Peoria Notre Dame High School is a Catholic parochial high school in Peoria, Illinois. It is the largest school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Peoria with approximately 815 students. It has a college preparatory curriculum, and according to the school, most of the students graduating in recent years went on to college.^{[4][unreliable source?]} The school uses an academy system^{[clarification needed]} with a trustee committee, oversight board, pastor's board, president, and principal.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. (March 2009) This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2009)

Quick Facts Address, Coordinates ...

Peoria Notre Dame High School
Address
5105 North Sheridan Road Peoria , Illinois 61614 United States
Coordinates	40°44′58″N 89°36′15″W
Information
Type	Parochial, College-prep
Religious affiliation(s)	Roman Catholic
Established	1863 (Academy of Our Lady) 1899 (Spalding Institute) 1964 (Bergan High School)
Oversight	Diocese of Peoria
Superintendent	Dr. Jerry Sanderson[1]
Principal	Jacqueline Kelly
Chaplain	Father Daniel McShane
Grades	9–12
Gender	Coeducational
Enrollment	480 (2023-2024)
Average class size	19[1]
Color(s)	Navy Blue   White   Kelly Green (trim)
Athletics	IHSA
Athletics conference	Big Twelve Conference
Team name	Irish
Accreditation	North Central Association of Colleges and Schools[2]
Publication	Gael (literary magazine)
Newspaper	Acclaim
Yearbook	Irish Odyssey
Tuition	Affiliated Parish Student $7,868 [3] Non-Affiliated Student $11,751
Website	www.peorianotredame.com

Close

Peoria Notre Dame school traces its roots back to 1863, when Father Abram Ryan and seven Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet founded a parochial school to educate young Catholic women in Peoria that would become Academy of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, known usually by the shorter name, Academy of Our Lady. A school for boys would later be established in 1899 and be called Spalding Institute, named for John Lancaster Spalding, the first bishop of the Peoria. The two schools were located across the street from each other and existed as separate schools with separate classes until 1973 when the administrations were merged into Academy of Our Lady/Spalding Institute.^[5] The former buildings of the Academy/Spalding campus are contributing properties of the North Side Historic District, located just north of downtown Peoria across Interstate 74.

Bergan High School was established in 1964 in what was then north Peoria near the intersection of Sheridan Road and Glen Avenue. The school was named for Gerald Thomas Bergan, a graduate of Spalding Institute who was serving as Archbishop of Omaha. The school was established as co-ed (though classes were taught segregated by sex), contrary to Spalding and Academy which were separate at the time.^[6]

In 1988, Bergan's enrollment had declined to 587 and the diocese, under the direction of Bishop Edward O'Rourke, decided to consolidate the two schools to form Peoria Notre Dame High School. The new school would use Bergan's campus but keep Spalding's mascot as the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame's boys' basketball team used the gymnasium on the former Spalding campus north of downtown Peoria until the 2005-2006 school year. The final game on February 24, 2006 saw over 2,000 people pack into the gym to watch Notre Dame play Peoria-Manual.^[7]

In 2006, the school's Education Commission, in conjunction with the Peoria Area Pastors' Board and the Diocesan Office of Catholic Schools, hired The Reid Group of Bellevue, Washington, to develop and conduct a campus location study. In June 2008, it was announced that the Reid Group had advised the Commission to build a new school, an athletic facility/pool, and new sports fields on a 40-acre (160,000 m²) campus north of the present Peoria Academy near the intersection of Willow Knolls Road and Allen Road in outlying Peoria.^[8] The estimated $60 million required would be funded largely through a capital campaign and private donations, the diocese, and potentially other parishes in nearby counties. In 2018, the school scaled back the proposed plan to build a new school and complete athletic facilities for a much smaller plan to construct practice fields for the football and soccer teams and an accompanying parking lot. The school made those plans after funding for the project dried up.^[9]

Beginning in the 2010–2011 school year many changes were implemented, including a trimester schedule, a house system, and a one-to-one laptop program. The trimester system lowers the number of students the average teacher sees to around 80 a semester from the usual average of 130–150. Longer class periods enable a more engaged approach to education with more time for labs and project-based instruction.^{[according to whom?]} Every freshman and sophomore student was required to purchase and use a Macintosh laptop. Peoria Notre Dame High School is the first high school in the state of Illinois to partner with Apple in implementing a one-to-one laptop environment. More course content, including AP and college-credit courses and computer coursework, will be done on-line and in a dual online/lecture form. More electives will be offered, and the school intends to offer additional dual-credit courses using the online format.^[10]

The school held its first snow day Internet class, an economics class taught by principal Charlie Roy, in January 2010.^[11]

Peoria Notre Dame sponsors both boys and girls sports which compete under the nickname of the "Fighting Irish". Their colors are blue, white and kelly green. The Irish, along with Peoria's public high schools, have competed in the Big Twelve Conference since 2014. They were previously in the Mid-State 6 Conference.^[12] The school has a long-standing rivalry with Richwoods High School which is located just a mile and half away from Peoria Notre Dame's campus and shares much of the same geographic territory where Notre Dame draws its students from on Peoria's north side.

Peoria Notre Dame introduced the house system, which is traditionally used in British and Commonwealth schools, in 2010. Students are randomly assigned to one of the six houses, which are named after prominent figures in the Catholic church or school history. Each house has approximately 150 students and is a blend of students from all years.

• Benedict
• Carondelet
• Marian
• Sheen
• Rice
• Viator

• Quincy Notre Dame High School — named Notre Dame since 1928, and also in Illinois

• Peoria Notre Dame High School — official site