St. Saviours was among the premier boys secondary school built in the Old Orlu Division. It was established in 1958 , under the management of British / Irish catholic missionary priests. It was built to serve students from Old Orlu Division and more especially the seven sister towns of Nnenasaa communities (Umuaka, Ekwe, Okwudo, Umutanze, Attah, Amurie and Amadugba). Prior to it establishment, students from these communities could only attend secondary school in distant towns such as Owerri, Okigwe, Orlu, Abba, etc. The building of the school in the vicinity of this towns, encouraged more parents to send their sons to secondary school as proximity always has impact in cost reduction in terms of time, transportation and accommodation.

The building of the school in Umuaka was not easily fetched, there were two major obstacles that could have hindered it. In the first place, each of the Nnenasaa communities wanted the school to be build in their own community, but the Reverend priest (Father Dugan) who oversaw the construction of catholic secondary school in the diocese of the Old Orlu Division found favour with Umuaka owing to the merit of centrality of location, population and geographical size of Umuaka. In the second place, there was problem with the land-owners in the chosen site. The local landlords refused to release their lands for the construction of the school. The elites in Umuaka by then, in the names of Late Chief James Nworji, Late Chief D.C Nwokedi, Late Chief Nwanyanwu Mbaekwe and others, engaged in serious negotiation that prompted the release of their lands. One of them (Mr Casmir Nwosu) fought Umuaka people until the chairman of Umuaka Development Town Union (Luke Ahanotu) paid him for the land with his personal money.

However, the present location of the school is not the original site for the school. The initial site was on the hill top less than one kilometer from Njaba Bridge. Due to fear of erosion the site was abandoned at the expense of the present location. The construction of the buildings took two years (1956 - 1958). St Saviours is a boarding school, it original structures comprised of three building blocks of classroom, four blocks of hostels, a block of refectory and kitchen, a block of staff offices and laboratories, and five duplexes of staffs residence. The construction of the school was of high standard in that period. The school was meant to offer the best quality of education in the region and she lived up to the standard. Her excellence in education and sports attracted many students from all over the former Eastern Region of Nigeria.

The Students were admired by the local citizens. Every sunday morning they would march from the college to St. Mary's Church for Mass. Each student was dressed up in a white shirt upon white shorts. Shoes were usually white converse or crossed-sandals. After mass, they lined up again and marched back to their college.

Reverend Father Cahill (the first Principal of the school (1958 - 1966)), Father Surf, Father O'Sullivan and Father Doyle guided the college through its early years. Rev. Father Okife (tenure: 1966 - 1970) succeeded Cahill and became the second Principal of the school. After the Biafra war Mr Opene (tenure: 1970 - 1976) became the principal. He was succeeded by Mr Onyeche (tenure: 1976 - 1984). Mr Oti took over office from him (tenure: 1984 - 1992).

The school has changed its name three times. It was established as St. Saviour's Secondary School (SSSS). Then it became known as St. Saviour's College (SSC). After the Nigeria Civil War in 1970, the East Central State Government decided to change the names of elementary and secondary schools. The government believed that religious schools and their foreign supporters were causing divisions in Nigeria. At this time St. Saviour's became Umuaka High school. She maintained this name until recently when the Old Boys association of the school pressured the school management board to revert the school to her old glorious name 'St. Saviour's'. The school is currently known as St. Saviour's Secondary School.