, as well as a gymnasium/auditorium and a library.  Original building renovations included a redesigned computer lab.

In 2002, St. Mary Magdalen School added a Resource Room to provide a parallel Language Arts program for students in grades two through four who need individualized instruction. The school welcomed its first Pre-Kindergarten class of twenty four-year-olds in September 2007.

Since then, the school has expanded its Early Childhood program to include two classes of four-year-olds. The first class of three-year-olds arrived in the fall of 2017, and the three-year-old program expanded to include two classrooms the following year. A children’s garden and playground was built to accommodate the youngest learners.  

Fundraising efforts on the part of the HSA and the school led to the dedication of a new playground for all students in the fall of 2014 as well as the air-conditioning of the whole school building and church building, which was completed in 2017.

In 2018, after extensive summer renovations, the library was rededicated as the Barbara Wanner Learning Commons, named after former principal Mrs. Barbara Wanner, who led the school community for twenty-six years. The redesigned space houses technology and library classes.

The St. Mary Magdalen School Board began its inaugural year in 2018-2019 under the guidance of the Healey Education Foundation. The Board’s committees provide direction and make decisions in the areas of financial management, marketing, enrollment, fundraising, and development.  

St. Mary Magdalen School is fully accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.