Clonard College

This is my fourth year of attending Clonard College, and before i say any more i must make it clear that this review is brutally honest, and truthful. Throughout my time at Clonard I have had one camp, yes one camp, now i completely understand covid is a factor as to why many events were cancelled in 2020 and a fair amount of 2021, but in late 2021-2022 schools were having camps and events so there is no excuse for not giving us camps, the camp i did get was in 2021 and was a one night camp in a caravan park, disappointing, the cabins were nice, food was okay but we didn’t do anything, and something i’ve also noticed at clonard, we never seem to leave the geelong region, if it’s not queens cliff, it’s anglesea - some people at our school live in those places! 2022 there was no camp for my year level, why? i would love to know. In the past Clonard have offered amazing opportunities when it comes to camps, going to the Northern Territory and learning about the aboriginal culture and meeting children, East Timor trip, France, Indonesia, and other decent camps that have various activities within them and go for more than a night. Joeys, Kardinia, Matthew Flinders and I’m sure other schools, all went to central Australia last year, part of the reason I applied to Clonard was to experience a few of these amazing opportunities they had on offer, and now they aren’t? I am near the end of high school and am being ‘robbed’ of my high school activities. Covid exists yes, but it’s out of the picture now, our lives are back to normal schools are having big camps and other events so there really is no excuse. Socials and formals were canceled last year, i don’t know why, but Covid is definitely not an excuse. Triumph was cancelled last year which was beyond ridiculous, i understand the decision wasn’t just up to Clonard, but I think it was so uncalled for, there were concerts with 10 times the amount of people that would have been there, Covid wasn’t a major issue, this event was already cancelled in 2020 for obvious reasons but to cancel it again was just not right but oh well i understand that it’s not just Clonard. Don’t get me wrong the education here is brilliant! There are so many wonderful teachers, and i learn so much which is the reason I have stayed. Clonard is a great school, great for academic opportunity and sports opportunities and many more, but when it comes to events and extra curricular activities it’s no good, I have found ever since the new principal came here in 2019-20, it has gone downhill, all she tends to care about is reputation, yes i understand uniform policies, i get it believe me, i think being formal neat and tidy is great for the school’s reputation but things like the rule of not being allowed to wear your jumper unless you have a blazer over the top but then you’re allowed to wear just the dress? i don’t understand.
Again please understand my only complaints are the principal, the extreme lack and poor quality of extra curricular activities and understanding of students. There’s a lot more I could say but It probably wouldn’t be right to put it online so this is the end of the review.

Many do not care about the students and only care about uniform.

School is so up themselves such a toxic environment, uniform is so so bad. They don’t deal with issues well enough and they don’t prepare you for the real world. It’s like we are their minions and they all want us to look and act the same there is no individuality there.