St. Bernard's College is a Roman Catholic Independent school for boys located in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon. The College is named after its patron saint, Bernard of Clairvaux, and is a member of the Associated Catholic Colleges. 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 project 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.". In the mid 1950s, Brother Brendan Murphy organized 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.