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The College is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association, and is a founding member of the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS). Numerous leading contributors to Australian politics, arts, law, religion and sport were educated at Riverview. Notable alumni include former Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott; former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Barnaby Joyce; the current Chief Justice of New South Wales, Tom Bathurst; the current Archbishop of Sydney, Anthony Fisher OP; former Premier of New South Wales Nick Greiner; seventeen former Wallabies, nine Olympians and eight Rhodes Scholars; as well as the first Australian born astronaut, Paul Scully Power, and numerous writers including poet Christopher Brennan, art critic Robert Hughes, and playwright Nick Enright.

Following Archbishop Roger William Bede Vaughan OSB's invitation to the Jesuits to come to Sydney, on condition that they open a boys' boarding school, and the bequest of Fr John Joseph Therry, who on his death in 1864 left the greater part of his property to the Society of Jesus, Joseph Dalton SJ concluded arrangements for the purchase of the Riverview property on 28 June 1878. Dalton became founding rector of the college. The first students were brought to the school as advertised in the Catholic newspaper The Express, whereby boys aged between 8 and 12 would be received at Riverview "as soon as possible after the Christmas holidays". Classes commenced with two students on 11 February 1880, in a small stone cottage on the Riverview estate. The original cottage became very cramped with greater numbers and, to provide better accommodation, St Michael's House was built. The building was designed by W. W. Wardell and opened on the feast of Saint Michael, 29 September 1880. In 1882 a wooden boatshed was built for rowing and in 1883 the infirmary took shape. In its early years the college offered classical and modern languages, history, mathematics, the natural sciences and all other branches required for the civil service, the junior, senior and matriculation examinations, along with modern mercantile subjects. By December 1882, with an enrolment of only 70 boys, the college extended the curriculum to include English composition, writing, music, singing, drawing, painting, Irish history and oral Latin. Lessons were taught six days a week. Prayers began the day at 6.15 am, followed by Mass and study before breakfast at 8.30 am and concluded with night prayers at 8.30 pm. On Sundays and holidays the boys were allowed to sleep in until 6.30 am. Within seven years of its founding, keen observers were taking notice. In 1887, James Francis Hogan wrote in The Irish in Australia that:
"St. John's College, affiliated to the University of Sydney; St. Ignatius' College, Riverview, conducted by the Jesuit Fathers; and St. Joseph's College, Hunter Hill , under the management of the Marist Fathers [sic, actually the Marist Brothers], are three educational institutions that reflect the highest credit on the Catholic population of the parent colony". The main building of the college was constructed in three stages between 1885 and 1930 and the foundation stone was laid by Cardinal Moran, Archbishop of Sydney, on 15 December 1885. As originally designed by Gilbert, Dennehy and Tappin, of Ballarat, the building was to be a huge square, representing four identical fronts, but only the South front was completed according to plan due to financial constraints. The Riverview College Observatory was built in 1909, and was established by the distinguished Jesuit astronomer and seismologist, Edward Francis Pigot (1858–1929), who ordered a complete set of seismographs from Göttingen. Daniel O'Connell was director of the Observatory from 1938 and was later called to be director of the Vatican Observatory. Another distinguished Jesuit seismologist and astronomer, Thomas Burke Gaffney, became assistant director of the Observatory in 1946 and director from 1952. His studies of seismic aspects of nuclear explosions garnered worldwide attention and he served as vice president of the Royal Society of New South Wales. The Dalton Memorial Chapel was also built in 1909. The organ in the chapel was built in 1910 at a cost of £460 by Charles Richardson and installed in 1911. By the 1970s the organ was becoming unreliable and the college organist at the time, Peter Meyer, contracted Arthur Jones to rebuild it in 1976. Although the first dayboys were not officially admitted until 1923, there was a small group of pupils who were permitted to attend the college as dayboys. In fact, up until the 1960s dayboys remained relatively small in number and Riverview was mainly for boarders. In the lead up to the 2003 Iraq War, the three school captains wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, calling for a withdrawal of Australian troops from the Persian Gulf and for a non military solution. They told Howard a poll of 574 students at the college showed 75 per cent were against Australian military participation in Iraq, regardless of the United Nations’ position. During February 2005, students sang for Pope John Paul II outside his hospital in Rome as part of the 2005 Pilgrimage of Hope. The students had previously met the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, meditated in Assisi and worked the streets and orphanages of Calcutta with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. The year 2005 saw Riverview play host to a series of 125th anniversary celebrations culminating in a whole school Mass at St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, on the feast of Ignatius of Loyola, 31 July.

