Immaculate Conception Cathedral School (ICSS) is a private

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

school in the heart of the historic Central Gardens neighborhood of

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. ICCS is

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

and serves students of all faiths in its Pre-K3 through 8th grade.

Background

Founded in 1921 by the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute of Catholic women founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. As of 2019, the institute had about 6200 sisters worldwide, organized into a number of independent congregations. They a ...

, ICCS shares the campus of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the mother church of the

Diocese of Memphis In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools as a unit school. Grades Pre-K through 8th are co-ed. In August 2016, the school opened a new early childhood center that connects to the existing lower school building. The building also includes a library/media center and art room for all grades. ICCS became only one of two schools in the Memphis area that incorporates "Mindfulness" into the Pre-K through high school curriculum. Intensive Spanish language instruction begins in Pre-K and continues through high school. Students can also choose French foreign language instruction in middle and high school. Other programs include STEM underwater and land-roving robotics teams, Orff music instruction, daily foreign language courses in all grades, and Accelerated Reader. High school students had the opportunity to earn college credit through

Christian Brothers University Christian Brothers University is a private Roman Catholic higher education institution in Memphis, Tennessee. It was founded in 1871 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers, a Catholic teaching order. History Christian Brothers University w ...

. For some science honors courses, high school students attended classes alongside college students at Christian Brothers University in the Cooper-Wilson Center for Life Sciences.

Closure of high school

On May 26, 2020, Immaculate Conception Cathedral School issued a news release to ABC Local 24 on its closure due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. This statement was made by Bishop Robert W. Marshall Jr. The school would not reopen for the fall semester but the pre-K through 8th grade elementary and middle school would remain open. The statement described how the global pandemic caused financial difficulties that made it "impossible for the parish of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception to continue to operate the high school portion" of the school. Students had the opportunity to transfer to Saint Benedict at Auburndale, another diocesan high school.

Notable alumni

Priscilla Presley Priscilla Ann Presley ( Wagner, changed by adoption to Beaulieu; born May 24, 1945) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the former wife of American singer Elvis Presley, as well as co-founder and former chairwoman of Elvis Presley ...

Margaret Scobey Margaret Scobey (born c. 1949) is an American diplomat and former United States Ambassador to Egypt and United States Ambassador to Syria. Biography Scobey graduated from Immaculate Conception High School in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967. She earne ...

, former United States Ambassador to Egypt and Syria.

References

External links

School Website
* * IC In the New

{{authority control 1921 establishments in Tennessee Educational institutions established in 1921 Girls' schools in Tennessee Private elementary schools in Tennessee Private middle schools in Tennessee Private K–8 schools in the United States Private K-12 schools in Tennessee Roman Catholic Diocese of Memphis Catholic secondary schools in Tennessee Schools in Memphis, Tennessee