From Carmel to College

In February 1985, 22 children began their education in a different type of school in Sebastopol, near Ballarat. These children were in grades ranging from Prep to Year 5 and they were the first students at Carmel Christian Community School [which has now become Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12]. In what some may say is coincidence, but the author prefers ‘Godincidence’, another 22 students began their secondary education at Ballarat Christian College in February 1999.

In February 2015, 306 children and young adults began the school year as students at Ballarat Christian College in Sebastopol, part of the City of Ballarat. The 30 years we celebrate this year are the culmination of the vision which a handful of Godly men and women had prior to 1985, and that they and many of their successors have continued to hold down through the years.

This is the story of those 30 years of dedication to the cause of Christian Education in Ballarat by the School and College Boards, teachers, administration and support staff, along with students and parents. It also seeks to acknowledge the role played by many friends of the schools as they volunteered their time, effort and skills to the two schools which became one in 2007. However, above all, it is a testimony to God’s goodness to Ballarat as He has built His school over the last 30 years.

As a member of staff in the secondary section of Ballarat Christian College from 2002 to 2006 and a member of staff of Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 from 2007 to 2013, I feel very privileged to have been asked to write this account of God’s school in Ballarat. I wish to acknowledge the valuable assistance I have received from past and present staff, students, and parents along with friends of the College as I have sorted through documents, photographs and memories to produce what I trust is an accurate account of the history of Christian Education in Ballarat.

In such an account, there is always the possibility of inaccuracy in what information is collected and how it is presented. If I have erred in that respect, I ask the reader to accept my apology in advance.

Every effort has been made to record the information researched and provided accurately. If anyone reading this book has extra information that would help future historians, please feel free to contact the College.

The college in 2013

Chapter 1

1985 to 1990: Early Days and Establishment Pre 1985

In the early 1980s a small group of concerned parents had met and discussed the need for a Christian schooling system in Ballarat. Some public meetings were held to gauge the response to that need. While it was considered that such a system was desirable, that early move did not come to fruition.

However, the baton was passed to representatives from four churches in Ballarat, and discussions continued. One of those churches was Carmel Welsh Presbyterian in Albert Street Sebastopol. Since the church had space on its grounds for school buildings a decision was made to establish a school at the church.

A Steering Committee consisting of Neville Hawkins, Chris Duke and Pam White was formed. The committee prepared submissions to both the Carmel church and the Victorian State Government. As a result of those submissions, they were able to report in October 1984 that they “hoped to commence in 1985 with one teacher teaching a Grade 1 to Grade 4 composite class.”

With everything in place, the school waited to receive its first students in February 1985.

1985 to 1987: A New Beginning and Establishment

22 students in Grades Prep to 5 began a new chapter in their education as students at Carmel Christian Community School in February, with classes being held in the Bethel Hall belonging to the Carmel Church until dedicated buildings were purchased. Mr Winston Broad was the Principal and teacher, and assistance with the infant classes was provided by Mrs Rosemary Lindner.

The children came from 14 families and two of those families continued to be represented for the first ten years of the school’s existence. Those first families involved themselves in the life of the school and provided much needed help and support to the teachers. The school owed much to those parents and other interested people who had supported the concept during the early years leading up to 1985. They lent their support to a school which did not exist, and followed God’s leading towards the establishment of a Christian education alternative in Ballarat.

Principal Winston Broad and students … in the beginning and in the classroom

Chris Duke, Neville Hawkins & Colin Jennings

The school was initially governed by an Interim Board chaired by the then Lay Pastor of the Carmel Church, Mr Neville Hawkins; the Secretary was Mrs Pam White; and other Board members included Mr Winston Broad, Mr Chris Duke, Mr Colin Jenkins, Mr Les Lindorff, Mr Peter Prendergast, Mr Eric Watson and Mr David Westaway. The Board expanded over the coming years and sought to maintain a balance between the school and church communities, a difficult task at times.

In 1986 a second teacher, Dianne Milne was appointed for the Prep, 1 & 2 classes while Mr Broad continued to teach the higher grades. New classrooms were erected on adjoining land which was leased from the church and the school had its own home. These relocatable classrooms had been purchased by means of a loan raised through the Ballarat Christian School Cooperative Society Ltd which had been established for this purpose in 1985 by the parents and other supportive Christians.

1987 was another milestone for the fledgling school. A third teacher, Tammy Pascoe, was appointed to teach Grades 2, 3 and 4, while Mr Broad continued to teach the Grade 5 & 6 students. In addition to the growing student population, the school was incorporated as required by Government regulations, and became known as Carmel Community Christian School Inc. The school was now beginning to be known in the Ballarat area as a school which offered education with a Christian distinctive.

First Staff Photo of Carmel CCCS 1987

Staff and students 1985

1988 to 1990 : A Secondary Venture and Further Establishment

The school had been operating for three years by now and students were approaching secondary schooling age. It had always been the plan of the Steering Committee, and then the Board to expand into secondary schooling. So in 1988, 12 students began their Year 7 studies at the Carmel School. In preparation for this, a further classroom (which included an Office area) had been purchased, and a Secondary Registered teacher was appointed.

Unfortunately, the funding of the secondary school component was rejected under new Government guidelines at the end of 1988 and so the venture was unable to continue into 1989. It was to be another 10 years before secondary Christian education was to be available in Ballarat.

Mr Broad resigned as principal at the end of 1988 and was replaced by Dr Joy McRae from the beginning of 1989. Dr McRae chose a school motto shortly after her arrival at the school. The verse which was chose was “Serve one another in love.” from Galatians 5:16. In an example of God’s guidance, this motto was chosen independently by the current Principal of Ballarat Christian College, Mr Kerry Hutton in 2006 when he was searching for a motto to place on the student diaries for the newly formed Prep to Year 12 College.

Despite the disappointment that it was unlikely the school could expand into secondary education, it was apparent that a new location was needed, as it was rapidly outgrowing the land behind Carmel Church. To that end, land was purchased further in towards Ballarat, fronting both Vickers and Yarrowee Streets and going down behind Warreen Street.

Three of the school families provided funds for the purchase of the land and the establishment of the permanent buildings on the site, and after many delays the school was relocated to the new site late in 1990. The Lord’s provision was also evident, as school funds were sufficient for relocating the transportable buildings on the new site, and interest free loans from supportive parents made it possible to carry out the site works associated with the relocation.

So at the end of 1990, with a new home, a relatively new Principal, and a sense of God’s provision for the school; staff students and parents were ready to face an exciting future.

Dr Joy McCrae 1988 to 1991

The Future home of the Primary School 14-16 Vickers St Sebastopol

Founding Families

Before closing this chapter on the early years of the school and Christian Education in Ballarat, it is perhaps fitting to pay tribute to the first families who sent their children to Carmel Christian Community School as pioneer students.

The ‘Brief History of the School’ written to celebrate the tenth anniversary in 1995 lists the fifteen families whose twenty two children made up the students who began at the school in February 1985. They are listed below, along with two families who had children at the school for all of the ten first ten years of its existence.

PARENTS

Mr & Mrs DOELAND

Dr & Mrs EASTON

Mr & Mrs FORTE

Mr & Mrs GAMBLE

Mr & Mrs HAWKINS

Mr & Mrs HORWOOD

Mr & Mrs LINDORFF

Mr & Mrs MAY

Mr McCANDLISH

Mr & Mrs PAINE

Mr & Mrs PARSONS

Mr & Mrs

RASMUSSEN Mr & Mrs SHEEN

Mr & Mrs TAYLOR

CHILDREN

Naomi (Gr3 and Matthew (Gr5)

Linda (Gr3) and Pamela (Gr4)

Tammy (Gr Prep) and Paul (Gr4)

Stephen (Gr3)

Rebekah (Gr1) and Sharon (Gr4)

Bree (Gr1) and Ben (Gr3)

Paul (Gr4)

Stephen (Gr3) and Linda (Gr4)

Shayne (Gr5)

Adam (Gr4)

Laura (Gr1)

Ben (Gr3)

Errin (Gr1) and Pippa (Gr4)

Sherrin (Gr2) and Peter (Gr4)

SPECIAL FAMILIES: Two families whose children began in 1985 and who had other children at the school for the whole of the first 10 years were -

Mr & Mrs HORWOOD

Mr & Mrs LINDORFF

Ben 1985-88 Bree 1985-89

Paul 1985-87 Angela 1986-89

Becky 1988-94

Michelle 1986-93 Anthony 1989-

STUDENTS OF NOTE: The following students began in Prep in the early years and stayed until Grade 6.

1985-91

Tammy FARLEY-FORTE and Stephen ABRAM (enrolled late Term 1, 1985)

1986-92

1988-94

Michelle LINDORFF and Neil PARSONS

Matthew DUKE, Caleb DWYER, Becky HORWOOD and Shannon TOGO

Chapter 2

1991 to 1995: New Name, New Principal and New Governance

The first year of this period was a busy year of development on the Vickers Street site. Many parents and friends worked hard to establish sealed playground areas and other landscaped sections of the school grounds.

Parents also began to take an active part in other areas of the school. An elected School Council of parents was established [the name later changed to the Parent Support Group] with specific responsibilities in the areas of prayer support, fellowship activities, and fundraising activities designed to provide ‘extras’ for the students. The school was beginning to look like an established educational facility.

Changes were also taking place in the governance of the school. The Board began to become more reflective of the churches represented in the children enrolled. Initially the five member Executive of the Board had three Carmel Church members, so the six member board [with the Principal as ex officio] represented 4 churches. This was to change over the next three to four years as the membership altered to include more churches, and by 1994 the seven member Board represented seven churches.

This wider church base was first reflected in a name change during 1991. Carmel Christian Community School became Sebastopol Christian Community School, a change which reflected both the new location and also the church membership of the students.

New Principal

Dr McRae retired as principal at the end of 1991 and Mr Terry Pert replaced her at the beginning of 1992. She had served the school well since arriving as a secondary teacher in 1987 and taking over from Winston Broad in 1989. In her last newsletter for 1991, Dr McRae wrote that she did so ‘with very mixed feelings’. She commented that she had made many very good friends during her time at the school and that she was sorry to be leaving, but “I know that this is God’s timing for me.” In a comment on the growing pains of the school in the first five years she thanked those who had “shown love and care” for her and prayed for her over the years. Her last comments reflected God’s

From an uncleared block… through a building program… …to the Dedication of a New School

leading and protection as she said, “We’ve weathered many storms together haven’t we? We give praise and glory to the Lord for all He has done for us.”

During her time as Principal, Dr McRae introduced new elements to the Christian ministry of the school. These included an Annual Camp for the students and the establishment of a Chaplain to the school. Terry Pert continued this emphasis and extended it to include a Theme Day each term with a visiting Children’s ministry Team and with regular input from the school’s Chaplain.

Mr Pert brought some years of experience in the government education sector to his role as Principal. He maintained the standard of academic excellence established by both Winston Broad as the first Principal, and continued by Dr McRae during her time in the role. He also raised the expectation of standards of behaviour during his time at the helm.

An article in the Ballarat News newspaper late in 1991 reinforced the values for which the school stood, and the Christian distinctive that it added to the educational requirements set down by the government when it reported that “The curriculum provided meets all government requirements for content and instructional methods, but also provides that all teaching acknowledges God in his rightful place as Creator and Lord.”

The President of the Board at that time [Neville Hawkins] further reinforced the ethos of the school in the same article when he said, “Our aim is release children into a guilt free, challenging and adventurous life, with the necessary internal makeup to live that life to the fullest.”

Although enrolments fell during the period 1991 to 1993 (largely due to the economic recession and the need for many school families to move out of Ballarat to seek work), the first stage of the relocation building project was completed over that period with a large storage shed being erected in 1992. In addition, the buffer zone tree planting was finished, the playground area was fenced off and a bicycle rack was installed.

In 1994 the tide turned, and it was a year of increase as enrolments rose dramatically. During 1994 the number of students enrolled in the school grew to 58 in contrast to 46 and 42 respectively in 1992 and 1993. As the school completed ten years of service to the Ballarat Christian community, the stage was set for an exciting second decade of Christian Education. This decade was to see the development of a viable secondary Christian education program in the city as Ballarat Christian College began in 1999 and eventually moved from its initial location at 11-13 Yarrowee Street to occupy the portion of the Primary school land which fronted Yarrowee Street.

During those first ten years, the students had been encouraged to move out into the community and to share their faith. This was often in the form of musical performances to aged folk in the Queen Elizabeth Geriatric Centre and also at local churches. This established practice was continued in later years by Mrs Jenny Jones when she came to work at the school in 2002.

The Relocatable Classrooms are relocated to Vickers St.

Foundation Staff: 1985 to 1995

As mentioned previously, the school was blessed with three very professional Principals during these ten years. Each of the three people left their mark on the school during their time in leadership. They were ably supported in those pioneering years by dedicated teachers, some full time, some part time on a regular basis, and some as sessional teachers as the need arose. In addition, several trained teachers offered their services as Emergency Teachers when regular staff were absent. The sessional and emergency teachers are recognised in the appendices at the back of this booklet. This section deals with the teaching staff who were a regular part of the school in the early years as classroom teachers.

As mentioned in the chapter on the first five years, Mrs Rosemary Lindner provided assistance in the infant classes during the first year of the school.

Dianne Milne was appointed as a full time teacher in that area for 1987 and she remained at the school until 1989.

Tammy Pascoe joined the staff in 1987 as the school enrolments grew and she taught the Grades 2, 3 and 4 group while Dianne looked after the Prep and Grade 1 students. Winston Broad was a teaching Principal during those early years and taught the senior grades.

Tammy took leave during 1988 and Carolyn Sobey [who became Carolyn Veal] took her place. Carolyn remained on staff until 1994.

In 1988, Dr McCrae came to assist the school in its move into secondary education and she was responsible for the Grades 6 & 7 students, while Winston taught the Grade 3 & 4 group. Dr McRae became a Teaching Principal [Grades 5 & 6] in 1989, while Dianne took the Grades 3 & 4, Carolyn taught the Grades 1 & 2, and Tammy returned to teach the Prep students.

In 1990 when both Tammy Pascoe and Dianne Milne left the school, Paul Howell came to teach the Grades 1 & 2 group, while Carolyn looked after the Prep and Grade 1s, and Dr McRae had the Grades 4, 5 & 6 group. Paul remained at the school in 1991 as did Carolyn and Dr McRae.

With smaller student numbers in 1992, the new Principal Mr Terry Pert taught Grades 3 to 6, while Carolyn had the Prep, 1 & 2 group. This situation continued in 1993 and 1994 when Terry Pert’s wife Dot, came in to assist her husband in the Grade 3 & 4 group.

Three people who blessed the school with their leadership during those first ten years were the inaugural Principal, Mr Winston Broad, his successor Dr Joy McRae, and Mr Terry Pert who followed Dr McRae into the leadership position in 1992.

In the Tenth Anniversary Reunion leaflet, Winston Broad is spoken of as “the Lord’s provision, a few days before the school opened.” The article goes on to say that “In human terms it was his energy, enthusiasm and ‘go for it’ philosophy that established the school, gave it an excellent academic reputation and caused it to grow and develop during his time with us.”

CCCS Staff 1988 - A Growing Staff for a Growing School

Mr Winston Broad Dr Joy McCrae Mr Terry Pert

Dr Joy McRae came to the school as a registered Secondary teacher in 1988 to teach the newly enrolled Year 7 students. As mentioned elsewhere, that program was not able to continue beyond 1987, but she stayed on and eventually succeeded Winston upon his retirement. Joy’s particular gifts were in the area of Curriculum Development, and she was instrumental in the registration of the school to Year 7 in her first year at the school.

