In May 1945 a day class of mixed ages under Miss Ryall was re-opened at the Lodge in Grimston Gardens and in September the whole school returned from Shropshire.

35-37 Earl's Avenue, occupied during the war by the Army, was in need of repair, so for the autumn term the boarders lived at the Lodge while class rooms were rented in Sandroyd Lodge, the same house on the corner of Bouverie Road West and Trinity Road which had been the school's second home. In January 1946 classes moved to Earl's Avenue, and in the Summer term the boarders moved from the Lodge to the main building.

At this point, Miss Freda Maggs, Miss Moya Kennedy and Dr Esmé Pole-Stuart joined the staff.

Gradually the numbers of girls began to grow. In addition to the Channel Island and French connections, the post-war period brought pupils from Persia.

Elizabeth Warren recalls: "I remember how the day before the beginning of the Summer Term 1946 I was helping Miss de la Mare, dressed in overall, apron and hat, to move some tables when, crossing the schoolroom, we met Miss Guilbert, smartly dressed, showing round a prospective parent. Miss Guilbert stopped and introduced him to Miss de la Mare: it was Dr Farhad. When they had gone on Miss de la Mare said to me 'My sister never knows when not to know me!' So it was that in the middle of the Summer Term, Vida, Mena, Leila and their older cousin Guitty Farhad joined the school and thus began a long Persian connection."

Rosemary Fulcher arrived in 1946 after a long sea journey from New Zealand, so tanned that the pale English girls thought she was an Indian. She recalled being punished by Miss Guilbert for some misdemeanour by standing in the corner until given permission to move. Her mother, worried why she had not come home, rang Miss Guilbert, who found her still standing there obediently. Her mother took one look at Brianne Thompon and recognised the features of her university friend Nora, Brianne's mother, made contact and thus renewed an old friendship.

In September 1946 Mrs Wicker joined the staff as kindergarten mistress, a post she was to hold for twenty one years.

Miss Marguerite was by now 70 years old and realised the time had come to hand over the reins. They decided to retire at the end of the Michelmas Term 1946. My mother, Ruby Thomas (nee Gordon), being an old friend of the sisters, took up the task of inviting Old Girls to join the current pupils in contributing towards a retirement gift. She wrote to as many as she could: "Records have been lost through enemy action, and it is difficult to trace every past pupil. Would you help by getting in touch with as many girls as possible?" It raised a total of £100. In March 1947, my parents gave a tea party at our home, 60 Shorncliffe Road, attended by Rosemary Voisin and Elizabeth Warren who presented the de la Mares with a cheque for £100 from the girls and Old Girls to mark their retirement and express the affection and gratitude of the girls who were until recently in their care. With this money the de la Mares bought themselves a Persian rug for their new flat. To thank the girls they gave in return a party at the Lodge on the following Saturday and those attending filled a page in the signature album.

In the meantime, Miss Marguerite had passed control of the school to Mrs Winifred Hasson in January 1947. St Margaret's School had reached another milestone.

The sisters moved into the Lodge for a few months until they had prepared their new home, the top flat in 55 Earl's Avenue, on the same side of the road as the school, half way along towards Shorncliffe Road.