The college promotes the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church, basing itself on the four pillars of faith, excellence, tradition and joy.

In 1924 St Patrick's Christian Brother's boys' primary school was built in Drummond Street South.

St Patrick's College now no longer has a junior school attached to it and students commence at Year 7 having completed their primary education elsewhere.

The school's academic record was first class even in its infancy, with the 1893 dux of the college, Sir Hugh Devine, becoming a world-famous surgeon.

The college, in 1933, completed the construction of the Brother's residence, a large imposing red-brick building, still dominating the facade of the school.

O'Malley Sports Centre, which was officially opened by former students and Brownlow Medal winners John James and Brian Gleeson.

The building was named in honour of Brother William Wilding, a former headmaster of the college in the early 1980s who oversaw the completion of the Dr Spring Administration Wing.

[6] A Christian Brother who lived at St Patrick's College in the early 1970s was subsequently convicted of child sexual offences related to activities at a branch school.

[6] In May 2015 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, a royal commission of inquiry initiated in 2013 by the Australian government and supported by all of its state governments,[7] began an investigation into the response of Australian institutions, including the Catholic Church, to the impact of child sexual abuse on survivors, their families and their communities.