Terry Pert came to the school in 1992 after Dr McRae retired at the end of 1991. In his time he oversaw the continuation of the relocation building and grounds program and although the enrolments were down during 1992 and 1993 he also saw a substantial increase in student numbers in 1994. Also during 1994, a long awaited grounds project was completed when the ‘hill’ was removed and a cricket pitch was poured in the area, thanks to the efforts of the Parents Support Group. Terry continued to lead the school during the 1990s and retired from that position in 1999 when Mr Norman Shellard took on the leadership role.

So, with ten years of service to Christian Education in Ballarat, the staff, students and parents looked forward with anticipation to what the next ten years and beyond would bring their way. They were secure in the knowledge that that school had prospered despite some difficult days and confident that the Lord would lead them through whatever lay ahead.

Little did they know that the initial dream and vision of Christian Education at secondary level would be realised within four years of the tenth anniversary celebrations, and that in just over 10 years from then, there would be a Christian School in Ballarat called Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12.

Sebastopol Christian Community Staff 1995

Chapter 3

1996 to 2000: A New Chapter in Christian Education Begins

Frustration and Excitement

These five years in the history of Christian Education in Ballarat were both frustrating and exciting. The Primary School continued to provide an excellent education for students in Grades Prep to 6. However, once students reached the end of Grade 6 there was still no place for their parents to send them that provided a solid academic education along with a Bible-based foundation. Another attempt was made around this time to expand the Primary School into Year 7, but it failed due to low numbers. Partially as a result of that failed attempt, and also for other reasons, a small group of concerned parents had been meeting with Mr George Moran of Christian Schools System during 1998. The system proposed by Mr Moran allowed for a local school to open with a smaller number of students as it was considered to be a campus of a larger central school. Mr Moran became the first Chairman of the newly formed Ballarat Christian College and he was succeeded in that role by Mr Chris Duke who had been one of the first Board members of Carmel Christian Community School in the 1980s.

Under that system, Ballarat Christian College opened its doors in 1999, a little further along Yarrowee Street towards Ballarat from the frontage of the Primary School. It was located in buildings formerly occupied by the Seventh Day Adventist Primary School which had recently closed its doors. This close proximity was to prove a blessing over the next two or three years as the fledgling College quickly outgrew the original site.

Mr George Moran Mr Peter McNamara a New Christian School in Ballarat 11-13 Yarrowee St 2001

In February 1999 Ballarat Christian College opened its doors to the first intake of secondary students. There were 22 of them, the same number who had begun at the Carmel School back in 1985. The students were in Years 7 and 8, and their Principal was Mr Peter McNamara. In his first newsletter, Principal McNamara commented that it was ‘exciting to be a trailblazer!’. We will return to the story of the new secondary school shortly, but for now let us consider some of the changes that were about to take place in the Sebastopol Christian Community School on Vickers Street.

New Leadership and New Governance System

The Primary School had been slowly developing and consolidating the school grounds in Vickers Street. Numbers remained static during this time, but the drive for academic excellence and a curriculum that met the aims of the school with regard to Christian growth in the students remained a constant. Terry Pert remained as Principal until 1998 when he retired and Norman Shellard took over the reins. He remained in that position until mid-2001 when he was recalled to church ministry in Tasmania. When Mr Shellard left the College, Mrs Norma Higgins took over the role of Acting Principal and ably fulfilled her duties until mid-2002.

Neville Hawkins had been the mainstay of the Primary School since the early planning days prior to 1985 and had served the school in many ways in the first ten years of the school’s existence. As the Lay Pastor of Carmel Welsh Presbyterian Church, he was the Chairman of the Interim Board from 1984 to 1987 at which time the school became an incorporated association, and he took on the role of President of the Incorporated Association Board of the school. Throughout the first 15 years of the school, he was also Administrator, Bursar, Groundsman, and above all visionary! All of this was done in a voluntary capacity, and to some degree it may be said that the school owes its very existence to this man. He dealt with the many obstacles that seemed to be put in the way of the school as it sought to establish itself on the Carmel site and also later on the Vickers St site, and his vision made it possible for the school to grow beyond its early days at Carmel and to develop the Vickers Street site as a base for future expansion.

Mrs Norma Higgins

Mr Norman Shellard

Ballarat Christian College Staff and Students 1999

However, as the 90s drew to a close, health problems with his parents who lived in the UK, brought him to realise that someone else needed to take over the management roles in the school. To that end, he began discussions with Pastor Rob Bailey of the Ballarat Christian Fellowship regarding a possible succession on his retirement. Neville sought a church which supported the school, and a pastor who had the leadership gift to manage the school. After some initial hesitation, Pastor Rob approached the elders of his church with the proposal. They endorsed the concept of the church taking on the role suggested by Pastors Neville and Rob, as they saw this step as part of the mission of the church to reach the next generation of our society. This new governance system was to begin in March 2001 with Pastor Rob Bailey becoming President / Chairman of the Primary Board, a role which he held until the two schools merged in 2007. However, that is a story best told in the next chapters.

Meanwhile, along the road at 13 Yarrowee Street, the new Ballarat Christian College began its journey in February 1999. Principal Peter McNamara was the only fulltime teacher in the college, with a wide range of parents and friends teaching the specialist subjects. These included Bible, where Pastor Bob Gray from the Carmel Church introduced the students to H.O.T. Faith [aka Heroes Of The Faith], and also taught Information Technology. In a foretaste of future events, Mrs Norma Higgins (in her first year as a qualified teacher) came up the road from the Primary School in Vickers Street to teach Textiles. She was assisted in this venture by Mrs Sharron Saw, a parent who had children in both schools at the time. The list is almost endless, and a great debt of gratitude is due to that myriad of parents and friends who helped the college through the early years.

The College was also able to negotiate with a local secondary school, Sebastopol Secondary College, to use their facilities to teach Woodwork and Home Economics classes. This partnership with local secondary colleges enabled Ballarat Christian College to offer a full curriculum over the ensuing years until facilities could be developed on the College grounds.

The small Seventh Day Adventist School in Yarrowee Street which comprised a small self-contained building with two classrooms, a small office and toilets was ideal for the 22 students in Years 7 & 8 who began their secondary schooling in 1999. However, it was a tight squeeze and the Library was actually set up along the corridor in a shared space with the lockers! The College Newsletters during 1999 and 2000 had frequent appeals for donations of suitable books for the Library and a parent volunteer [Mrs Debbie Courtney] oversaw the cataloguing and computer entries. By September of the first year around 2,500 books had been sorted and placed in the Library for students to borrow. There was a small playing space behind the buildings for students to stretch their legs and get the necessary physical exercise. In a foretaste of the College’s involvement in competitive sport in Ballarat, a single basketball ring was provided for the athletic students, both boys and girls. Several of the boys from the College began playing for a Basketball team called the Ballarat Bullets in the local competition. This has continued right through to the present day, with the College taking on the name during the early 2000s and today the College fields several teams, both boys and girls.

The new College has a Basketball Court and a Library (in the Corridor!)

In June of 1999 Mr Jay Hutchinson joined the staff on a part time basis to assist in running the computer system in the classrooms and to teach that subject to the students. He bought a wealth of experience with him and was a valuable asset to the College in its early days. During the fourth term of 1999 Mr John Corden joined the staff as a full time teacher, and was able to lighten the load on Mr McNamara as well as taking on the role of Trades Teacher in the classes run at Sebastopol Secondary College. He also took the Years 8 & 9 students for classes in facilities kindly provided by Ballarat City Church during 2000 as the College quickly outgrew the SDA location in Yarrowee Street behind Eclipse Motors. During 2000, Mrs Robyn Hanson joined the staff and taught English and Music.

The growth in enrolments and the consequent lack of space was an issue that would concern the Board during 2000, and would ultimately lead to Ballarat Christian College leasing the section of land which belonged to the Primary School and which fronted Yarrowee Street opposite the Rivers factory in 2001. This is now the location of the Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 campus, but in those early days one of the buildings was the classroom ‘home’ for the 2001 Year 9 & 10 students under the guidance of Mr Corden.

As both schools, still operating as separate entities, reached the end of the twentieth century and the millennium, the stage was set for the next series of exciting events in Christian Education in Ballarat.

The Drain in 2001

Through the Pipe in 2002

Mr John Corden Mr Jay Hutchison Mrs Robyn Hanson

Chapter 4 2001 to 2005: Coming Together Slowly

In the early years of what the public called the ‘Noughties’ the two schools occupied adjoining blocks of land but were separate schools. The Primary School, as owners of the land, had their focus on providing a Christian-based primary education, while initially Ballarat Christian College used the land they occupied to provide much needed space for the senior students as their enrolments grew and the space at 13 Yarrowee Street could not contain all of the classes at one time. Therefore they began to look for another location for Ballarat Christian College.

Secondary Space (or the Lack of It)

In 2001 the students Years 9 & 10 were based in a large relocatable building on the 111A Yarrowee Street site. Mr Corden was the Homeroom teacher and Dr Fisher also made the trek along Yarrowee Street to take the Maths and Science classes. There was also a small building on the site which served as an Administration office. However, as the year progressed it became apparent that the Secondary School needed a permanent home in one location. During 2001 the Secondary Board held long discussions about the possibility of finding such a site, and finally it was decided that the college would lease the entire Yarrowee Street property from the Primary School and carry out the necessary landscaping to establish a suitable home for all of the secondary students.

So, in December 2001, Ballarat Christian College closed the school doors at 13 Yarrowee Street and reopened them at 111A Yarrowee Street in February 2002. Between those dates (and for some time before December 2001) an enormous amount of work had been carried out on the site. Dr Fisher who had replaced Mr McNamara in 2001 had the responsibility for supervising the ground-works, although as the picture shows he wasn’t scared to get his hands dirty or calloused!

The major earth works were contracted out, but a lot of the finishing work was done by the army of volunteers who had supported the College in the first three years of its existence. Although there were two buildings on site, and a path leading down from the front gate to the office and classroom, the rest of the site was overgrown and there was a 3 metre wide and deep ditch which ran through the centre of the property. It was widely believed that this ditch was the home of at least one snake! It was the storm water outlet for a large proportion of Sebastopol, and ran through the property and down the escarpment to empty into the Yarrowee Creek. The first section, which ran through the western end

Dr Fisher works hard to prepare the new home of Ballarat Christian College

Preparing the College Grounds for February 2002

of the property, had a large drain pipe inserted and the ditch was filled in around it to form the car park. The second section of the drain became the basis of ‘The Creek’, which was the backbone of the special Year 9 environmental program developed in later years by Mr Corden.

As well as the major work on the drain, there was also a large amount of landscaping work done around the property. A twin module relocatable building was trucked in and established opposite the office building. Paths were laid around these buildings and also around Room 3, and down to Room 4 which was the Music room. In addition, a toilet block was built on the high ground opposite Room 3, and [most importantly for many students] the area between Room 3 and the northern fence was levelled and asphalted to form a full size outdoor basketball court.

A New Home for Ballarat Christian College

The last step, during late January, was to load up all of the equipment from 13 Yarrowee Street and to transport it along the road to the new home of Ballarat Christian College at 111A Yarrowee St. The Library was established in a side section of Room 3 and desks, filing cabinets and chairs were placed in each classroom and office. A full size fume cupboard was obtained from Sebastopol Secondary College and installed in the new Room 2 for the Science classes, while Room 1 became the Art Room which would be under the control of a qualified Art teacher, Mrs Coralie Rowbotham who had joined the teaching staff in 2001, along with Mrs Marlie Fisher who taught Mathematics. Electrical connections were made, computers were installed and the college was ready to receive its first students at the 111A Yarrowee Street campus.

These 66 students, who began on February 8th 2002, included the first students who would study VCE subjects at Ballarat Christian College. To assist those students, and to cater for the increasing enrolments, two new staff members joined the staff at the beginning of 2002. They were Miss Jackie Donoghue who had responsibility for Health and Physical Education at all levels, and Mr Max Duthie, a qualified Secondary Humanities teacher, who became the Senior Studies Coordinator and led the College into VCE studies over the next few years. The addition of these two teachers meant that the College now had seven permanent staff members as the year began, along with a number of part time teachers to provide the curriculum to the students.

Bringing the equipment in and wiring up the rooms

A College ready for its students

Primary School Events and Enrolments

Enrolments in the Primary School (now known as Ballarat Christian School to reflect their new partnership with Ballarat Christian Fellowship) had fallen below 40 students by the beginning of 2001, and Acting Principal Higgins had a large task in front of her as she began her tenure. During 2001 there were three full time staff in the Primary section; Mrs Higgins who taught the senior students, Miss Lisa Dobbin who looked after the junior students and Mrs Julie Gall who was the Art teacher and Librarian. Mrs Gall left at the end of 2001, and Mr Lucas Frost literally walked into the school early in 2002 looking for a teaching job, as he had just come to Ballarat as part of a Cornerstone team. He was warmly welcomed by Mrs Higgins and Miss Dobbin and stayed at the school until 2006, teaching a range of classes from Prep to Year 6. The school continued to provide a solid curriculum with a Christian distinctive during the next few years as enrolments steadily rose to just under 80 by the middle of 2002.

In June 2002 Mr Howard Drough, a retired Victorian Education Department Principal, took over from Mrs Higgins and continued in that role until early 2006 when Mr Kerry Hutton became the Principal of Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12. Mrs Jenny Jones joined the staff in 2002 as a part-time Music teacher, along with Mr Ken Nuridin who began his teaching career as the Year 5/6 teacher in 2003. He is now the Head of Junior School Ballarat Christian College, and Mrs Jones is both a Music teacher and also works as a Teacher’s Aide. Pastor Liz Bailey from Ballarat Christian Fellowship played a large part in Christian Education in the Primary School during those years, and she was also a member of the Secondary College Board.

In the first full year of Mr Drough’s time at the school, an important event took place. During 2002 Mrs Higgins and Miss Dobbin had prepared a submission to the Victorian Independent Schools Board Grant Authority for funds to erect an overhead cover between the classrooms and the Library building to provide an all-weather play area. That grant was approved, and, as the school held fund-raising events over the next months, building commenced and the facility was opened by MP Catherine King on the last day of Term 3 in 2003. The facility has been a blessing to countless students over the years, and was used at times in 2008 and 2009 as an assembly area for the whole College while the Administration Block was being built. It still serves as an assembly point for the Junior School students as they are dismissed at the end of the school day.

Secondary College Leadership Changes

The leadership of the Secondary College also underwent some changes during these five years. Peter McNamara left at the end of Term 1 in 2001, and Dr John Fisher took on the role of Principal. His dynamic leadership saw the College move from its original home at 13 Yarrowee Street to the more spacious area at 111A Yarrowee Street and begin to offer a full secondary education from Year 7 to Year 12 where students completed their Victorian Certificate of Education [VCE]. Enrolments gradually grew during Dr Fisher’s time and in 2003 there were 83 students in the College. Unfortunately ill health caused Dr Fisher to resign mid-2003 and Pastor Bailey became Interim Principal for the remainder of the year, while the Board sought another Principal. In 2004 Mr Geoff Gay who had been a consultant with Christian Schools Australia came down from Queensland to

Mr Howard Drough 2002 to 2006

Providing a shelter for Primary students from Ballarat’s weather

take up the reins. He remained at the College for two years and then returned to Queensland, while Pastor Bailey stepped into the role again, and the Board began to search for a principal once again.

During Mr Gay’s time at the College, he was instrumental in changing the association of the College from the Christian Secondary Schools Association, under which the school had been established with the assistance of Mr George Moran, to become a member of the larger organisation known as Christian Schools Australia. That association continues to this day. As a part of this new membership, the student school leaders were able to attend a conference in Canberra each year for school leaders from all over the nation, and this had the effect of helping them to realise that there were schools just like Ballarat Christian College all over Australia. As the major Christian schools association it also held regular conferences in Victoria for teaching staff, and teachers at BalCC enjoyed these annual events.

