THE NEWEST Christian school in the Lower Mainland is actually the best of two older schools.

Fraser Valley Christian High School (FVCHS, established in 1964) and Surrey Christian School (SCS, established in 1978) brought their supporting community together this past spring for a historic vote.

The vote was unanimous, and formally established an agreement to merge the schools into a new preschool to grade 12 school system.

Surrey Christian School will be the name of the whole system, with three campus-specific programs for primary, middle and secondary school students.

A new vision, dynamic staff, a formational curriculum for all ages and styles of learning, and more than $8 million in new facilities have been put in place.

The purpose, said development director Doug Stuart, is “to prepare the school to educate for wholeness, by engaging God’s world in the servant way of Jesus.”

He added: “We know good education will have a transformational effect on both families and communities – and this new emerging relationship positions us to lead in education in Surrey and beyond, for many generations to come.”

The secondary campus (formerly FVCHS) is located just off 152nd street on 92nd Avenue; it will continue to offer grades 8 – 12. The majority of the school’s students are graduates of the SCS elementary program. 

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This secondary campus has new facilities with state of the art classrooms, a comprehensive science wing, double sized athletic facilities, and a performing arts centre for music and theatre programs.

The primary campus, built in 1981 for Surrey Christian School, is located on 160th Street. In 1997, because of continued growth, a new SCS middle campus was built on 162nd Street for grades 5 – 8, while the original campus continued to offer grades K – 4.

Surrey Christian School has purchased property next to the middle campus. It has built a new grass sports field on the back of the property, and is presently designing  a new primary school building to be constructed on the front. This will put the primary and middle schools on a single 10 acre property.

 The property on 160 Street has been sold to Elim Housing Society, a Christian seniors’ complex; but the primary school will continue to use that property until the new school is built.

“We are thankful for the rich history of both schools, and want to honour that,” said Stuart.

“But we also know that this new relationship will help us become even more effective – in our partnership with parents, in the education of their children.” 

The merged school has a new website (surreychristian.org). There will be a grand opening celebration October 5.

August 2010