Clonard School came into official existence in 1956. At the invitation of Father John Tresidder, the Brigidine Sisters acquired the Clonard property and retained the name "Clonard" because of the association between Saint Brigid and Saint Finnian of Clonard in fifth century Ireland. There was a crisis in Catholic education at the time as Sacred Heart, Geelong's only all-girls Catholic college, was severely overcrowded. Early in 1956, a group of founder sisters, including the much lauded Sister Lelia Grant, began taking classes at Clonard. In its initial year, Clonard College boasted 40 students. Clonard College was officially opened on 9 February 1958. Key moments in the College's development included the simultaneous construction of an assembly hall and library, in 1977, partly funded by the first Federal grant. In 1983, John Shannon became the first full-time lay Principal. In the late 1990s Clonard's leadership followed the example of some other Brigidine schools in adopting Co Principalship model when Vicki Myers joined Michael Doyle in the Co-Principal positions. The late 1990s and early part of the 21st century saw revitalised enrolment growth, accommodated by expansive building programs, delivering a theatre, design education centre, materials technology room, expanded office space, refurbished science facilities, a gymnasium and multi purpose court within the school grounds. In 2006 Clonard celebrated its 50th anniversary with a range of functions involving past students and key founders. The year of celebration reached its peak with the Anniversary Dinner at Kardinia Park and concluded with the 2006 Celebration of Achievement Evening at Costa Hall, whose theme reflected 50 years of achievement in the name of Clonard. In physical terms, the College's expansion and development continued with the opening of the newly built two-storey Year 12 Center, containing a number of modern and flexible learning areas and office spaces on its upper floor and the large "Independent Learning Centre", beneath, dedicated to serving the particular personal and academic needs of the College's Year 12 girls. Early in 2008, the year 7 rooms along Church Street were demolished to allow construction of a modern, two-storey Year 7 Centre, equipped with a range of sustainability technologies. The Year 7 Learning Centre was officially opened on 24 April 2009. In November 2012, it was announced that Clonard College had purchased "Minerva", a former campus of Western Heights College. In 2013, Clonard embarked on a major building project with the construction of a new Yr. 8 & 9 Centre, along with the demolition and refurbishment of the Minerva road campus. In September 2018, a multipurpose building along the Church Street entrance was completed and opened to students, mainly consisting of a library and counselling services.
Clonard has a house system consisting of four houses:
Kildare - Named after County Kildare in Ireland, where St. Brigid lived.
Lelia - Named after Sister Lelia Grant, one of the school's founding nuns.
Finian - Named after St. Finian of Clonard.
Xavier - Named after St. Francis Xavier.
The school has three uniforms; summer, winter and PE. The school's summer uniform consists of a green check dress, a green jumper for Years 7-9, a red jumper for Years 10-12, a red blazer, grey socks and black school shoes. The school's winter uniform consists of a white blouse, a tartan kilt, the same jumper and blazer, grey socks and black school shoes. The school's PE uniform consists of a red and green polo shirt, a tracksuit jacket, rugby jumper,, shorts or tracksuit pants, school sport socks and sport shoes.