Both schools continued to function as efficient education establishments during the early years of the 2000s and offered extracurricular activities including camps, visits to local nursing homes to entertain the residents and involvement in sporting carnivals where Christian Schools from around Victoria came together at Maryborough. This sporting carnival only recently ceased to be held. The wide range of sporting activities is covered in more detail in a later chapter. In-school activities included pyjama/pancake breakfasts on the primary campus and involvement in the ‘See You at the Pole’ activity on the secondary side of the fence.

On the education front this was a time of excitement and variety in the Secondary College. The first VCE Unit 1 subjects were offered to a combined class of Year 10 and 11 students in 2002, and in 2003 the first seven Year 12 students finished their VCE studies at Ballarat Christian College, with all seven students gaining a Victorian Certificate of Education. These students had completed the required subjects in a variety of ways. The major subjects, such as English and some Mathematics had been studied at the college, along with some other subjects. However, as a result of a partnership with Damascus College (a local Catholic Secondary College), students were able to undertake some of the technology and trade subjects there, while other subjects were completed using the Distance Education facilities of the Victorian Education Department. These two arrangements continued for some time as the college looked for ways to enable all students to complete the VCE at the College.

Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12: Merger or Relocation?

Possibly it had been in the minds of the Board and staff of Ballarat Christian College (and certainly in the minds of those associated with the Primary School since its inception) that one day there would be a school in Ballarat which offered education with a Christian distinctive for students from Prep to Year 12 at a single location. We have already seen that the Carmel School had made one [unsuccessful] foray into the secondary education sector in 1988, and another attempt was made when the school was in Vickers Street, just prior to the opening of Ballarat Christian College.

In his Principal’s Welcome as part of the 2002 Information Pack for Ballarat Christian College, Dr Fisher wrote that the college was “… catering for students in Years 7-11 in 2002, but aiming to offer education for the whole family, Years Prep-12 in 2003.” To that end the College Board had investigated a property in Mt Helen close to Ballarat University which was large enough to build a Prep to 12 Christian College. Sadly, that property was withdrawn from sale during 2003, but the issue of one location continued to exercise the minds of the College Board over the next two to three years

The Merger Process Begins

Pastor Rob Bailey and Mr Chris Duke as leaders of the Primary and Secondary Boards respectively had been involved in discussions about this issue. As far back as 2002, Board Meeting minutes of the Ballarat Christian School included discussion about this topic. In July 2004 the joint Boards surveyed all staff in both schools to ascertain their feelings about the feasibility of amalgamation

Dr John Fisher Mr Geoff Gay Pastor Liz Bailey

of the two schools. Those responses, along with the outcomes of further joint Board discussions during 2004 and 2005, ultimately led to these decisions being recorded at a joint meeting of the two Boards in May 2005.

“… that the Ballarat Christian College Association Inc. merge with Ballarat Christian School Inc. with effect from 31st December 2006 into a company limited by guarantee named Ballarat Christian College … and that “as far as is appropriate so to do before that date, to operate as one school.” (Minutes of Joint Meeting held on Tuesday May 30th 2005.)

A Possible New Home

The search for a permanent home for Ballarat Christian College had continued after the Mt Helen property was withdrawn from sale, as it was felt that the Yarrowee Street location posed too many problems to establish and grow a suitable Prep to Year 12 College on that site. In April of 2005 a possible location was identified a little further out in Sebastopol on the corner of Grant and Miles St. It was felt that this property had significant possibilities for the establishment of the new college, and the land was dedicated for this purpose on May 15th 2005.

In his prayer on that day Pastor Paul Burnham (a Secondary Board member and Senior Pastor at York St Church of Christ), recognised that the school community could not undertake this new venture alone and led those present in a prayer of committal to the Lord’s service. In that prayer he pledged that the school community would “bring freshness into our homes, excitement into our studies and adventure into our school.”

“The Merger Bus Is Off & Running”

These words were headlines in the Ballarat Christian College News at the beginning of Term 3 in 2005. Charles Milne, who had been a foundation member of Ballarat Christian College in 1999 and was now the Bursar of the College, headed up the Merger Task Force which was charged with preparing a Master Plan for the merger. A Master Plan Input Meeting was held on Tuesday July 19th and Charles urged potential attendees to come charged with questions and possible answers to questions which ranged from traffic, parking, drop-off and pick-up areas through conservation issues and subject specific buildings to the question of separate or combined areas for pre-school, primary, junior secondary and senior secondary students. As Charles said, “the questions go on and on!”

That meeting was followed by an Envisioning Day held in September where the answers to those questions (and others) were discussed, and the way forward as a Prep to Year 12 Christian College was gradually formulated in this and other meetings over the following 15 months. Although there were misgivings and minor concerns on ‘both sides of the fence’ [literally, as the two schools had been divided by a wooden fence since the secondary students arrived in 2002], there was a spirit of optimism amongst the members of the school community comprised of staff, students and parents. Unfortunately Mr Gay did not see the fulfilment of the dream that he and others before him had envisioned, as he resigned as Principal late in 2005 to return to Queensland. Pastor Liz Bailey took over the reins of the Secondary College once again, while the Boards searched for a new Principal to lead the two schools into this exciting phase of Christian Education in Ballarat. The search ultimately led to the appointment of Mr Kerry Hutton who took over the role in April 2006 as Principal of Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12, an organisation which existed in name only until January 2007. During 2006, the two schools began to work as one unit and to share facilities. Therefore at the end of 2005, there was a spirit of expectation amongst the school communities as they waited to see what God could do with an institution that offered education with a Christian distinctive from Prep to Year 12. With the excitement of a possible relocation to a property that could contain a facility that would cater for the educational needs of all children [there was talk of the possibility of including a pre-school as well on the property], the future seemed set for the next phase in Christian Education in Ballarat.

Rev. Paul Burnham leads the Prayer or Dedication

Chapter 5

2006 to 2010: One School - One Location Prelude : A Long Story

This chapter will possibly be the longest chapter in this short history. The primary reason for this is that the period from 2006 to 2010 was almost certainly the busiest period in the history of either of the schools. It saw the merger of the two schools into one educational institution, the arrival of the first Principal of the new College and the establishment of many ‘new’ things in that College, along with the most prolific building program in the history of either of the schools.

Merger: One School in One Location.

2006 began with the two schools operating as one, but still on either side of the fence and still with a lot of work to do to realise the vision of Chris Duke and Rob Bailey as leaders of the two Boards. A lot of work had been done by staff and parents to recognise and deal with issues of concern about the merger. It was going to happen, but the company known as Ballarat Christian College would not officially exist until December 31st 2006. In the meantime, the Secondary College had an Acting Principal (Pastor Liz Bailey), and Howard Drough had agreed to continue as Principal of the Primary section until the merger officially occurred. Thus the new Principal of Ballarat Christian College would be appointed to a school that did not technically exist, but was a physical reality.

That situation existed well into Term 1, when Mr Kerry Hutton accepted the role of Principal of Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12. He took up his duties at the beginning of Term 2, and so began a long period of leadership under one leader. Principal Hutton was the driving force behind the development of the College into a vibrant organisation on a single site. However, unlike the plans that had been in place at the time the Merger Task Force began its work, that site was not going to be on the corner of Grant and Miles Streets in Sebastopol. Rather, work began to develop the Yarrowee and Vickers Street site to accommodate the Prep to Year 12 students and facilities. It seemed that God had other plans than those which had been made by the joint Boards between 2004 and 2006.

Despite these minor adjustments in the development of the ‘new’ school, Mr Hutton’s arrival heralded a period of time in Christian Education in Ballarat that saw clear evidence of God’s blessing and leading in the fulfilment of the passions of visionaries such as Neville Hawkins, Chris Duke and Pam White back in the early to mid-1980s; and George Moran, Chris Duke, Charles Milne and Liz Bailey in the mid to late 1990s. As a school offering Christian Education from Prep right through to Year 12, the College began to gain a reputation as a viable alternative for parents desirous of their children gaining a quality education. The College also began to be viewed not only as the equal of other schools in Ballarat as far as academic achievement was concerned, but also as a school which had a Christian distinctive as part of its curriculum.

In January 2007, Mr Hutton became the Principal of that ‘new’ school with around 160 students and a permanent staff of just on 20 teachers (almost the same number as the students who began at the primary and secondary schools in 1985 and 1999). The next few years were to see major changes in the physical face of the college along with changes in the educational programs offered and the extracurricular activities that were available to students at all levels.

The physical nature of the college grounds was one of the first areas to change in a marked way. Mr Hutton came to a school divided by a fence. On the Primary side there were five classrooms, a Primary Library, a toilet block and a staff room for the Primary teachers. The Secondary side

Principal Kerry Hutton 2006

contained seven classrooms, a toilet block and an office building which also contained a small staff room. In time, the fence would come down and all students would begin to share the combined facilities of the two schools.

As with all expansions and extensions to school facilities at both schools, one of the requirements for these to go ahead is the availability of funds. Both schools had used a variety of ways to raise funds over the years. Personal loans and the Ballarat Christian Schools Cooperative had been very useful sources. However, there were also government funds available as well as organisations such as the Victorian Independent Schools Block Grant Authority (VISBGA). In his Principal’s Desk column in the newly named ‘Soul Connection’ newsletter for February 23rd 2007, Principal Hutton wrote that representatives from the latter had recently met with the new Board to discuss the College application for a grant to build the new Art, Science and Administration block in 2008. He said that he believed that that the “application was well received, however there are a lot of schools competing for a limited amount of money.” and “All we can do now is to wait and pray”. He called on the College community to support the Board in prayer.

Those prayers were answered from another direction and in October he was able to report that the College would “receive a major grant from the Australian Government towards the building of our new classrooms and administration block,” and that “this substantial grant [would] finance almost 50% of the project.” In November he was also able to report that the project would begin in 4 to 5 weeks and would involve the “movement of Rooms 1 & 2 into their new location in the primary section.” These would then be renovated and used as additional primary classrooms in mid-2008.

These major building projects were part of a Master Plan that had been drawn up in response to a need for extra Primary and Secondary classrooms to cope with increasing enrolments. The plan included the relocation of Rooms 1 & 2, the removal of the existing Secondary Office to the far south west corner of the property [known affectionately as ‘Siberia’ or Eagle’s Nest’] and building a substantial building in their place to house Administration facilities, new Science and Art facilities and a spacious staff centre upstairs.

The rooms were moved, and just after 8am on February 4th 2008 the first sod was turned [or drilled] for work to begin on the Admin block where the previous Office, classrooms and toilet had stood. The work continued into 2008 as the area was levelled and foundations poured for the new building (which expanded to include toilet and change-room facilities), while staff and students adjusted to the fact that almost half of the old secondary area was fenced off and there was little or no access to the front of the College from Yarrowee Street. Perhaps those most affected were the longsuffering staff as the more than 20 staff from both schools crammed into the old Primary Staff Room designed to hold around 10 teachers.

Over the course of the next nine months staff, students and parents watched and wondered as the impressive two storey building grew in front of their eyes, and finally on November 5th 2008, the building was opened and dedicated to God’s glory. However, that steps ahead of this account and so we return to the first year of the ‘new’ school.

First Sod Drilled Feb 2008

New School: New Names and Events

As already mentioned a new Christian School came into existence on January 1st 2007. It was a merger of Ballarat Christian School Inc. and Ballarat Christian College Association Inc. However, the merger had really begun during 2006 as Kerry Hutton took on his role of Principal of Ballarat Christian College, a company limited by guarantee. For practical purposes the College became known as ‘Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12’ to signify the educational scope of the new institution. As Charles Milne had written, the aim of the merger was “to develop the new school to be the best, Godliest, most Christian school we can make it.” While this process had begun back in 2005 in a formal manner with the establishment of the Merger Task Force and gained momentum in the first term of 2006, it really kicked into gear with the arrival of Mr Hutton in April 2006.

Enrolments had continued to rise during the time that Geoff Gay was the principal of Ballarat Christian College and Howard Drough was at Ballarat Christian School, and Mr Hutton took over a school with a joint enrolment of just over 160 students. The secondary section had 100 students enrolled – a figure that had been the aim of both Dr Fisher and Mr Gay. The stage was set for the expansion of Christian Education into new territories in Ballarat.

As with any change of leadership and status in any organisation, change would occur in all areas. The name of the school had changed, there was a new leader and other more subtle changes would follow. Also new curriculum initiatives would be developed in all areas of the College.

A new ‘temporary’ Office and Administration building had been trucked in and installed in the front corner of the Vickers Street property between the Library and the Car Park, as a home for the Principal and others early in 2006. For the Primary students, this meant the unfortunate loss of their ‘fort’ and ‘climbing frame’, but other play areas have become available since then. This building became a Primary hub after the opening of the new Admin Block in 2008, and is still used for that purpose.

Administration Building Progress 2008

Opening of Administration Building November 2008

Office Staff 2006

Later in 2007, as already noted, the old Science and Art rooms were moved across to the Primary section to become new classrooms for the Prep and Year 1 classes, and the original secondary office building became a VCE classroom in the top corner of the land behind the houses in Yarrowee Street.

There were changes in the leadership model of the College as well. During 2006 Mr Ken Nuridin had been appointed to the role of Primary Coordinator at the beginning of Term 3, after Howard Drough retired. In August 2007 Mr Chris Aiton was appointed to a similar role in the Secondary section of the College. Ken and Chris continued in those roles until July 2009, when they were officially appointed as Head of Primary and Head of Secondary respectively. This established a clear line of responsibility for all matters in the school especially with regard to discipline with the line going from classroom teacher through Homeroom teacher to the Head of School and then to the Principal.

In addition to the leadership appointments, changes were also occurring in the curriculum at all levels of the College. Two of these were the introduction of the SWELL Literacy Program at Primary level, and the establishment of a program that would become known as ‘The Creek’ at Year 9 level.

During 2005 and 2006 the section of the drain through the secondary property beyond the end of the large pipe had been remodelled into a water feature by a parent, Mr Paul Trollop. The money for this work had come from a grant from the Commonwealth Government in the form of a Community Water Grant. The first of these saw the establishment of the top Creek area while a second one enabled the open area past the reeds to be developed into a landscaped bank which was used occasionally for whole school assemblies in the warmer weather. Mr John Corden, a secondary teacher, saw the value of this feature as a basis for a special Year 9 program with an emphasis on Environmental Science. He obtained assistance from the Ecolinc Project at Bacchus Marsh, the Corangamite Catchment Authority and Central Highlands Water to run various parts of the program which began in 2006 and is still running in 2015. His plan included pollutant traps at the end of the

Development of Creek Project

Students working in Creek

Chris Aiton and Ken Nuridin

water feature where students would analyse the debris that came down the drain and the removal of weeds from the next section of the creek with “the hope that by the time the creek leaves our property the water would be potable.” (Creek Update No 4 March 2006).

The other areas of the Year 9 curriculum meshed around the practical time spent in the Creek area. One teacher [Mr Corden in the early years of the program] taught the students for most of their academic subjects and the practical component while others took subjects such as Health and Physical Education. As a part of the Year 9 Creek Program students also had a different camp system in place. Rather than going to a specific camp site for a week of fun and reflection, the Year 9s packed their tents (literally) and went ‘on the road’ for a week of hiking and ministry. They visited local churches and schools and spent their days hiking from one spot to another. This concept continues today, as the students ‘serve one another in love’.

After Mr Corden’s retirement in 2008, Miss Giselle Dunn [who became Mrs Greene in 2009] took over the Creek Project. She was joined by other teachers including Mr Andrew Kynock as they guided Year 9 students through the program devised by Mr Corden, revising it as it developed and the 2011 students rewarded them by winning Regional and State Landcare Awards.

