St. Bernard's College traces its origins to the establishment of St Monica's at Moonee Ponds in 1917, by Brothers C. O'Keefe and T. Quinn. Students at this school were taken from Grade III to Intermediate (Year 10).
In 1940, during the war period, not only were the students sent away to help in Ireland, the school was also extended to take the Leaving Certificate (Year 11), and this necessitated the building of the first St. Bernard's on the Strand Moonee Ponds, with Brother Cregan as the first Headmaster.[1]
In the mid-1950s, Brother Brendan Murphy organised the purchase of the West Essendon property. While initially used as sporting grounds, building work began at this site in the mid-1960s. Since then, the site has developed with all classes being located at West Essendon by 1995, at which time the Moonee Ponds site was sold. In 2001, the college set up its Santa Monica campus on the Great Ocean Road near Lorne. This campus is most notably used by year 9 students where they live, study, and undertake outdoor education for four-week periods as part of the standard curriculum.[2]
St. Bernard's is a member of the Associated Catholic Colleges and competes against twelve other schools in sporting fixtures and carnivals. Students play week-end sport with the Old Collegians. St Bernards is particularly successful in Australian Rules Football, winning the Herald Sun Shield in 2017 and 2018. A number of boys from these sides have been drafted into the AFL like Noah Balta to Richmond, Xavier O'Halloran to Greater Western Sydney, (in the first round of the AFL draft) and Lachlan Sholl to Adelaide.
St Bernards had a record twelve straight Athletic championship wins from 2003 to 2014, under the coaching of Gerard Brown, a teacher with years of experience in the role as head coach of the Athletics squad and Cross Country team.[4][5][6]
ACC premierships
St. Bernard's has won the following ACC premierships.[7]
The college has musical productions and music programs. It has combined with St Columba's College, to stage shows annually.
Recognition by Music Theatre Guild of Victoria
St Bernard's College productions in conjunction with St Columba's College have been recognised by the prestigious Music Theatre Guild of Victoria, a not-for-profit organisation for the ongoing support, encouragement and development of non-professional music theatre in the state of Victoria. [citation needed]
2023 – "Little Shop of Horrors"
Commendation for Junior Production of the Year
Brittany Crane, Commendation for Direction of a Junior Production
Chris Smith & Ed Chan, Commendation for Musical Direction of a Junior Production
Lucas Bonnici, Nominee for Best Lead Performer in a Male Presenting Role as Seymour Krelborn
Cooper Marin, Recipient of Best Supporting Performer in a Male Presenting Role as Audrey II
2016 – "The Boy From Oz"
Nomination for Junior Production of the Year
Brooke Sullivan & Brendan Tollitn Nominees for Best Direction of a Junior Production
Ben Kelly, Nominee for Best Musical Direction of a Junior Production
Katherine McWaters & Jess Barlow, Nominees for Best Choreography
Liam McWhinney, Recipient of Best Lead Performer in a Male Presenting Role as Peter Allen
Nesceda Blake, Nominee for Best Supporting Performer in a Female Presenting Role as Judy Garland
Brigid Hanley-Leonard, Nominee for Best Supporting Performer in a Female Presenting Role as Marion Woolnough
2013 – "Once Upon A Mattress"
Nomination for Junior Production of the Year
Catherine Ohlsen, Recipient of Best Direction of a Junior Production
Laura Danby, Nominee for Best Musical Direction of a Junior Production
Ben Hargreaves, Nominee for Best Supporting Performer in a Male Presenting Role as King Sextimus the Silent
Jeremy Deutscher, Nominee for Best Supporting Performer in a Male Presenting Role as Jester
Jasmine Romanin, Nominee for Best Supporting Performer in a Female Presenting Role as Queen Aggravain
2012 – "Jekyll and Hyde"
Award for Excellence
2010 – "The Wiz"
Award For Excellence
Student leadership
View of the College Oval
The students are involved in electing their student leaders every year. A nomination from a student or from their peers is verified by the staff and senior leadership team. Staff will then endorse students from Year 11, and for specific leadership roles for Year 12 students.
The senior leadership team will then review the potential candidates based on student and staff endorsement and select the Year 11 and Year 12 members of the Student Council. The Year 12 portion of the Student Council is composed of eight council members, five House Captains, five Portfolio Captains (Arts, Sports, Ministry, Wellbeing and Academic) and the College Captain.
Year 12 Student Council members who wish to undertake House, Portfolio, or the College Captain role must undertake an interview with the Senior Leadership Team, who will decide the student for the position. The Student Council helps facilitates many important events throughout the college such as the college's Feast Day and various assemblies throughout the year.
Notable alumni
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(July 2021)
Noah Balta – Australian rules footballer for Richmond Tigers
Jude Bolton – Australian rules footballer for Sydney Swans
Justin Madden – former Australian rules footballer for Carlton Blue and Essendon Bombers; former Member of the Legislative Assembly for Essendon in the Victorian Parliament
Simon Madden – former Australian rules footballer for Essendon Bombers[8]