WHY POPE FRANCIS GLOBAL ACADEMY?

Pope Francis Global Academy is the parish school of Our Lady of the Rosary. We are a Catholic Pre-K through 8th grade elementary school in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood.

Our students are engaged in their faith, their academics, and their community. They are each highly valued and feel at home at Pope Francis.  Our teachers are inspired by faith and care for their students as their own.   

As a dynamic and diverse community driven by our shared Catholic faith and values, Pope Francis Global Academy engages all students, faculty and parents in a calling to the common goal of fostering the whole student.

Originally opened in August of 2016, Pope Francis Global Academy brought together the strengths, resources, and traditions of 4 local parish schools, creating one new and exciting faith-filled center of academic excellence, which for 4 school years, offered two locations.  Through changes brought about by the Renew My Church program, we are now on one campus located on the St. Pascal Church property at Irving Park Road and Melvina.

Our curriculum, which was developed from the ground up in 2016 through a collaboration between local and regional educational thought leaders and representatives from the Archdiocese of Chicago, has continued to evolve with further improvements and enhancements driven by our teaching staff and administrators.

Our teachers collaborate on a regular basis (weekly Wednesday afternoon staff meetings, plus monthly professional development days) to improve their knowledge base and share ideas for delivering engaging, hands-on,  and forward-thinking lessons.  

Beyond strong teachers and the best available curriculum, our students walk into the building and they know they are "home." Our school community has developed beautifully, bringing together students, teachers, and traditions from our founding schools, as well as welcoming new friends from other local schools and parishes, and creating many new activities and events that have already become Pope Francis Global Academy traditions.

Our Parents' Club plans and executes dozens of fun and enriching activities for the students (as well as the teachers and families) both during the school day as well as outside of school hours…during the school year and during the summer, too!  After school clubs, enrichment classes, and sports teams offer a way for kids to build their social skills, improve their physical and mental abilities, explore new hobbies, tap into their own skill sets, and build self-confidence, all while strengthening our school community bonds.  While these enrichment classes and sports have been limited this year due to COVID-19, we anticipate bringing them back as soon as we are allowed and we feel that we can logistically add them back in.

Our graduates are now out representing Pope Francis Global Academy at some of the best Catholic high schools (with thousands of dollars in scholarship money), as well as some of the most selective public high schools in Chicago. They have been well-prepared at Pope Francis Global Academy - academically, spiritually, and socially.  Our very first graduating class is off to college this year!