Notre Dame is a coeducational, secondary school founded in 1956 by the Most Reverend Charles F. Buddy, Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego, as a Diocesan secondary school for boys. The first Principal was the Rev. J.V. Sullivan, a Diocesan priest. In 1957 the administration of the school was taken over by the Holy Ghost Fathers, who staffed Notre Dame until 1970, at which time plans were made to merge Notre Dame with St. Francis de Sales Girls High School. Under the direction of the Most Reverend Leo T. Maher, Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego, the present coed school was started in 1971.
In 1978, the Diocese of San Diego was divided and the new Diocese of San Bernardino was created with the Most Reverend Philip F. Straling as its first Bishop. Since the formation of the new Diocese, Notre Dame has become a tuition-based, self-supporting high school with an enrollment of approximately 500 students.
The Most Reverend Gerald Barnes assumed the pastoral leadership of the Diocese of San Bernardino in 1996 as the Diocese's second Bishop. Under the leadership of Bishop Gerald Barnes, Notre Dame adopted the President/Principal leadership model in 2012 with the appointment of Robert Beatty as Notre Dames first President. Matt Luttringer was ed as the first principal under the new leadership model.