In the Primary section of the College , Mrs Louella Freeman from Macquarie University came down to instruct staff in the introduction of the SWELL Literacy program in a move designed to improve the literacy levels of the Prep to Year 6 students. This program continued to be used in the classrooms for several years.

Names were also changing during the first two years of Principal Hutton’s time at the helm. The Ballarat Christian School Newsletter and the Ballarat Christian College News became one newsletter and gained a new name during 2006. The Soul Connection now became the vehicle for all communication from the College each week during 2006 and became a fortnightly publication in 2007. The Soul Connection remains as the main method of communication to this day, although it was supplemented by an additional publication known as Primary Perspectives which began in Term 2 in 2007 and provided a focus for reporting of specific events in the Primary section of the College.

Year 9 Students on Hike

Year 9 Landcare Award

Both schools had been using student diaries as a means of communication with parents, and during 2006 a common diary format was adopted for the majority of students in the new college. As mentioned earlier, when searching for a verse to be placed on the front of the diaries Mr Hutton chose the latter half of Galatians 2:16 – “Serve one another in love.” This was the verse which Principal McCrae had chosen for Carmel Christian Community School back in 1989 when she came to the school, and it still appears on the front cover of the student diaries in 2015. Marketing mottos had been used by the secondary college almost since its inception. Among those were the following : ‘Where Every Student Counts’; ‘Big God, Big Plans, Big Future’ and ‘Catch the Vision’.

Enrolments grew steadily over the next few years after Mr Hutton’s arrival. From a total enrolment of 160 students in April 2006, it passed 190 late in 2007, and by July 2008 there were 240 students from Prep to Year 12. Finally, in May 2009 there was a special celebration complete with cake to mark the 300th student in the College. This special occasion served as a reminder that God was blessing His school!

A Healthy Spirit of Competition: Carnivals and Houses

2007 also saw the inaugural Ballarat Christian College Athletics Carnival with three Houses competing for the Senator’s Shield which was donated by Senator Julian McGauran. Although athletics and other sports had been a part of both schools since their individual inceptions with regular participation at the Maryborough Inter-school Athletics, this was the first time that students from Prep to 12 had competed within the school. Competition at the carnival was fierce with the eventual honour of Inaugural Champion going to Unity House.

Although there had been a House System in existence in the Primary School since the early 2000s, with the names Jericho, Gaza, Cana and Bethany, reflecting place names in Israel, there was no such system in the Secondary College. In light of that Principal Hutton asked the Secondary Sports Master, Mr Scott McKenzie to set up a House System during 2006. There were three houses established: Genesis [named after the beginning book of the Bible], Slessor [named after Mary Slessor who was a Scottish missionary to Nigeria] and Unity [which reflected the concept of ‘all one in Christ Jesus’].

Inaugural BalCC Athletics Carnival 2007

Celebrating 300 Students

The reasons for the chosen names are as follows :

Genesis: A Year 6 student in 2006, Tom Harvey, suggested this house name with the simple words: “I think one of the houses should be called Genesis because it’s the new beginning of the College”. This was perceived as being most appropriate, with thanks to God for this sense of newness and renewal at our College.

Mary Slessor: She represents the qualities of self-sacrifice, endurance, trust in God and service to humanity. She worked under the most difficult conditions, sacrificing her health, home and her life for the sake of the Gospel. This suggestion was put forward by Mrs Higgins and her Year 3/4 class who were studying the life of Mary Slessor in a literacy unit at the time.

Unity: As a College we believe that the name of this house stands for one of the most important foundations of our faith and College community. As much as being a vital priority for our renewed College, it is a constant prayer from the heart of the Principal, often echoed by other staff. These words were displayed at each Celebration Night on the screen prior to the announcement of the Duke Family Inter-house Award. The Athletics Carnival was followed in 2009 by the Inaugural Cross Country Carnival and the Inaugural Swimming Carnival in 2010. There were numerous other House-based competitions throughout the year and the announcement of the Duke Family Award for the top house each year at Celebration Night was, and still is eagerly awaited to this day.

Back to Buildings

The progress of the Administration Block was closely followed by staff, students and parents during 2008. Finally on November 5th, local Federal MP Catherine King was present at a Dedication Service at the front of the building where she and Principal Hutton pulled back the curtain to unveil the plaque which read in part “ … dedicated to the Glory of God.”

In his address to the gathered staff, students, parents and friends, Principal Hutton stated that the ‘opening of this building [was] far more than the commissioning of a new facility for a college.” He went on to say that the occasion sealed “a special moment in the life of the college … a moment of symbolic, practical and spiritual significance.” [reprinted in Soul Connection, November 6th 2008] He went on to outline the three moments. The new building, he said, was a symbol of a new start, since it was the first major project undertaken by the new entity Prep – Year 12 Ballarat Christian College, and the single largest project in the history of the college. In closing this section he reminded everyone that the college in its current form was only 20 months old and remarked “not bad for a toddler?”

God’s Provision - New Administration Building

Practically speaking, he highlighted the many facilities available to students [Art, Science and Home Economics rooms as well as a Canteen], Administration Staff and Teaching Staff with the spacious new Staff Room. He reminded his audience that there were many finishing touches to be provided yet including “paving, new gardens, car park surfacing and secure fencing.”, saying that these would be provided in time “as the Lord releases the finances.”

The last point was perhaps the most important of all. He reminded those present that this was also a significant spiritual moment and that, as the College name stated, it was a Christian College, not a “traditional college with a little religious garnish on the side.” He further stated that the new building was “testimony to the grace of God in providing us with such a facility.” This did not diminish in any way the Federal and VISBGA funding , nor the Commonwealth Bank loan or the fees and gifts from parents and friends.

His closing remarks clearly outlined the basis on which the College was built.

”… as Christians we believe that all good things come from God, albeit distributed through various means and sources. Today I take the time to publically acknowledge and thank our God for the miracle that is Ballarat Christian College.”

While the end of 2008 marked the beginning of a new era in the life of Ballarat Christian College, it also marked the end of a long association with Christian Education in Ballarat for two of the secondary staff. Mr Charles Milne had been involved as a Parent Representative on the Primary School Board and was one of the party of concerned parents who investigated and established Ballarat Christian College as a Secondary School in 1999, and had served as Business Manager and Bursar for the College since that time as well as being a Board member; left the College to work at a newly formed school on Tiwi Island in the Northern Territory. The College owed much to the work of this tireless servant of God.

Another long-time member of the College staff who left at this time was Mr John Corden. John had joined the staff as a teacher in late 1999 as an English and Trade teacher and had also been instrumental in the development of the Year 9 Creek program in 2006. He had also been the ‘Home Room’ teacher for the senior students during the transitional year of 2001 when the college operated on the two Yarrowee Street campuses, and was a very popular member of staff. John made the decision at the end of 2008 to retire and spend time with his family and in his garden.

Another new face around the College in 2008 was Pastor Steve Shaw who was enjoying his first full year in the role of Chaplain after being appointed in October 2007 under a Federal Government program to provide chaplains in schools. He was from a local church and took a part time position as Chaplain to Ballarat

Our Front Gate – 2009 and Now

Mr Charles Milne

Mr John Corden Pastor Steve Shaw

Christian College. Steve rapidly became involved in the life of the College and had input into the development of a Christian Studies program for the whole school. He was also instrumental in the further development of the Mission Week Program which had begun in 2008, where students from Prep to Year 12 put their academic studies aside for a week and were involved in a range of activities that related to Christian mission work of all types. This program alternated with the extensive camping program that was a feature of both schools. Staff from both the Primary and Secondary sections developed many of the in class activities for students. The programs (Camps and Mission Week) ran in alternate years from each other, with the exception of the Year 11 Retreat which was a requirement of the Certificate III course, and an Orientation Camp for Year 7 students.

The end of 2008 also saw some changes in roles for three teachers. Mr Max Duthie left the role of Senior Studies Coordinator [which included VCE coordination including Distance Education and membership of the regional VET Cluster for VET in Schools [VETIS], and took on a position of Resource Manager / Librarian (a position which he held until his retirement in 2013. He was replaced in that position by Mr John Shaw who took responsibility for VCE studies, and Mr Trent Loader expanded his role as Careers teacher to include VETIS.

2009 to 2010: A Time of Consolidation or…

As the College moved into the last two years of the decade and enjoyed the new facilities, the college community took time to draw breath and look to the future that God had prepared for them. In his opening address to staff in February 2009, Mr Hutton stated that it would be a ‘year of consolidation’ as small works were done around the College to improve access and safety. However, it seemed that God had other plans.

That prediction began to change when the Federal Government, under Mr Rudd’s leadership, announced the ‘Building the Education Revolution’ program. Under that scheme, schools all over Australia were able to apply for funding to assist them in their building programs. Ballarat Christian College had drawn up a Master Plan for the development of the campus at Yarrowee Street, part of which was the Administration block completed in 2008, but it also included a Multi-Purpose Centre to be built in what was then the far south-east corner of the property. At the beginning of April Mr Hutton reported in Soul Connection that they had ‘pressed the button’ on the college’s application for funding to build that centre, and in the May 7th issue he was able to report that the application had been ratified by Canberra adding that “unlike some other grants, the College doesn’t have to bring any money to the project.” Praise God! Building began in June 2009 and the Multi-Purpose Centre was dedicated at a service in 2010 when the 25th anniversary of Christian Education in Ballarat was also celebrated.

MPC Groundworks

Unveiling the plaque

The two schools had always recognised the achievements of the students with a variety of Presentation Nights, Awards Ceremonies and Graduation Events. These had been held in a variety of locations around Ballarat including many local churches and at the schools themselves. However, in 2010 the first Celebration Night to be held in the new Multi-Purpose Centre took place on Tuesday November 23rd. As a measure of the growth of the College, the evening was split into two sessions with Prep to Year 5 initially, followed by Years 6 to 12. This inclusion of Year 6 in the secondary section acknowledged the implementation of a three-tiered structure in the College with Junior School being Prep to Year 5, Middle School catering for Years 6 to 9 and Senior School covering Years 10 to 12 [Year 10 included in this section as many Year 10 students began studying their VCE subjects during that year].

So, as the College marked the end of the first decade of the third millennium and the celebration of 25 years of education with a Christian distinctive in the City of Ballarat, the stage was set for the continued realisation of the vision that had been planted in the minds of the pioneers of such schooling back in the early 1980s.

The conclusion to the booklet prepared by the author for the 25th Anniversary in 2010 acknowledged this, when it said:

“As we complete this 26th year and move forward into the future, the College community - staff, students, parents and friends - recognise the pioneering work done by the few in the early 1980s and late 1990s to bring about the establishment of the primary and secondary schools. Much more though, we are all aware of and thankful for, God’s hand on both schools and His enabling of the hundreds of people who have played a part in realising the vision of education with a Christian distinctive in Ballarat. “

Students outside the MPC

Chapter 6

2011 to 2015: Consolidation and Establishment

The building program completed during 2009 and 2010 put the College in a solid position to move into the new decade. The Administration Block along with Art and Science rooms set the College up for exciting times while the spacious Staff Room upstairs gave the teachers and aides a place to prepare their lessons and to take a few minutes away from the pressure of the classroom. It also provided a space for staff meetings and other professional development activities for the whole college community. In addition, the building of the Mullti-Purpose Centre under the ‘Building the Education Revolution’ funding from the Federal Government, meant that the College now had an all-weather facility for sport activity, along with an indoor Basketball court. It also gave the College a place to hold Assemblies and Chapels for the whole school, as well as providing much needed space for Music classes, tutorials and practice sessions.

Reflecting the central tenet of the College ethos, Principal Kerry Hutton wrote these words in his first Principal’s Desk column in Soul Connection for 2011. “…we look forward to 2011 as it unfolds before us, in the sure knowledge that in this College we hold Jesus Christ central to what we do, knowing that He holds us closely and dearly through each day.” This belief in the College as ‘God’s School’ was reflected many times in the publications and activities around the College from the beginning of 2011 until the present day as we celebrate 30 years of Christian Education in Ballarat. The ensuing four and a half years were to be a time of consolidation and establishment for the College. Although there were new buildings as the College continued to expand, and new faces amongst the staff as some left and others arrived to take their place, there was a general mood of consolidating the things that had begun during the last five years of the ‘Noughties’ and developing areas of the curriculum and student extracurricular programs as the school moved into the adoption of the Australian Curriculum.

2011: A New School Organisation

Continuing the system which began to be established in 2010, the College operated as three distinct schools in 2011 and has continued to do so up until the present time. The three schools were: Junior School Prep to Year 5; Middle School Year 6 to Year 9 and Senior School Years 10 to 12. Each school developed a curriculum and activities designed to best meet the needs of its cohort of students. Until 2014 some Year 5 students were combined with a Year 6 cohort and as a result attended Middle School assemblies and chapel services instead of their usual Junior School equivalents. However, from 2014 Year 5 classes have operated independently of any Year 6 group, which enabled them to fully participate in the Junior School program.

Multi-Purpose Centre & New Staff Room

The Junior School staff spent a great deal of time during 2011 revising the literacy and numeracy programs for its students, as well as preparing for the introduction of the first of the Australian Curriculum subjects [English, Mathematics, Science and History] in 2012. The Literacy Program included input from Lesley Wing Jan, while Michelle Collins (a Junior School teacher in the College) undertook extra studies in numeracy to enable her to assist her colleagues. The Middle School had as its ultimate goal “to develop autonomous learners with the knowledge and skills to take responsibility for their own learning.”, and this was reflected in the curriculum content as well as the pastoral care aspect of the programs and teachers. This program operated over the next two years until Mr Tim Rogers came to the College at the beginning of 2012 to take on the role of Head of Middle School. Mention is sadly made of Tim’s passing in 2013 in a later chapter of this history, but his arrival saw a transformation of the nature of the Middle School with a strong emphasis on academic excellence as a key point, along with an extended Silent Reading program for the whole school, which Tim began in conjunction with Mr Duthie who was by now the Librarian for the whole College. This saw all students reading for the first 15 minutes after lunch each day in an effort to improve their literacy skills. Mr Rogers also took on the role of NAPLAN coordinator (a Federal Government initiative which assessed the literacy and numeracy skills of students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9), and under his guidance the College NAPLAN results showed improvement. After Tim left at the end of Term 1 in 2013, Mrs Rebecca Montgomery came to the College to take on the role of Head of Middle School, and she still holds that position in 2015.

As the ‘pointy end’ of the College’s education program, the Senior School developed a number of programs designed to assist students to reach their full potential. One of these was the “Readiness for Senior Studies” program which looked at each student’s ability in a number of areas including homework, punctuality, quality of work and respect for other students and their teachers. A part of the Senior School drive towards academic excellence was the introduction during 2011 of an organised VCE Holiday Study Program. There had often been study sessions for specific subjects such as English during the term breaks, but in 2011 a fully timetabled structure was adopted with all students having the opportunity to come into the College and get extra assistance in various areas of their subjects. This program is still in place in 2015.

2011 also saw the full establishment of a VCAL program for senior students. The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning, which began to be offered in 2010, was an alternative course for those students who found the academic rigour of VCE studies a little daunting and was a more practical-based course of study. Each year the VCAL students have taken an active part in organising functions such as the Teddy Bears Picnic (continuing a tradition begun by the Primary students in the early days of the school), and have also assisted in the running of the SPARSH fete.

Teddy Bear Picnics Then and Now

Mr TIm Rogers

Mrs Rebecca Montgomery

This academic organisational structure has continued as the basis for the operation of the College from its inception in 2011 right through into 2015, while at the same time the overall structure of the College as one organism has been maintained by means of the House System for sporting and other competitive activities.

Hard Working Students: Year 10 Work Experience Programs.

