In 1946, St. Margaret's Guild of the Church of the Good Shepherd began Good Shepherd Day School. The school operated under this name until losing its home in the Civic Center in 1954. Through all these early years, Mrs. Isabelle Passmore presided as Headmistress over what was exclusively a preschool program.
In 1954, an interparochial board of interested parishioners from a variety of Episcopal congregations in Corpus Christi was formed. This group recommended to the Bishop that an Episcopal day school should continue operating in Corpus Christi. The name St. James Episcopal School was chosen and the Headmistress of Good Shepherd Day School, Isabelle Passmore, some teachers and students transitioned to St. James. After becoming St. James Episcopal School, classes were held in the Coleman House and the Church of the Incarnation before the school moved to Foster Hall at the Church of the Good Shepherd in 1959.
By 1959, St. James had expanded from a preschool into the primary grades. Later, second sections were added and major facility expansions during the 1980's provided the McNeil gymnasium, an upper campus, a multi-purpose activity room, computer and media centers, and a school library. Dobbins Hall, containing four pre-school classrooms, was completed in December 1994. The most recent addition to the campus is the 20,000 square foot middle school building, which was dedicated in January 2000. An overhead skywalk ("The Link") unites the middle school campus with the lower school campus. St. James Episcopal School is now separately incorporated and operates under a governing Board of Trustees. In its years of operation, the School has provided thousands of children an education founded on the twin pillars of academic excellence and Christian spiritual formation.
The Rev. Joseph Brown, Rector of Good Shepherd, assumed the position of Headmaster in 1959 and presided over the expansion into the primary grades, with Mrs. Passmore's becoming the initial School's First Grade teacher. Soon, The Rev. Rodman Kypke was hired as Asst. Rector and assumed the Headmaster's position. The Second Grade was added in 1960, Third Grade in 1962, and so on until the class of 1967 became St. James' first sixth grade graduating class. Mr. Kypke was succeeded by The Rev. Harlan Irvin ('65-'68), The Rev. Tom Gardner (1968), Mr. Charles Gregg ('69-'75), Mrs. Amy Risling (1974), The Rev. Alan Conley ('75-'86), Mr. Marshall Abell (Interim '86-'87), Mr. R. Jay Dewey ('87-'95), John H. Wright, Jr. (Interim '95-'96). Mr. H. Palmer Bell was named Headmaster in 1996.
During Mr. Dewey's headship the curriculum was broadened and intergrated Language Arts, writing, art, Social Studies and to a lesser degree, the other subjects under unifying "Central Themes." In the early 1990's the St. James Middle School expanded to include Grades 5 - 8.
Mr. Bell became St. James' 10th Headmaster in 1996. During his tenure the permanent Middle School has been constructed, the school's endowment has been significantly strengthened, the bond with the Church of the Good Shepherd fostered and numerous curricular programs have been augmented or developed. Aspects of the school-wide curriculum that have been made more robust are the lab sciences, mathematics, computing, Educating the Heart/Spiritual Formation, middle school outdoor education and reading programs for students with learning differences.
St. James received the U.S. Department of Education's National Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence in Education in December 1992. The School was one of 228 public and private schools from across the nation selected, one of twenty-five schools in Texas, and one of five independent schools chosen in the state.