Ss. Simon and Jude School was founded in 1954 at the request of Reverend Daniel J. Gercke, Bishop of Tucson, and Reverend Paul P. Smith, pastor of Ss. Simon and Jude Parish, which had been established in 1953.  The school was staffed by four sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  On September 13, 1954, the first four elementary grades were opened with a total of two hundred students.  One grade was added each year, and in 1959, the first eight grade graduation ceremony was held.  In 1960, a kindergarten program was implemented, and by 1962, sixteen classrooms were in operation.

The original parish complex consisted of a temporary church, four classrooms, offices and a rectory.  Building projects were initiated each year until a total of eighteen classrooms, a cafeteria, kitchen, convent, new rectory, library, audio-visual and music rooms, teachers' lounge, and religious education office were added.  Finally, a permanent church, which today is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Phoenix, was completed.

An orchestra and band were added in 1958 to enrich the cultural life of students, and existed until 1969.  In 1991, a school band program was reinstated through the services of Arizona Community School of the Arts.  As of August 1999, a staff music teacher/band director was hired to administer the program in-house.

In 1983 a computer  education program was initiated and a special computer center established with a full-time instructor employed.  Each year, new computers have been added to the center, and presently a full-scale computer program is available to the students.