From the year that the College first had students in Year 10, a Work Experience program had been in place for students to gain a taste of careers that they might be interested in pursuing later in life. The program had been organised by Dr John Fisher in the early 2000s, but from 2009 onwards, Mr Trent Loader took charge of the Careers aspect of the Senior School, which included the Work Experience program. Initially the students went out to work for a two week block, generally in the middle of the year and most often to the same place. However, in 2013 they began to undertake a one week placement after the mid-year break with the second week in December. This modified program ran in 2013 and 2014 and reverted to the two week block in July in 2015. Most often this was at two separate workplaces to give them a wider choice of possible employment. The students worked in a wide range of places including local schools, Sovereign Hill, local car workshops and more exotic places such as the Ballarat Base Hospital, Ballarat Law Courts and some students have gone down to Melbourne to work at the Planet Shakers Church. Students also studied Careers as a part of the SOSE program at that level and took part in a scheduled program prepared by the Commonwealth Government called Work Ready.

More New Buildings

With the placement of new Middle School classrooms adjacent to the oval playing ground in 2011 and the further relocation of that school to its new home in 2013 on the land behind the southeast corner of the existing College property which had been purchased from a local business lady in 2011, the three schools began to adopt a geographical separation for many of their classroom activities while continuing to use the shared Science, Art, Library and other specialist facilities in the general secondary area of the College grounds.

In 2012 building began on the first phase of a Middle School precinct on an area on the southeastern corner of the College property, which had been purchased by the College in 2011. This building, which was one quarter of a planned building and courtyard area, was completed over the next six months, and it was opened and dedicated in April 2013. This was a permanent building

BalCC students on Work Experience

From Relocatable to Permanent Buildings

comprising a two classroom complex with staff offices and a small work space between them. It rapidly became ‘home’ to the Year 7 students, and it was planned to eventually house both Year 7 and 8 students when the other classroom complex was built across the courtyard.

That south-eastern precinct also became the location for the Trade Training Centre which the College obtained a grant to build in 2012. Construction began in November 2012 and the actual building was finished by the end of 2013. However, the provision of new roads and roundabout to enable the area to become an alternative entrance to the College from Warreen Street took some time, as did the installation of equipment in the workshops. The Trade Training Centre was opened and dedicated to the glory of God in August 2014. This provided much relief for those teachers involved in teaching trade subjects to Middle and Senior School students as the existing trade room (built in 2003) had been taken over as a classroom and those subjects were then taught in the old store shed of the Primary School for some time. The provision of this state of the art building enabled the expansion of trade subjects to the whole school as well as allowing the teaching of VET (Vocational and Educational Training) courses to students from the College, with the possible expansion into the local VET network (Highlands LLEN) of schools which will allow the College to teach trade VET Certificates to students from other secondary colleges around the Ballarat area. This was achieved in 2015 when 1st and 2nd year Engineering classes were offered across the cluster, the first time the College had successfully offered courses into the cluster.

The construction of a P&F funded hard-court playing surface in front of the original Middle School buildings at the head of the old playing field was completed in 2014, and this provided additional outdoor playing facilities for all students. In addition the far south-eastern section of the college grounds began to be developed during 2015 as an oval playing field.

The Trade Training Centre offers students new opportunities in learning a trade

The Hard Court funded by Parents and Friends.

Extracurricular Activities: Music, Missions and Warriors

Both schools have always had a policy that education (and more importantly learning) does not just occur inside the classroom walls. Students have always been encouraged to take part in extracurricular activities, and there is a later chapter devoted to those areas of learning. However, three extracurricular activities that developed over this five year period bear special mention in this chapter.

Music has always been an integral part of both schools since their inception, and continues to be so in the Prep to Year 12 College. From the initial classes where Principal Broad sat on the floor and played the guitar, through Primary choirs that performed at events such as the dedication of the Vickers Street property, on to Primary School musical performances, into classroom Music in the Secondary College; and then through musicals such as the Music Machine and Esther to Crescendo and Allegro bands competing at the South Street Eisteddfod, music has been the soul of the schools.

As an extension of the Christian Church, the schools have had a ‘mission mind’ from 1985 through until the current day. That has taken a variety of forms across the years and the schools. In 2008, however, a new focus on missions was adopted in the relatively new school now known as Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12.

In 2008 a week in August was set aside for a whole school activity which was known as Mission Week. This was a week where all normal classes were suspended and students took part in activities designed to raise their awareness of ‘Mission’, and how they could be missionaries in their own schools. They were also given the opportunity to go out into the community as missionaries involved in practical outworking of their faith. Mission Week replaced the camping program every two years from then on, and has been held in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Activities included visits by

Mr Broad plays for Primary Students

Primary Students listening to Missionaries

Secondary Students on Community Service

The Music Machine

mission organisations, a special series of activities developed by Mrs Norma Higgins and other Primary staff for the Year Prep to 6 students, and also some ‘hands on’ activities in later Mission Weeks where students had the opportunity to build ‘mud huts’ as an illustration of how people may live in developing countries.

The second major mission activity which began a year later occurred when Dr Nathan Grills approached the school with the concept of students and staff taking on the sponsorship of students in a small Christian school in Northern India, known as the SPARSH Academy. An Indian Christian teacher had felt led to begin a small one-room school in the hills to offer a Christian education to local children. For the sum of $A50 per student per year each student in this small school could be provided with uniforms, books and tuition. BalCC took up the challenge and classes began to raise money to support students and the school. Staff were also able to sponsor a child, and the College still sponsors the school today.

2011 saw the beginning of another extracurricular program that has steadily grown since its introduction. Under the leadership of Mr Glen Strange; who was ably assisted by Mr Andrew Kynoch, Mrs Giselle Green and Miss Michelle Iro, 23 students began investigating and building a three-wheeled recumbent trike to compete in the RACV Energy Breakthrough competition which is held each November in Maryborough. The students worked on the building team, trained as riders or helped in the administration of the College entry. This program has grown each year since then and in November 2014 a team of 50 students took 5 vehicles to Maryborough with a good degree of success, as they came overall fourth in this prestigious competition.

Brother Francis at SPARSH Academy

South Star Warrior vehicles in 2011 and 2014

Brother Francis at SPARSH Academy

SPARSH Display at BalCC

SPARSH Display at BalCC

Senior Students Mission Week Activity

Mission Week Mud Huts

Mission Week Horse Whisperer

Camps and Excursions

As already noted, during the years 2011 to 2015 the camping program alternated with Mission Week on a two yearly cycle. There were some exceptions to this, namely the Year 7 Orientation Camp at the beginning of each year and the Year 6 Canberra Trip at the end of each year. These ran each year as it was felt that the former served a purpose of integrating new students into the Year 7 groups, since some students were simply transferring within the one College while others came into the College form other Primary schools in the Ballarat area. In general these camps were held at the Log Cabin Lodge facility near Creswick and were very popular with both staff and students.

The Canberra camp program began in 2005 when Mr Lucas Frost took the first group of Year 6 students from Ballarat Christian School to Canberra as part of their Civics and citizenship studies, and continued after the school merged into Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12. The students visit a wide range of sites in Canberra, with the main focus being on Parliament House, M.A.D.E. (Museum of Australian Democracy) at Old Parliament house and the War Memorial to qualify for the PACER (Parliament and Civics Education Rebate) program subsidy. With other attractions including the NASA Deep Space Communications Centre at Tidbinbilla, Questacon and the Australian Institute of Sport, it is not surprising that students have always looked forward to the ‘Canberra Trip in Year 6’ as one of the highlights of their Primary/ Middle school program.

The other camp which continued during Mission Week years was the Year 11 Retreat, which was held as part of the Certificate III in Christian Studies course. This certificate [which is mentioned in more detail in the Christian Distinctive chapter] was introduced into the Senior Curriculum in 2007 after discussion between Rev Rob Ferguson and Mr Max Duthie [representing Ballarat Christian College] and the Cornerstone Community in Bourke N.S.W. It provided the College with a Biblebased Christian Studies subject that students in Years 10 to 12 could study and complete as part of their VCE subjects. The Retreat was an integral part of the Year 11 portion of the course, and so it was held every year for those students.

Excursions have always been a major part of the curriculum at both Primary and Secondary level, and the two schools and the merged college are no exception. It is not really possible to list all excursions that have been undertaken by students at the schools, but a short list follows. While many of these excursions occurred in the time before the merger in 2007, and also in the years leading up to 2011, they were an established feature of the College between 2011 and 2015, and as such emphasise the wide nature of the curriculum provided by the College.

Students Horse-riding at Log Cabin Lodge in 2002

Students with Ballarat MP Catherine King during Canberra camps

Primary [and now Junior School] students have visited wildlife parks, Sovereign Hill, been introduced to the joys of farming at Back Creek [and other] farms over the years. They also went to Fairy Park at Anakie and went on transport excursions around Ballarat. Middle and Senior students also went to some of those places, but they also visited the Children’s Literature display at Dromkeen, went on walking tours to look at statues in Sturt Street and travelled to Melbourne to various locations. Questacon at Williamstown was one such location, and over several years representative students from the College have travelled down to the Shrine of Remembrance to attend wreath laying ceremonies for ANZAC Day. Many of the Senior Student excursions have been related to their studies, with English students travelling to performances of Shakespearean plays they were studying, or visiting places related to their scientific or mathematical studies. Some Media students also visited the offices of The Age newspaper to look at how a modern newspaper is published.

Board, Administration and Staff Changes

As the two schools merged in 2006/7 and enrolments began to rise, it was inevitable that new staff would come into the College and others would leave. A full list of staff who have taught in both the Primary School [under its various names], Ballarat Christian College prior to the merger and Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 is provided at the end of this book. However, it is pleasing to note and acknowledge some of those people who have had long involvement in one or other of the organisations over the years, either in the classroom or in administration of the schools’ affairs.

Mention has already been made of the part that was played in the development of the Primary School by Mr Neville Hawkins as one of the founding members of the school and President of the Primary School Board for the first 15 or more years of its existence. His vision drove the small Carmel Christian Community School forward as it expanded to the Vickers Street property and eventually became Ballarat Christian School before merging to become part of Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12.

Another gentleman who shared that vision with Neville during the early 1980s was Mr Chris Duke. Chris had been a Secondary teacher and he was involved in the steering committee that eventually became the Carmel Board of which he was Vice-Chairman until 1989. In 1992 he became a member of the Parents and Friends Association of Sebastopol Christian Community School and in 1999 he became the Chairman of the newly formed Ballarat Christian College Board. He held that position until the end of 2013 when he retired from the Board. Chris was a capable leader and always had a passion for the forward movement of Christian Education in Ballarat. Chris presided over a period of rapid change and expansion in the College and worked closely with all of the principals from Peter McNamara to the current principal Kerry Hutton. His wife Judy, who sadly passed away in 2014, was a member of staff at Ballarat Christian College for several years.

Students on excursion

Mr Neville Hawkins

Mr Chris Duke

Staff have come and gone from both schools over the years. Some have been at the College for many years while others have only stayed a short time. In the period between 2011 and 2015 two staff members, who had 22 years of service to Christian education in Ballarat between them, left the College. They both had an impact on the College in a number of areas.

Chris Aiton came to the College in 2004 as a Mathematics and Science teacher and also brought Information Technology expertise with him. He was instrumental in many advances in that area during his time as well as expanding the range of Science and Mathematics subjects offered at VCE level. However, his main contribution to the life of the College was in the Senior School. He was the first Secondary Coordinator appointed by Principal Hutton in 2010, and then was the first Head of Secondary from 2009 onwards. His title changed to Head of Senior School in 2011 with the introduction of the Junior, Middle and Senior School structure. Chris introduced many new ideas to study at the top end of the College including VCAL in 2010 and the ’Readiness for Senior Studies’ program in 2011. Another innovation was the establishment of the Senior Senate whereby a number of Year 11 and 12 students became part of an additional student representative group who worked closely with both Mr Aiton and Mr Hutton to address various issues in that area of the College. At the end of 2013 Mr Aiton left Ballarat to take up the position of Principal at Shepparton Christian College.

Mr Max Duthie arrived at the College two years before Mr Aiton, when he left the Victorian Education Department and came to the new campus at 111A Yarrowee Street to assist the College in its move into the Victorian Certificate of Education study program. He was a qualified English and SOSE teacher as well as having taught VCE Information Technology. Mr Duthie was responsible for all aspects of senior studies from 2002 to 2007 including VET courses and Distance Education subjects, and he also organised locations for students to sit for their year 12 VCE examinations. Mr Duthie was also the Head of English for most of his time until the end of 2008 when he moved from the position of VCE Coordinator to take up a role as Resource Manager and Librarian. He stayed in the Library until the end of 2013, when he retired from teaching. In his time in both the English department and the Library he worked tirelessly to increase the level of Christian texts in the College, both those studied in classrooms and those on the shelves in the library. He organised Book Fairs at which Christian books from the Koorong Christian Bookshop in Melbourne were sold at the College to provide students, staff and parents with an opportunity or purchase good quality Christian books and music. Since retirement, he has maintained close ties with the College including the writing of this history.

Pastor Liz Bailey is another visionary who has been passionately devoted to the cause of Christian Education in Ballarat since arriving here in 1996 with her husband, as he took on a pastor’s role in a local church. As pastors of Ballarat Christian Fellowship, Rob and Liz, along with their church became closely involved with the running of Sebastopol Christian Community School, and Pastor Liz taught Christian living to Primary students for many years. She also was involved in the Christian Studies program in the Secondary school after it moved to 111A Yarrowee Street and served on both Boards over the years. Pastor Liz graciously stepped into the role of interim Principal of Ballarat Christian College on two occasions when the incumbent principals resigned, and she led the College through some difficult times.

Mr Chris Aiton –Head of Senior School

Pastor Liz Bailey –Board Member, Christian Living Teacher and Interim Principal

Mr Max Duthie –Librarian

Conclusion: The End or the Beginning?

As the history of the College comes to an end at the conclusion of this chapter, it is time to reflect on the events of the past 30 years. Thirty years ago 22 children began their schooling in a small church hall on the southern end of Ballarat as part of a bold endeavour to provide a Christian-based education for the children of Ballarat and district. This endeavour has grown into a modern Christian College campus, with over 300 students from Prep to Year 12 studying a full curriculum that has Christ and His teachings as an integral part of that curriculum. It is an educational organisation which is recognised in Ballarat and district as a viable educational alternative for Christian parents who are concerned about the secularisation of education in this world

Today’s Ballarat Christian College is dedicated to academic excellence and the Gospel. As we look back to the beginning, we can raise our Ebenezer and say “Hitherto has the Lord helped us” (I Samuel 7:12); while at the same time we can take Solomon’s words as our motto for the next 30 years, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

As we farewell Principal Hutton at the end of 2015 and anticipate the arrival of God’s chosen person for the role of Principal in 2016 we can be sure that God will continue to bless and prosper the College in the years to come.

Chapter 7

The Christian Distinctive: Not Only in Name, But Also In Practice Introduction

Each of the schools described in this history had the word ‘Christian’ in their name. From Carmel Christian Community School through Sebastopol Christian Community School, Ballarat Christian School and Ballarat Christian College to Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12, they all made no secret of the fact that they offered a ‘Christian’ alternative to secular education for the children and young people of Ballarat. Although there were other schools and colleges in the city which were associated with churches, the schools which are the topic of this history were cross denominational and held allegiance to the basic tenets of Christianity. Just how these principles were evidenced in the daily operation of the schools from Day 1 of Carmel Christian Community School to the present time is the purpose of this chapter.

Since the Christian Faith was an integral part of each and every aspect of the schools from Carmel to the current College, this is a complex issue to deal with. To unravel that complexity, this chapter will consider the topic in several ways. The historical aspect of how each school developed a system for making Christianity a part of every aspect of the school laid the basis for the robust curriculum and extracurricular activities that are a part of Ballarat Christian College today. Those curricular and extracurricular aspects form the basis of the teaching and learning that is an essential part of the Christian faith as evidenced in the College.

