Immaculate Heart Academy (IHA) is an all-girls college preparatory private Roman Catholic high school located in Washington Township, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The school colors are blue and white, and the school's athletes are known as the Blue Eagles. Immaculate Heart Academy has been accredited by the Commission on Secondary Schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools since 1971. For the 1996–97 school year, Immaculate Heart Academy was recognized with the National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve. As of the 2019–20 school year, the school had an enrollment of 684 students and 59.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.5:1. The school's student body was 80.1% (548) White, 11.4% (78) Hispanic, 5.0% (34) Asian, 1.6% (11) two or more races, 1.3% (9) Black, 0.4% (3) American Indian/ Alaska Native and 0.1% (1) Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander. Students come to IHA from Bergen County, Essex County, Passaic County and Hudson County in New Jersey, and from Rockland County and Orange County in New York. History The school was founded in 1960 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace as the first regional high school for girls in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. From 1990 to 2008, administration shifted to the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The school opened in 1960 with 180 students in ninth grade in an interim site at a church in Paramus, having received approval to build a Permanent facility on almost in Washington Township that would accommodate a maximum enrollment of one thousand students. The school celebrated its Golden Jubilee during the 2010–11 academic year. Throughout the year, IHA held events celebrating the history of the school, the successes of its alumnae and the tradition it passes on to its students of the present and the future. Consultative Board The Immaculate Heart Academy Consultative Board began its duties on July 1, 2009. In prior years, a Finance Committee had been established and was effectively providing financial advice and direction to the school. Athletics The Immaculate Heart Academy Blue Eagles play in the Big North Conference, a super conference that includes 40 public and private high schools in Northern New Jersey and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA). Before the