The Academy of Notre Dame de Namur is a private middle school and high school for girls in Radnor, Pennsylvania. It is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia; however, Notre Dame is an independent school. Notre Dame's mission is "to educate young women for responsible living in a global society with an extensive co-curricular and athletic program."[2]
In 1854, Bishop John Neumann invited the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur[3] to open a school for girls in Philadelphia and on October 15, 1856, Sister Superior Louise opened “The Academy”. The first school opened in the Parish of the Assumption on Spring Garden St. where it was located for 75 years, and existed in several locations throughout the Greater Philadelphia area over the years to accommodate its growth. The Academy ultimately landed at its current Villanova campus as the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in the 1940s at the hands of Sister Superior Julie, now known as Saint Julie.
In 1943, the school entered into an agreement to purchase "Launfal," the 50-acre estate of the late utilities magnate, Clarence Geist and took possession of the property on January 1, 1944. Local legend had it that the mansion, was used as location scenes in the film The Philadelphia Story, starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn but that has been disproved by historians, noting that the motion picture was filmed exclusively on a soundstage in Hollywood.
After officially purchasing the Mansion and surrounding property in 2006, the school became an independent educational institution affiliated with the Sisters of Notre Dame. Since the Academy’s establishment, learning buildings and athletic fields have been added to the campus to address the needs of the Notre Dame community. Still, the Mansion maintains its legacy of being an anchor for the school.
Today, the academy continues to educate young women on “what they need to know for life” while preparing them to be the leaders of tomorrow.
Notable alumni
Lisa Raymond: an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has 11 Grand Slam titles to her name: 6 in women's doubles and 5 in mixed doubles
Julie Billiart was a French nun, saint, educator, and founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was born in Cuvilly, a village in Picardy, in northern France. She was paralyzed and bedridden for 22 years, but was well known for her prayer, her embroidery skills, and her education of both the poor and the nobility, especially her work with young girls. She had to flee Cuvilly after the start of the French Revolution and escaped to Compiègne, where the stress she experienced resulted in another illness that took away her ability to speak, and where she received a vision foretelling that she would found a new religious congregation that would eventually become the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. In 1794, she met the French noblewoman and nun, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, who became Billiart's co-founder and close associate, in Amiens.
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur are a Catholic institute of religious sisters, founded to provide education to the poor.
The Pacific West Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in California and Hawaii.
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Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) is a private Catholic university in Belmont, California. It is the third oldest college in California and the first college in the state authorized to grant the baccalaureate degree to women. In 2021, the university announced it will begin to operate as a graduate school only.
Chaminade Julienne Catholic High School is a private, co-educational, center-city, Catholic high school. It is located in downtown Dayton, in the U.S. state of Ohio, and is owned and operated by the Society of Mary and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. It is named after Blessed William Joseph Chaminade and St. Julie Billiart.
Devon Preparatory School is a Catholic all-male college preparatory school in Devon, Pennsylvania, in the United States, founded in 1956 by Piarists. It is divided into a middle school and an upper school, both located on the same 20 acres (8.1 ha) campus. The school operates independently under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS)
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The Academy of Notre Dame is a private, Catholic co-educational Pre-K through Grade 8 lower school and college preparatory upper school sponsored by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Notre Dame Academy is a private, all-girls Roman Catholic high school in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.
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Notre Dame Academy is a private Catholic girls' school in Staten Island, New York. It is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. As a private school, Notre Dame is not owned by the Archdiocese, although it does maintain a close affiliation with the Archdiocese.
Notre Dame High School is an all-girls' Roman Catholic comprehensive school situated in Elephant and Castle, in south London in the UK. Girls attend the school from ages 11–16. The current headteacher is Anne Marie Niblock.
The Academy at Penguin Hall is an independent, college preparatory high school for young women, located in Wenham, Massachusetts, United States. The school was founded in 2015 and serves young women, including the North Shore and the northern region of the Boston metropolitan area.
Sister Superior Julia McGroarty was an Irish-American Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur nun and educator. She was the first American superior of the order, and oversaw the expansion of the order's educational work in the United States, founding Trinity Washington University.
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