Finally, since the aim of the College in its various forms is for every student to know Christ and to reach their full potential in Him as they express their faith in service, a discussion of the holistic aspect of the Christian Distinctive under the headings of Salvation, Discipleship, Knowledge and Service is intrinsic to such a discussion. This merger of ‘learning the faith’ and ‘living the faith’ is essential to understanding how what we learn and know must become what we do. The first four elements will be considered as a part of the historical development of the schools as ‘Christian’ schools, while the aspect of ‘service’ will form the link between these two aspects of the Christian faith.

Historical Development

The first classes held in 1985 were in the Bethel Hall of Carmel Welsh Presbyterian Church. That fact, and the further facts that until 1990 classes were held in relocatable buildings on the Carmel site, did not mean that the school was a Presbyterian school. In fact it was a cross-denominational school, and in its present day format, it continues to be unique in that it brings together a large number of Christian teachers from many Protestant denominations, all of whom are united together in the aim of bringing students to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. In the very early days of the school the Christian faith was an integral part of each class and each teacher based their lessons on the academic needs and the spiritual needs of each student. In a small school with relatively small classes it was possible to share the faith in many different ways.

Visitors to the school and the classroom often came to share their experiences. Notable visitors in that aspect were Uncle Ken and Aunty Dorothy, a retired couple from Melbourne, who came regularly to the Vickers Street school to share the Gospel with the children in story and games. Overseas missionaries or those who had visited mission fields were regular visitors to the Primary classrooms to share their experiences. Every aspect of the school life was dedicated to God, and as new buildings were erected on site, services were often held for that purpose and the students expressed their faith through singing.

The Bible is the Basis of our Faith

In a similar way, when Ballarat Christian College began as a secondary school in 1999, the same dedication to God and the teaching of the Christian faith was evident in the operation of the college. However, since the curriculum at secondary level is structured in a different way, the Christian element was also present in all of the subjects that were taught at all levels. During 1999 Pastor Bob Gray (the newly arrived Carmel pastor) came to the College to teach H.O.T. Faith [aka Heroes Of The Faith] to the students, while Mrs Heather Gray taught them Indonesian as a LOTE subject. Visiting speakers and Christian musicians also supplemented those lessons during Chapel sessions.

The basis of all of this development can be summarised in a comment from Pastor Steve Shaw, the first chaplain to be appointed to any of the schools under the Federal Government ‘Chaplains in Schools’ program in 2008. His comment applies to the Secondary College, but can easily be extrapolated to include the Primary School under its various names. He said:

“This school was founded by individuals who were committed to honouring God in establishing a school where the Bible had a preeminent place, where the Gospel was actively preached, and where students could be encouraged and challenged to choose to follow the Saviour.” (Interview with Steve Shaw, 2015)

Staff who came to teach in the schools were required to be committed Christians who were active in their local church, and they were encouraged to deepen their Christian faith through regular Bible Study and additional studies where possible. Each school practised a morning devotion and prayer time as part of the staff briefing and this continues at the present time. Morning devotions and prayer times have been and still are a regular part of the Homeroom group for each class each morning, and in 2014 it became a regular feature in the College where senior students came to lower Homeroom classes and gave the morning devotion once a week as part of their Christian service.

In the late 1990s the Primary School began to teach a separate subject known as Christian Living as part of the curriculum. Initially the subject was taught by the classroom teacher; although later much of it began to be taught by Pastor Liz Bailey from a program produced by Christian Education Publishers. This practice continued until 2007 when Ken Nuridin took on teaching Christian Living to all Primary classes from a curriculum that he had rewritten. In 2012, the Junior School adopted a new curriculum based on a program called Positive Action Bible Program, and this is still in use in 2015.

Pastor Bob Gray –Teacher of H.O.T. Faith

Uncle Ken & Aunty Dot, regular visitors to the Primary Classrooms

Mr Milne has been to Bolivia

From around 2002 when the College moved completely to the 111A Yarrowee Street site, Homeroom teachers began to teach Christian Living classes to their Homeroom group. Initially, the curriculum was decided by conference between the Homeroom teachers for Years 7 to 9, while students in Years 11 and 12 actually studied a VCE subject called Religion in Society Units 1 & 2, studying one unit per year from 2002 to 2005. This began to alter during 2005 when two teachers in the College became concerned at the secular nature of the VCE subject, and began to search for a suitable subject which was evangelical in nature and was also strongly Bible based.

After Max Duthie (VCE Coordinator) and Rob Ferguson (Christian Studies Coordinator) had considered a small number of alternative courses, but had not been able to discover a suitable replacement for the VCE subject, they were visited by representatives of Cornerstone Community in New South Wales about camping and leadership programs that the community offered. In the course of discussion, they also mentioned that the community offered a VET (Vocational Education and Training) course called Certificate 3 in Christian Studies. This course seemed to ‘fit the bill’ exactly for Senior Christian Studies at the College, and so an agreement was entered into by which the College was licenced to deliver the course to senior students. This licensing agreement continued until 2015 when the College purchased the Certificate, and it will be offered in 2016 as part of the College VET Registered Training Organisation scope. The course was studied full time by Cornerstone students in their first year in the community, but initially it was decided to split the course over the last three years of secondary study. So, in 2006 Year 10 students began to study the Certificate 3 in Christian Studies. During the first two years of the course, an alternative Christian Studies course entitled ‘The Beach’ was developed and taught by Rob Ferguson. The title alluded to the fact that “the Beach is the place where you don’t stress (no assessment) and let the Son (sun) do His (it’s) work!”

As another part of the introduction of the Certificate 3 course to Year 10 in 2006, Pastor Rob also redesigned the Christian living courses from years 7 to 9. Up until that point, classroom teachers had been responsible for the curriculum, but the new course was a preparation for what came to be known as the ’Cert3’ course.

Mr Max Duthie

Rev Rob Ferguson

In a PowerPoint presentation on the new courses, Pastor Rob differentiated between the main aim of the 7 to 10 curriculum and its academic aims when he said that the main aim was “to challenge students to explore and respond to God’s call to them (discipleship & spirituality)” while the two academic aims were “to address the five KLAs with integrity” and “… to prepare students to enter the Certificate III in Christian Studies course by providing a solid biblical, theological and apologetic foundation.”

The KLAs referred to were adaptations of the five strand approach to Christian learning suggested by Dr Peter Vardy which were as follows:

1. To equip students to handle the Scriptures confidently and competently

2. To encourage and develop a theological literacy within students

3. To educate students to plan, implement and evaluate their actions in ethical terms as disciples of Jesus Christ

4. To introduce students to the relative claims, values and beliefs of other faiths/ worldviews and to evaluate them in the light of Christian truth

5. To allow students to explore and experience different traditions of Christian spirituality and discipleship

So, it can be seen from this that the Christian Living course at the secondary level of the College set out to ensure that students would “study to show themselves approved unto God, workmen who need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

The first Year 12 students to graduate with a Certificate III in Christian Studies were awarded their certificates in 2008, and up until Pastor Rob left the College at the end of 2012, over 60 students had graduated. That number continued to climb under the leadership of Mr Mick Kennedy, and the course now runs over two years with Year 10 students studying a course designed to prepare them for the Certificate course in year 11. VCAL students are also able to undertake a modified certificate course designed for them.

The First Certificate 3 Graduates – 2008.

The Christian Distinctive: Fully Integrated and Practical

As we have said, the first four aspects of the Christian distinctive offered by the schools since 1985 are illustrated when we look at how each school has strived to develop a curriculum which not only satisfies the Key Learning Areas that were required by the State Education Department under Curriculum and Standards Frameworks II and also in the new Australian Curriculum statements, but also has the additional focus of teaching students about the basis of the Christian Faith and how they should live that faith out in their daily lives.

As many teachers in the schools over the years [the author included] have commented that the essential difference between teaching in Ballarat Christian College as compared to other schools is that ‘here your Christian faith is an integral part of everything you do each day as a teacher’, and this is reflected in the many opportunities that students have to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to deepen that relationship as they grow in their faith. It is, and has been, the desire of all associated with the Primary and Secondary Schools over the years for every student to meet Jesus and realise that they need to know Him as their personal Saviour. From that point on, the aim has been to provide the knowledge the students need to live a Christian life and to follow the teachings as contained in the Scriptures. The last aspect of this Christian Distinctive is to challenge staff and students alike to live out that knowledge in active Christian service, and many opportunities are provided to assist them in this aspect.

Since both schools began, staff have met for prayer and briefing each morning. This is carried over into devotional times in each room where students have the opportunity to hear God’s word and to pray for others. We have already shown how the curriculum is prepared from a Christian Worldview and how a specific subject is included in the curriculum to provide extra teaching.

The Statement of Faith outlines what the College Board believes are the necessary beliefs for teachers to recognise in their lives and teaching, while the Mission Statement describes how those beliefs are to be transferred into the daily life of the College. The need for staff to realise the importance of these statements has always been realised, but since the arrival of Principal Hutton, and the subsequent appointment of Pastor Steve Shaw as Chaplain to the College, this has been recognised in two ways.

Pastor Shaw held regular teaching sessions on the Statement of Faith and other studies such as the Truth Project as a normal part of Staff Meetings during the year to inform and challenge teaching staff. All staff have been encouraged to go on a Retreat each year where deeper studies are provided. One of these was a session in 2007 where Ray Tiller, a Principal from Lighthouse Christian College in Keysborough, showed the staff what it meant to develop and hold a Christian Worldview and how that transferred into curriculum development in the classroom. Some of this teaching was mirrored in Christian School Australia conferences for student School leaders, which the College Captains were able to attend from 2004 onwards.

Students are given frequent opportunities to ‘live out their faith’ by participating in Chapel services which are a regular part of the College activities. Since the merger and subsequent three tiered school organisation, separate Chapel services have been held for Junior and Senior students to enable them to contribute by singing or playing in worship, and either listening to or delivering messages.

School Leaders Conference

Whole School Chapel

Mr Ray Tiller

In 2005 some of the senior students at Ballarat Christian College instituted a morning prayer service once a year called See You At The Pole [SYATP] based on an American College meeting where school students who are Christians gather at their school’s flag pole to pray. This service has continued until the present day and is often followed by a Pancake Breakfast.

Christians who are either serving God as missionaries or as entertainers, or in many other ways have been frequent visitors to Chapel times to challenge the students. Christian artists who have visited the College in recent years include Australian artist Aliki who has been two or three times, Compliments of Gus – a Victorian band, and in 2012 international artist Don Francisco visited the College while he was in Ballarat as part of an Australian concert tour.

Several students have had the opportunity to visit overseas mission locations such as India, and Vanuatu while they were at the College (including a trip to Israel in 2010 with Pastor Rob) and have been able to serve others in those locations. Many students have been involved in mission activity of many types since leaving the College and have returned to speak of their experiences at Chapel. Two students are currently serving as short-term missionaries overseas. All of these activities have enabled students to be challenged turn their knowledge into action, and live a practical Christian life.

Students have also been able to undertake Christian service to the community outside the College. The Year 9 Ministry Camps enabled students to visit other churches and schools and share their testimonies and abilities in leading services. Practical activities include going out into the community each week and serving others in a variety of ways. Students have always been encouraged to give to those less fortunate than themselves and many children in other parts of the world have been blessed by the giving of Ballarat Christian College students over the years. The current partnership with SPARSH Academy is an example of long term commitment to a cause, while the yearly preparation of Operation Christmas Child boxes also illustrates Christian love. Other avenues of service available to Ballarat Christian College include announcers on Ballarat Good News Radio and, within the Senior School students operate Ekklesia as a student operated Bible Study.

SPARSH Academy – our sister school in Northern India

Students gather for prayer at the Flagpole

Don Francisco at BalCC 2012

So, in conclusion it can be seen that each school, Primary and Secondary, have operated since they began with a Christian Distinctive in all areas of school life. The curriculum is prepared from a Christian worldview, delivered with a view to introducing students to Jesus, and students are given an opportunity to live out their faith in a wide range of opportunities. The College as an organisation has always been willing to take a stand on contentious issues and to state the Christian response to changing standards in our modern society.

One choice and two statements summarise the Christian Distinctive in Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12.

The choice was made by Principal Hutton and Max Duthie as they listened to students singing the Christian song ‘In Christ Alone’ at a chapel service in 2007. They both felt that this song clearly stated the ethos of the College.

The first lines of the song, “In Christ alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This Cornerstone, this solid ground, Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.” seemed to establish the Christian foundation of the College, The copyright was obtained and the song became the College Anthem.

The first statement comes from the ‘Principal’s Notes’ in the Soul Connection of May 21st 2009. He said …

“Ballarat Christian College is a community in Christ. It is not a school with a bit of Christianity as a side dish. It is not a school which just carves out the politically correct bits of the faith – values, morals and so on – then ignores the Creator who made these. It is a school which honours Jesus Christ as the head and heart of the institution … .”

Continuing that theme is a quotation from author C. S. Lewis who was one of the foremost Christian authors in the middle part of the twentieth century. He said “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

With these statements in mind, the reader can be assured that as long as the school is given the grace to continue to operate as a Christian school, it will hold to the importance of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith as the cornerstone of its purpose.

Chapter 8

Behind the Scenes: Boards, Administration and Parent Groups

Although the purpose for the existence of any educational institution is to educate students for post-school life, the smooth operation of any school relies on the integration of the efforts of three distinct groups of people with the assistance of a fourth support group.

The first group may be known as the Board, Council, or Executive. In these schools, the term Board has been the one applied to the group of people who have a passion for Christian Education and wish to see a school established to provide that education for Ballarat students. The Board decides on broad policy directions that they wish the school to follow, to grow and positively influence the range of subjects and the ethos of the school. They then employ a principal, whose role it is to hire staff to implement those policies in the school.

The Principal and teaching staff deliver a curriculum that embodies the general policies determined by the Board. They source material to assist them in that delivery, and are responsible for the day to day operation in and out of the classroom; as well as ensuring that the overall operation of the school is effective and efficient. However, their task is primarily that of curricular and extracurricular activities associated with the students. To enable that to occur smoothly, there is a third group who are a vital part of the operation of the school.

The Business Manager, Office Manager and the office workers who carry out reception duties, secretarial and clerical assistance, assist the Principal and the teachers to fulfil the educational aims of the Board. This group includes those involved in. As a school’s enrolment grows, the number of staff employed in this area also increases.

Finally, the support group formed from those parents who take a vital interest in their child’s education is an integral part of any school, but even more so in a developing school such as the Christian schools that are the subject of this history. In the early days of both the Primary and Secondary schools, this parent group often took on the role performed by office staff, as well as cleaning and maintenance staff. Without that support in the early days, it is sometimes questionable whether or not the schools would have grown and developed as they did. In that way, those early parents were as much pioneers as those staff that came to teach at the fledgling schools.

Primary Board

An Interim Board chaired by Neville Hawkins operated from 1984 until 1987. Winston Broad as Principal was a member, and Pam White was the secretary. Members during those years and into the early years of the school included Chris Duke, Colin Jenkins, Les Lindorff, Peter Prendergast, Eric Watson and David Westaway. Some of those Board members were members of the Carmel Welsh Presbyterian Church in recognition of the assistance that the church gave to the school in allowing them the use of church land.

