The school was established as a Christian Primary School in 1988; it offered Pre Primary, Junior and Senior Primary phases of schooling and later developed into a high school. It was housed in buildings which used to be a hostel complex and part of a compound for a sugar mill. The whole property was vacated by Tongaat- Hullet and an advantage was taken of the hostel to establish a school for which monthly rentals were paid to Tongaat-Hullet. Within a short time of its existence , the school started attracting children from the surrounding townships of Ngwelezane ,Esikhawini,Kwa-Dlangezwa,Nseleni and the neighboring rural areas of the following tribal authorities: Zungu,Cebekhulu,Mthethwa,Khoza Mkhwanazi ,Dube to mention but a few. This was caused by a less desirable educational environment caused by the raging violence and sagging teacher morale in schools in traditionally black residential areas. In 1990, the running of the school fell into the hands of an enterprising individual until the parents took over in 1994. When the parents took over the running and management of the school, it turned out to be a meaningful intervention. The Governing Body managed to have it registered under the ex Department of Education and training as a scheduled school. This meant that it was not entitled to state subsidized posts. The parents had to raise funds to rent the school building, provide teaching and learning facilities and pay all teachers, including auxiliary staff. However, the school was entitled to state grants which money the school invested to establish the primary and the high schools.
In September 1995, two schools, i.e. Siyakhanyisa Primary and Old Mill Secondary were registered as public schools by the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Education and Culture. However, the operation of the schools only began in January 1996. The construction of phase one of Old Mill School began in 1998. The funds for construction were obtained from the school investment and the completion was made with the assistance of the Department of Education in 2000. The school was therefore occupied in January 2001 after five (5) years of its establishment as Old Mill School in 1996. Presently, the school serves the community of Empangeni and disadvantaged communities of the stated areas above.