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History

In the spring of 1985, two grandparents met the principal of Scarborough Christian School. Their grandchildren attended that school and commuted from the Pickering/Ajax area. Traffic snarls and distance prompted them to ask if the Board of Scarborough Christian School had ever considered opening a branch school in the Durham area. The request went to the Board and they responded with two conditions that needed to be met. First, there needed to be an adequate location to house the school and secondly, a minimum of 35 students would be required before the school could be established.

The grandparents went searching and eventually met with the pastor of The Christian Life Centre at Rossland Road and Ravenscroft Road. He was open to the idea of having the building used to train children in a Christian school environment.

Task one completed.

A meeting was organized for interested parents and the idea and plans were shared with them regarding the start of a new school in their area. Parents went home with the mandate to respond if they would send their children to this new school if it opened its doors in the fall. When the responses were totalled, 45 students had been pre-registered to begin.

Task two completed.

In the fall of 1985, two full-time, and one part-time teacher were hired to begin the new academic venture for the 45 students in the Pickering/Ajax area. The name Pickering Christian School was chosen to identify the area in which we were located. Our mailing address at the time was RR#1 Pickering.

In the first year, Mrs. Mann taught half day Senior Kindergarten program, Miss Pennycooke taught Grades 1-4 and Mr. Ogborne transferred from Scarborough Christian School and assumed the duties of Vice Principal and teacher for Grades 5-8.

From that point on, PCS continued to grow each year, and by the third year the Board of Scarborough Christian School decided to allow a new Durham Board to be formed to assume the responsibilities of governing the work at PCS. The Evangelical Christian Association of Durham was created as a non-profit, registered charity with the purpose of establishing Christian schools in the Durham area. Mr. Ogborne was given the responsibility of principal and the school now headed out on its own.

As the population of Pickering/Ajax grew, so did the numbers at PCS. Eventually a modular building was purchased and placed on site. This allowed the school to grow to almost 200 students.

In 2000, a grandparent approached the Board of PCS to donate a piece of land on Rossland Road. Using this gift as a springboard, PCS developed a building campaign titled "Firm Foundations."

In April 2002, the new 26,000 square foot school was completed. This building, with the adjoining modular classrooms became the new home for PCS!