The school motto, Quantum Potes Tantum Aude ("Dare as much as you can, for God and for Man"), was introduced by the rector headmaster, Thomas Gartlan SJ, in 1906. Quantum Potes Tantum Aude is now formally translated from Latin as "As much as you can do, so much dare to do", seen to best reflect the Latin, replacing the former "Dare to do your Best". The motto is taken from a song of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1227–1274) entitled Lauda Sion Salvatorem ('Praise, O Sion, Praise Thy Saviour'). The next line after Quantum Potes Tantum Aude is Quia Maior Omni Laude, which, together, translates to "As much as you can do, so much dare to do, because He is above all praise".

It is a longstanding practice that students, particularly in the lower years of the college, write A. M. D. G in the top left hand corner of any piece of work they do. This stands for Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam which means "To the Greater Glory of God": a central theme of Jesuit spirituality. Traditionally, at the end of a piece of work they wrote L. D. S. in the centre of the page, a practice which is no longer widespread. This stands for Laus Deo Semper which means "Praise to God Always", another traditional Jesuit motto. The college song is "Ignatius teach us to know" and it is memorable for the gusto with which students sing the final line "the glory, the glory, the glory of your name."

A former Society of Jesus Superior General, Peter Hans Kolvenbach, wrote in The Characteristics of Jesuit Education that the "ideal is the well rounded person who is intellectually competent, open to growth, religious, loving and committed to doing justice in generosity to the people of God". Riverview's Jesuit partner schools include St Aloysius' College in Sydney, Saint Ignatius' College, Adelaide, Xavier College in Melbourne, Loyola College, Mount Druitt, Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, Ireland, Belvedere College in County Dublin, Ireland and Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England.

The House system was established in 1983 with the aim of improving the quality of care for students. There are sixteen Houses, each consisting of approximately 85 boys from Years 7–12, with a Housemaster and five tutors in each House. Housemasters are concerned with the academic and pastoral development of boys under their care. In so doing, the House System at Riverview aims to develop the "well rounded person", as Peter Hans Kolvenbach SJ emphasised in the Characteristics of Jesuit Education:
"In a Jesuit School the atmosphere is one in which all can live and work together in understanding and love, with respect for all men and women as Children of God. Jesuit Education insists on individual care and concern for each person Cura Personalis (concern for the individual person) remains a basic characteristic of Jesuit Education". From an initial eight Houses in 1983, four more were added in 1997 and another four were added in 2014 to reflect the growth in the student population. Each House is divided into five mentor groups made up of students from Years 7–12. Approximately three students from each of these year groups are in every mentor group, led by a senior teacher. Mentor Groups meet after recess every day for 12 minutes. +HouseColour(s)PatronCampionSaint Edmund Campion, S. J. CheshireLeonard CheshireChisholmCaroline ChisholmClaverSaint Peter Claver, S. J. DaltonFr Joseph Dalton, S. J. FernandoRichie Fernando, S. J. GonzagaSaint Aloysius de Gonzaga, S. J. MackillopSaint Mary of the Cross MacKillop RSJMoreSaint Thomas MoreOwenSaint Nicholas Owen, S. J. RomeroSaint Óscar RomeroRicciFr Matteo Ricci, S. J. SmithColeen Shirley Perry SmithSouthwellSaint Robert Southwell, S. J. TeresaSaint Teresa of Calcutta

Mother Teresa, MCXavierSaint Francis Xavier, S. J.

With a boarding student population of 335, Riverview is one of the largest boarding schools in New South Wales. Boarders are spread across 3 boarding houses on the College Campuses, including Fr Charles Fraser House (holding Years 6–8), St Johns House (Years 9–10) and Kevin Fagan House (Years 11–12). Officially a boarding only school until the 1920s, the Day Boys remained a small minority until the late 1960s. The College now has a majority of day boys.

Established in 1897, the alumni association of Saint Ignatius' College is named the Old Ignatians' Union or OIU, and has a mission to "sustain and strengthen the connection between Old Ignatians and to further the interests of the College." Reunions and fundraisers are held to help the Development Office fundraise bursaries. Old Boys also partake in sporting competitions through such institutions as the Old Ignatians Rugby Club.

Alumnus of Saint Ignatius' College are known as Old Ignatians. For a list of notable Old Ignatians, see List of Riverview Old Ignatians.