In 1987 as the school became an Incorporated Association, a new Board was established. The Executive of that Board consisted of Neville Hawkins as President, Pam White as Secretary, and Chris Duke as Vice President. Pam served as secretary until 1988 when Rosemary Young took on that role. In 1988 David Westaway replaced Chris Duke as Vice President. Both Rosemary and David served until at least 1994. Other Board members during the first 10 years included Col Abram, Colin Handreck, Julie Howard, and Frank Russell. Parent Representatives during that time included Chris Duke, Colin Handreck and Charles Milne. Winston Broad, Joy McRae and Terry Pert served on the Board as ex-officio Principals in the first 10 years and this practice continued until the Primary School merged with Ballarat Christian College in 2007. Norma Higgins served in an ex-officio capacity during her time as Principal in 2001-2, and then continued as a full member of the Ballarat Christian School Board until 2005. Glenda Brown was also a member of that Board during the early 2000s, and she then became a member of the Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 Board when it was formed. As mentioned elsewhere, Neville Hawkins resigned from the Primary Board in 2000, and Pastor Rob Bailey held the position of Chairman until the merger in 2007.

Secondary Board

The Ballarat Christian College Board began operations in 1999. Initially the Board was chaired by Mr George Moran who had been instrumental in establishing the College under the Christian Schools System. Mr Geoff Weatherby also assisted Mr Moran in establishing the College. Early members included Chris Duke who became a Board Member in 1999 and also became Board Chairman in that year, a position he held until the end of 2012. Pastor Liz Bailey also came on to the Board in 1999 and served for many years. Other Board members in the years from 1999 to 2006 (the last year of the Board of Ballarat Christian College) included Adrian Morley, Charles Milne, David Stickland, Glenda Brown , Pastor Paul Burnham and Susan Pickard.

Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 Board

In 2007 a new Board was established as the controlling body of Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 a limited company. During the merger year of 2006, Chris Duke and Pastor Rob Bailey, as chairs of the two Boards of the schools that had merged, served as Joint Chairs until Chris Duke became Chairman of the Board in 2007. He held that position until his retirement from the Board in 2013. Charles Milne held a Board position as secretary of the newly formed company.

James Leviston became the new Chairman in 2013, but a serious accident saw him relinquish that role at the end of 2013; and Justin Templar became the Chairman, a position which he holds at the present moment. Members of the new Board have included Tania McLaren, Martin Messemaker, Glenda Brown, Dr John Fisher, Rev Paul Burnham, David Stickland, Malcolm Wood, Pastor Blake Moore, Heather Stokes, Susan Pickard, Howard Williams, Steve How, James Leviston, Don Gall, Justin Templar, Pastor Harley Byrne and Peter Veal.

Principals

The various Principals of both schools and Colleges are mentioned in the history chapters, but as a ready reference, they are listed here with the years that they served in the position.

Primary

Mr Winston Broad

Dr Joy McRae

Mr Terry Pert

Mr Norman Shellard

Mrs Norma Higgins

1985 to 1988

1989 to 1991

1992 to 1998

1999 to mid 2001

mid 2001 to mid 2002 (Acting Principal)

Mr Howard Drough mid 2002 to mid 2006

Secondary

Mr Peter McNamara

Dr John Fisher

Ps Liz Bailey

1999 to T1 2001

T2 2001 to T2 2003

T3 & 4 2003 (Acting Principal)

Mr Geoff Gay 2004 to T3 2005

Ps Liz Bailey

T4 2005 to T1 2006 (Acting Principal)

Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12

Mr Kerry Hutton

T2 2006 to 2015

As mentioned elsewhere, Principal Hutton is currently supported by 3 Heads of School as follows: Mr Ken Nuridin (Head of Junior School), Mrs Rebecca Montgomery (Head of Middle School) and Mr Trent Loader (Head of Senior School).

Ken Nuridin Rebecca Montgomery Trent Loader

Teaching Staff

There have been many people who have taught at both the Primary and Secondary schools over the years since 1985 and 1999, and also at Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 since 2007. Teachers who were employed on a permanent basis are listed in a later chapter. There were other teachers came in on a casual basis to teach classes or subjects at both schools, and some of these volunteered their time.

In the early years of both schools many of those came in for short periods and taught one or two subjects. Some of those names appear lost in the mists of time, while others are readily available. So to avoid confusion or omission, we pay credit now to the hard work done by so many to help establish Carmel Christian Community School and Ballarat Christian College in the early years and also those who still volunteer or visit Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 today. Without their assistance, both schools and the College today would be poorer places.

Administration, Office and Others

As mentioned previously, any educational organisation could not function without an array of financial, clerical, cleaning and maintenance staff. The work done by people in financial and clerical staff frees teachers to teach, while cleaners and grounds people ensure that the teachers work in a safe environment. This applies not only to classroom teachers but also to the Principal who has final responsibility for the operation of the school but needs those people below him ‘taking the load’ to enable him to do his job efficiently.

In both schools, most of the office work was done in the beginning by volunteers. As each school grew, people stepped up to take on more formal roles. In the Primary School, Kaye Reed gave invaluable help over the years and many others assisted her in the day to day clerical work. After the Primary School moved to Vickers Street in 1991, others came in to assist in the office including Nickie Peters, Julie Cox and Jacqui Howse. Financial matters are always a concern, and the Primary School was fortunate to have the services of men like Malcolm Peel who assisted the school as it moved its accounting operations on to computers in the early 2000s.

Ballarat Christian College was also fortunate to have the services of Mr Charles Milne as Bursar from very early in the life of the College. Mr Milne continued to serve in that capacity when the College moved to its permanent home at 111A Yarrowee Street in 2002 and he continued in the position of Bursar and Business Manager until he left the College at the end of 2008. Charles was replaced for the short term by Mr Peter George, and then Mrs Julie Ann Lorca travelled down from Ararat to fill the role for some time. In 2011, she went back to Western Australia with her husband who was a pastor, and Neville Findlay the current Business Manager was appointed to the position.

Parents who volunteered their time to act as receptionists and office workers between 1999 and 2001 included Rose Gregg, Tracey Ridgway (who also did the book-keeping), Carolyn Leviston Lorraine Gilham, Karen Smith, Michael Smith and Sandra Parkinson. In May 2001 Sandra Morgan was appointed to the position of School Assistant for 3 days a week. Sandra has continued to serve the College faithfully since then and she is now the Principal’s Secretary after being the receptionist and general office person for many years.

Mrs Kaye Reed Primary Office Worker 1980s and 1990s.

Mr Charles Milne Mr Neville Findlay

As the College grew and merged with the Primary School, Sandra was joined by Jacqui Howse, Marilyn Hoare, Colleen Serfozo, Heather McInerney, Dianne Matthews, Christine Beswick, Donna McGilligan and Delyse Thomas to name but a few. Many others have come in and volunteered their time to assist in the office over the years.

As the administrative work for the College increased, it became necessary to appoint an Office Manager to assist the Business Manager in the general running of the office and also in the purchasing area. Mr David Stickland came into that role in 2008 and he was succeeded by Mr Kelvin Wood. Kelvin left the College at the end of 2014 to take on the Business manager at Shepparton Christian College and Mr David Pettit was appointed early in 2015.

Supporting the School: Parents and Friends

The three groups listed above are either those who give the school direction, or those who follow the direction determined and those who administer the business side of the school. The fourth group is one which is completely voluntary in nature, but one without which the school would not be able to do the many things that enhance the life of the students. These are the many parents who, aside from volunteering their time in various ways around the school, become part of a support structure which is known by many names and exists to assist the school in financial ways where possible. Both the Primary School and the Secondary College had a group of parents who supported their child’s school. The primary group was known as the Parent Support Group, while the Secondary group was called the Parents and Friends (P&F) in the days of Ballarat Christian College from 1999 until 2006. The P&F at Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 operated for a short time after 2006 when Principal Hutton approached Steve How to head up a new organisation called the Community Support Network. This had the aim of widening the activity of the old P&F and under Steve’s leadership it began to be a valuable asset to the College. Sadly, Steve died suddenly in 2008 and was missed by all who knew and worked with him.

The CSN continued to operate in its original form although it did have a name change for operational purposes to Parents and Friends. The group continues to provide support for a number of projects around the College and early in 2015 a hard-court area was opened in front of the Year 9 classrooms to provide an additional outdoor ball games area. Fundraising events organised by the P&F include Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls, Pie Drives, Barn Dances, Family Fun Days and a Car Boot Sale. Over the years the P&F have also organised an annual Trivia Night which has proved very popular. Although the number of parents who are active at committee and general meetings is often small, the enthusiasm and effort of those members who contribute to the many activities, more than makes up any numerical lack.

So, each of these groups has been vital to the establishment and growth of Christian Education in the form as practised by Carmel Christian Community School through to Ballarat Christian School, and by Ballarat Christian College, and by the merged Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12.

An increase In Administration Staff

Mrs Sandra Morgan – Receptionist, Office Worker & Principal’s Secretary. 2001 to present

Chapter 9 Teaching Staff and Teacher Aides

In any school the role of the classroom or subject teacher is paramount. This chapter recognises those who have been permanent teachers in the Primary School from 1985 until 2005, the Secondary College from 1999 until 2005 and Ballarat Christian College from 2006 onwards to the current year. It also acknowledges the valuable work done by those who came into the classroom to assist the teachers in their work. Space and time do not permit the location and naming of the many teachers who came into the schools either as volunteer trained teachers or assistants for short periods over the last 30 years, or of the people who were employed on a casual basis as Relief Teachers. Nor has it been possible to precisely identify the year levels or subjects that each teacher has been involved in during their time on one or other of the schools.

The second group of people who are essential for the smooth running of classrooms today are the Teacher Aides. These people come in to assist the teacher either in preparation of teaching material or to provide one-on-one or small group assistance for students, under the direction of teaching staff, who have learning difficulties or require other forms of assistance, From the early days of the Primary and Secondary Schools right up to the present day, these aides have been both voluntary workers (often parents) or paid employees, with the trend in recent years towards long term, part time, paid employees.

The following list has been compiled from photographic records, and also Yearbooks and Newsletters from all schools involved. It is as accurate as possible, and the author apologises in advance to any person who feels their contribution has been ignored. Although the details about all who were involved either as teachers or as aides has been recorded, accurate records were not consistently available for the years during which a particular teacher or aide was employed, as some teachers came and went over a period of years. If a teacher or aide was employed at both the Primary School and the Secondary College prior to the merger of staff lists in 2007, their name appears in both lists. The list is divided into three sections, the Primary School from 1985 to 2006, the Secondary College from 1999 to 2006 and the Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 from 2007 to 2015. Each list includes the names of teachers and teacher aides who worked in one or other of the schools from 1985 until 2015. Each list is in alphabetical order and also includes Principals who taught as part of their role. Titles or honorifics are not included in these lists.

The earliest photo of Carmel CCS staff, earlier photos were with the whole school

Primary School: 1985 to 2006

Teaching Staff

Bailey, Liz

Bub, Narelle

Campbell, Vi

Dobbin, Lisa

Dusting, Robin

Frost, Lucas

Gall, Julie

Glynn, Paula

Goodson, Andrew

Hayes, Britta

Higgins, Norma

Howell, Paul

Jones, Jenny

Lindner, Rosemary

McCrae, Joy

McPherson, Adelaide

Milne, Dianne

Nuridin, Ken

Pascoe, Tammy

Paxman, Heather

Pedder, Chris

Pert, Dorothy

Shaw, Sharron

Sprague, Ruth

Tudball, Andrea

Van den Hoek, Theresa

Veal (nee Sobey) Carolyn

Young, Rosemary

Teacher Aides

Jones, Jenny

Mason, Adam

Sprague, Ruth

Ballarat Christian School Staff in 2005, prior to merger

Ballarat Christian College: 1999 to 2006

Teaching Staff

Aiton, Chris

Bailey, Grace

Bailey, Liz

Corden, John

Donohue, Jackie

Duke, Judy

Duthie, Max

Ferguson, Rob

Fisher, John

Fisher, Marlie

Gay, Geoff

Gay, John

Gray, Bob

Gray, Heather

Hanson, Robyn

Heffer, Nicole

Higgins, Norma

Howlett, Gwendolyn

Hutchinson, Jay

Loader, Sylvia

Loader, Trent

McKenzie, Scott

McMahon, Sue

McNamara, Peter

Rowbotham, Coralie

Saw, Sharron

Stewart, David

Teaching Aides

Courtney, Debbie

Trewin, Eileen

Harkness, Kerry

Ballarat Christian College Staff in 2002 after the move to 111A Yarrowee Street

Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12: 2007 to 2015

Teaching Staff

Aiton, Chris

Aiton, Mable

Bailey, Grace

Bailey, Liz

Brown, Glenda

Byrne, Ruthie

Clough, Carol

Collins, Michelle

Colvin, Rachel

Corden, John

Corrin, David

Cox, Jorline

Curmi (nee Khoder), Nafoose

Duke, Judy

Duthie, Max

Farquhar, Karen

Ferguson, Rob

Francica, Bianca

Gall, Don

Gall, Julie

Glynn, Paula

Greene (nee Dunn), Giselle

Henderson, David

Higgins, Norma

Howlett, Gwendolyn

John, Raelene

Johnson, Kirsty

Jones, Jenny

Kennedy, Mick

Kynoch, Andrew

Laursen, Nicole

Loader, Sylvia

Loader, Trent

McKenzie, Scott

McPhan, Melissa

Mitaxa, Judy

Montgomery, Rebecca

Neumann, David

Nuridin, Ken

O’Hara, Melissa

Parrish, Linda

Paxman, Heather

Peachey, Kate

Poole, Tanya

Rogers, Tim

Shaw, John

Shaw, Steve

Strange, Glen

Stevens, Georgie

Tauelangi, Susie

Templar, Kaylene

Teo, Cha Ling

Tong, Margaret

Van Egmond (nee Iro) Michelle

Veal (nee Sobey), Carolyn

Vinson, Alison

Walton, Daniella

Weightman, Kylie

Westblade, Emily

Wilksch, Clare

Withers, Krissie

Weightman, Kylie

Teacher Aides

Cahir, Sandy

Coleman, Helen

Corden, Susan

Darby, Dale

Doney, Kim

Duthie, Tania

Featherston, Linda

Fellows, Mandy

Harkness, Kerry

John, Rudi

Jones, Jenny

Prollius, Danielle

Landsdown, Cheryl

McMaster, Kerrin

Munro, Cassie

Pugh, Miranda

Ruddick, Pat

Sprague, Ruth

Ballarat Christian College (P to 12) Staff in 2015. Still growing!

Chapter 10

Extracurricular Activities

Education does not just take place in the classroom. There are many activities that occur outside the classroom in any school, and the two schools in this history are no exception. Since the Carmel Christian Community School opened its doors in 1985 and Ballarat Christian College enrolled its first students in 1999, both schools have offered opportunities for their students to enrich their learning with a variety of activities, some directly associated with classroom activities, such as sport, music and debating), while others (including sport and general involvement in community activities such as ANZAC Day) have taken students beyond the school boundaries.

Sport

This is possibly the area that has seen the most extracurricular activity across both schools and in the merged college. Students have been involved in sporting competitions right from the beginning of both schools. The Primary students competed at the Maryborough Athletics competition organised by the Christian Community Schools Association in the first year of the school and continued to do so up to and beyond the merger of the two schools. Ballarat Christian College students did not begin competing in the competition until 2002, and have been eager participants since then, with some of the students holding records in their respective events for many years. The carnival was always a place where students could try their best in a range of events. Students from the College continued to compete until the cessation of the carnival in recent years.

In 2008 the Christian Schools Sports Network was established (with input from both Scot McKenzie the College Sports Master, and Principal Hutton) and saw students being able to compete in a “wide variety of events including secondary swimming carnival, secondary cross country, primary cross country, secondary athletics and primary school sports carnival.” [Ballarat Christian College Yearbook 2008). In 2011, the Western District Christian Schools Sports Association competition was formed. This gave secondary students the opportunity to take part in Netball, Soccer, Basketball, Tennis and Softball. The College had a very successful year and the Year 7 to 10 Girls won the Softball competition and BalCC students won all of the Basketball competitions.

