About Us

Our Story

Northside Catholic Academy (NCA) is the Archdiocese of Chicago’s premier regional Catholic school on Chicago’s Northside. A 2013 National Blue Ribbon School, NCA serves the parishes and communities of Andersonville, Edgewater, Rogers Park and West Ridge. We offer a challenging and diversified curriculum for students age three through 8th grade. Our program grows out of our Catholic traditions and beliefs, which is at the heart of everything we do at NCA.

NCA’s tradition of providing a quality Catholic education to neighborhood children began over 100 years ago with the original six individual parish schools: St. Gertrude, St. Gregory the Great, St. Henry, St. Ignatius, St. Ita, and St. Jerome. In 1994, those six schools consolidated into what is known today as Northside Catholic Academy. Today, our regional school serves the parishes of St. Gertrude, Mary, Mother of God, St. Jerome, and Holy Child Jesus, formerly known as St. Margaret Mary, which joined NCA in 2016.

Our Campuses

While we are preparing to consolidate into one campus for the 2024-25 school year, we are currently operating two campuses are located two miles apart on Chicago’s Northside. The Primary School Campus in Edgewater serves students in our Early Learning Center and grades K-4. The Middle School Campus in Rogers Park serves students in grades 5-8, and is one of the city’s few independently housed middle schools. It is departmentalized, with children changing classrooms for different subjects on a block schedule. 

Both campuses have monitored security systems and cameras, outdoor play space, gymnasiums, libraries and computer labs. All classrooms are equipped with interactive smart boards. Technology is integrated across curriculum with iPads at the Primary School and chromebooks s at the Middle School.  We also own and operate our own school bus, and both campuses celebrate schoolwide events and masses together.

We are excited about consolidating our two campuses onto the Edgewater campus in August 2024! This move will provide more unity to our community and allow our middle school students to develop leadership skills. They will still be in their own building on the other side of St. Gertrude Church, but we will be able to join together weekly for liturgies, Morning Meetings, and assemblies. The middle school will remain departmentalized with dedicated math, science, ELA , social studies, and religion teachers.