Carmel CC School at Maryborough in the 1980s

Ballarat Christian College Students at Maryborough 2007

2010 Futsal Team & Girls Bullets Basketball Team.

The latter was hardly surprising, as Basketball has been an integral part of the secondary college since 1999. In that year, several of the senior boys were involved in the Ballarat Basketball Association playing in a team called the Bullets. They continued to play in this team until 2003 when the College took on the team name and began to field a number of teams. This continued during the 2000s with girls’ teams also being fielded in the local competition with a fair degree of success. Senior students took on coaching roles for some of the junior teams, and staff and parents assisted as team managers. In recent years players from the Ballarat Miners have come to the College after school to tutor our primary students in the Aussie Hoops program as a way of saying thanks for the use of the Multi-Purpose Centre as an extra training location.

Basketball has continued to be an important part of College participation in sport in the wider community down through the years. Since College students began playing with the Bullets team in 1999, the teams have been quite successful, and have won many Ballarat Basketball Association Grand Finals. Apart from the hard training tha the teams have put in outside school hours, another important ingredient has been the support of the College community. It has surely helped the Bullets teams on Grand Final day, to see and hear, a large contingent of their fellow students, parents and teachers supporting them.

Other sports where students from the college have competed in the wider community have included Indoor Soccer (Futsal) and Netball. A variety of parents and staff have coached both the Futsal and Netball teams. Parents Phil Hourigan (who coached the Futsal teams from their inception in 20 ) and Charlie Cachia coached the Futsal teams, while staff and parents coached the girls in Netball. Staff members involved in this area included Glen Strange, David Corrin, Nafoose Curmi and David Neumann. The Netball teams have been blessed by the coaching talents of staff members including Krissie Withers, Rebecca Montgomery and Susianna Tauelangi, These ladies, along with many parents and some of the Secondary School students have gladly given of their time to coach the girls in Netball.

Another type of extracurricular activity came in the form of a Dance Group formed under the direction of parent Lisa Pierce in 2009. Lisa freely gave of her time and talents to train the younger students in choreographed dance moves and they entertained the College community at two concerts.

These extracurricular sports activities have encouraged students to learn to ‘live their faith’ on the fiercely competitive playing fields or courts. At the same time they have been encouraged to be active participants in sport in an age where many young people seem to find their leisure in indoor electronic game playing.

Music and Missions

As a Christian organisation, music was always a part of the classroom with chapel meetings being a regular part of the school week. In addition, students were encouraged to share their musical abilities with the wider community in musical presentations and performances, including visits to nursing homes and churches. A small choir under the direction of Carolyn Veal sang at the dedication of the Vickers Street School in 1992, and that was mirrored by a singing group under the leadership of Krissie Withers at the dedication of the Administration Building in 2008.

The music students had performed for the college community many times during the years and several Soirees had been held under the leadership of Mrs Robin Hanson after the secondary section had been established at 111A Yarrowee Street. This practice was continued by Mrs Krissie Withers after she came to the College in 2007. In 2007 the Art and Music Departments began to hold joint Art and Music festivals with the Art leadership coming from Judy Duke and Grace Bailey. In 2012 the event expanded to a Mrs

Krissie Withers Mrs Ruthie Byrne

combined Art and Music Festival under the leadership of Mr Tim Rogers and Mrs Carol Clough. This proved very popular with staff, students and parents and the festival has been held each year since then.

In 2011, Mrs Ruthie Byrne came to the College to work in the Music Department with Mrs Withers. Both ladies had a vision to form a College Band (which had also been a vision of Principal Hutton for many years), but the way ahead seemed difficult. Towards the end of that year, Mrs Byrne ‘had a dream’ to begin the band on a certain Wednesday and to call it ‘Crescendo’. She and Mrs Withers investigated sources to provide instruments at a reasonable cost for students and within a year there were 63 students in the band.

As the band membership grew it became apparent that something needed to be done to accommodate students of varying skill levels. A beginner’s band named ‘Allegro’ was formed, while the intermediate band retained the ‘Crescendo’ name. Both bands have competed at the Ballarat South Street Eisteddfod and also at the Regional Band Festival at Phoenix College. They have also performed at the Lions Christmas Community Concert and participated in instrumental masterclasses held across Ballarat. Both bands regularly perform at College Assemblies, Chapel Services as well as providing items at College Celebration Nights held in November each year. The bands have taken part in two Band Camps since their inception; in 2014 they combined with Shepparton Christian College, and in 2015 the camp was held at Log Cabin Lodge and culminated in a community concert at the College.

As well as the two major bands, several Worship Bands have been formed to assist in worship at the various College Assemblies which are held for the three schools each week. Two of these bands took part in a missions trip to Tasmania in 2014 and they performed at schools and churches as they played great music, preached, gave testimonies and were involved in children’s and youth ministry functions.

The Music department has also provided instrumental tuition over the years, ranging from piano and guitar through bass, drum and woodwind to singing coaches. In 2015 tuition in piano, woodwind, guitar and drum is offered along with cello and violin.

Ballarat Christian College P-12 Band - Crescendo

Both schools had put on musical performances as well over the years, with one highlight being the performance of “The Music Machine” by the Primary section of Ballarat Christian College in October 2009; where almost all students from all of classes in that section sang and danced their way through musical depictions of the Fruit of the Spirit. This was followed in 2011 by a performance of “Taking It Through the Day” by the secondary students aided and assisted by several staff members. In 2014 the college community was entertained by students from all sections of the College as they told the story of Esther a beautiful Jewess who came to the throne in Persia for ’such a time as this’. The standard of performance by all students involved in these productions was a testimony to the expertise and dedication of the music staff in the College.

Another innovation in the outreach of the College had begun in 2008 when Mr Hutton suspended the majority of the camping program that had been a feature of both schools through the years, and replaced it with a week-long activity known as Mission Week. Mission Week was to be held on alternate years, with the camping program taking its place in the other years. In his introduction to this program in 2008, Mr Hutton had said that the week promised “to be a time of learning, celebration and fun for all students. The week will be activities based, with mission to the students, and mission out via our students into the Ballarat community.” These aims continued in the years that Mission Week was held [2010, 2012 and 2014], as students learnt about mission activities firsthand from ‘real’ missionaries, and experienced putting the ‘how to’ into practice as they went out into the community. The whole college was involved in the activities, at first with special activities for the younger students, but in 2014 the groups were organised vertically and all students took part together in the various activities. One special visitor this year was a ‘horse whisperer’ from Queensland who demonstrated his skill to an enthralled audience of students and staff, and drew practical Christian lessons from his demonstrations.

The Mission Week program was a highlight of each year, but perhaps the highlight was reached in 2012 when all students were involved in the building of mud huts near the Creek extension. This project was a practical activity designed to help students understand the conditions in which many people in the world live. The ingredients of the ‘mud’ remain a close secret to this day. Each year, the activities have involved visitors from a large number of mission organisations from around Victoria and Australia, as well as local Christians who have shared their knowledge and expertise. The program has enabled students in all of the schools to gain a better understanding of what it means to be a ‘missionary’.

The Conductor and his Music Machine

Trampling the Mud

The King and Esther

Completed Mud Huts

Scene from Esther

Another example of the mission mind in the college has been the support of various missions both overseas and around Australia over the years. Both the Primary and Secondary Schools had supported children through a range of mission organisations over the years. However, in 2009 a new venture began as the school forged a special relationship with a school in northern India. Dr Nathan Grills had been operating a medical mission in India for some time and as a part of his travels he had made contact with a small Christian school that was operating in a highly Hindu area of India near where his medical mission operated. The school, known as the SPARSH Academy, was in desperate need of funds to equip the children and so he approached his uncle, Mr Max Duthie - a staff member at the College, about the possibility of the school funding some of the need. The issue was put to the staff, and as a result Ballarat Christian College began to sponsor students in the school. At that time it cost $A50 a year to sponsor a child, and as the school grew, so did the contribution and partnership between Ballarat Christian College and the SPARSH Academy. Currently it costs around $A100 per child each year, and the money goes towards educating the students and providing food for them as well as school uniforms.

The school has continued to support SPARSH and fund-raising events have been held each year under the leadership of Mrs Georgie Stevens a teacher in the Junior School. During recent years, extra funds have been provided to assist with extending the school building, and also to provide the Principal, known as Brother Francis, with a basic motor bike to travel around the local villages in his ministry. Mrs Stevens and other teachers and parents, along with some students have made visits to the school which is still lead by Brother Francis who began the school many years ago. From a one-room school with around 60 students, it has grown to a three roomed building housing over 80 students. Both the students in India and the students here in Ballarat have benefited greatly from the relationship. During these mission trips students and staff have helped train teachers, taken lessons on Australian animals and geography and have also donated Mathematics and English resources along with sports equipment.

In the latter years students from many areas of the school have also been involved in the ‘Operation Christmas Child’ program, where students collect suitable toys, clothes and other items and place them in shoe boxes. The completed boxes are then sent to less developed countries and distributed to children who may not otherwise receive Christmas presents.

One other area of outreach came in the form of the College involvement with Ballarat Good News Radio, a Christian radio station which has been operating in Ballarat since 1993. In his 2013 Yearbook Principal’s report, Mr Hutton made special mention of two students, Zach McKee and Amy Prollius. They had come to the secondary school in 2008, and had been asked by Mr Loader to assist him in presenting a program on the radio which was aimed at students. They began in 2008 as Year 7 students and were still presenting in 2013 as Year 12 students. Their program had been enjoyed by many College students as well as other listeners over the years.

On Three Wheels: South Star Warriors

2011 saw the beginning of another extracurricular program that has steadily grown since its introduction. Under the leadership of Mr Glen Strange; who was ably assisted by Mr Andrew Kynoch, Mrs Giselle Green and Miss Michelle Iro, 23 students began investigating and building a three-wheeled recumbent trike to compete in the RACV Energy Breakthrough competition which is held each November in Maryborough. The students worked on the building team, trained as riders or helped in the administration of the College entry.

The report in the 2011 Yearbook outlined the reasons for choosing the name ‘South Star Warriors’ for the group of students and staff.

“We liked the fact that we live in the SOUTH and that we live in the Great SOUTH Land of the Holy Spirit. The STAR provides a connection to our school symbol, with the recognition of the SOUTHERN CROSS constellation. The SOUTH STAR gold mine was on the land opposite our school, providing a heritage connection. To be a WARRIOR is not only a desirable Christian trait, it was also the name of the trainer we decided to construct.”

The students who began constructing the vehicle in 2011 gave up their time after school every Thursday afternoon and they were assisted by men from the Ballarat East Community Shed who lent their expertise and muscle to build a trike. Although they were not successful in their first visit to the competitions at Maryborough, in their own words they came back “knowing much more about teamwork, motivation, camping, engineering, fitness, information technology, reliability, independence and friendships.” [Yearbook 2011]

The program continued in following years culminating in the team attending five different race meetings in 2014. In November of that year they took a team of just over 50 students to the RACV Energy Breakthrough meeting at Maryborough. Instead of the one vehicle in 2011, the team took five vehicles to that meeting, a year 5/6 Push Cart team, a Year 7 to 10 Tryathlon team, a Hybrid team, and an Energy Efficient Vehicle team. The Hybrid team came first in their class, and other teams performed well; however the highlight was a victory to the Energy Efficient Vehicle team who won their race for the first time at Maryborough. This helped to cement an overall 4th place for the College SSW team.

Debating

An indoor extracurricular activity which is directly related to an academic subject is debating. The first recorded debating activity outside the College was in 2004 where teacher Grace Bailey coached and entered two teams in the Debating Association of Victoria competition in Ballarat. Competing against student teams from State, Catholic and Independent schools, the A Grade team (composed of Year 11 & 12 students Elliot, Simon, Stephanie and Mitchell) won five debates out of five. Coach Bailey commented that this was a “great effort given that the College has never before participated in the DAV competition.” (2004 Yearbook). After a short lapse, Debating has continued to be a feature of extracurricular activities in the College with teachers Nicki Laursen and David Henderson coaching teams in recent years. In 2015 students from the College took part in a simulated United Nations Debate with students from other Ballarat secondary schools. The students took the role of representatives from UN countries and debated many issues.

The Successful 2014 South Star Warriors Teams

2004 Debating Team

2015 United Nations Debate

Wider Community Involvement

Students from both schools and the merged College have been involved in a wide variety of events in their local community. The Primary School has often sent students to take part in wreath laying ceremonies on ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day, while secondary students have not only taken part in ceremonies at Sebastopol, Buninyong and Ballarat, but they have also travelled to Melbourne to take part in ceremonies at the Shrine of Remembrance.

As mentioned before, both the Primary and Secondary students have had a long association with nursing homes around Ballarat, and many groups have visited to sing to the residents and often just to sit and chat with them. During several special activities, including Mission Week, some of the senior students have also gone to private homes and also to churches to carry out gardening and other home tasks for people.

Senior students from Ballarat Christian College have also taken part in Lions and Rotary Youth programs with some success. In 2012 Hayden Rees and Isabella Geri competed in the Legacy Junior Public Speaking competition, and Isabella was chosen as the runner up in the final competition. In that same year, the Middle School Captains assisted Legacy in fund-raising with a school morning tea. Continuing the theme of service and public speaking, our annual entries in the ZONTA International Young Women in Public Affairs competition have seen several of our female senior students commended for their service, with the jewel in the crown being Heidi Monkman who won the 2014 competition. Senior students have also competed in the Lions and Rotary Youth of the Year competitions.

On an international front, the Secondary College has hosted groups of students from Japan since the merger, and exchange students from France and Germany have also come to the College for 1 or 2 terms at a time. Close friendships have been formed between those students and their host families. In 2004, Danika Holmes and Loren Bailey came to the College as student teachers through a program with a difference organised by Ballarat University. The two young ladies were actually student teachers from an American University and came and spent 2 terms at the College. The theme of international connections has continued with visits from overseas missionaries, American College interns [as part of Mission week] and international Christian artists including Don Francisco.

Extra Extracurricular Activities

We have dealt with the major types of extracurricular activities, but there are many more that occur in the life of the College today. A quick check of the list shows that students are able to be involved in clubs such as Maths, Art and Games Clubs, while other clubs have run over the years including Cooking and Chess Clubs.

Many of the extracurricular activities run at the College have focussed on additional subject tuition where students are able to gain help on specific areas of a subject that they may be having some difficulty with. There are also regular tuition sessions for VCE subjects including English, Maths, Psychology and Business Management.

Over the years each school has recognised the importance of extracurricular activities in taking learning outside the classroom curriculum, and have provided a wide range of activities designed ot appeal to all students.

Chapter 11

In Remembrance: Those Who Have Left Us

Christian Education as we understand it began in Ballarat 30 years ago in a small church hall in Sebastopol. Today the same principles that drove that school are behind the current school which is mainly composed of modern buildings sitting on 12.5 Acres, still in Sebastopol.

In that time, many people have been a part of the experience and contributed in many ways. Sadly, some of those pioneers and contributors have passed from this earth. Their part is no less or more important than those who are still with us. However, as a part of this history, it is fitting to pay tribute to them and their part in the development of an alternative education system in Ballarat.

Primary Foundation Families

Two fathers of the initial students in Carmel Christian Community College are no longer with us. Barry McCandlish enrolled his son Shayne in Year 5 in 1985. Naturally Shayne was only at the school for two years as there was no Christian Secondary schooling available at that time. Barry lived in Ballarat from that time on and among other things he was involved in security for the Bill Newman Crusades in Ballarat and was also involved in the early days of the Good News Radio station when it broadcast from the caravan at the back of Carmel Welsh Presbyterian church in Sebastopol, the site of the first Christian Primary School.

Sadly Barry lost his battle with illness in April of this year.

Colin [Col] Abram had 3 sons enrolled during the first year of the Carmel school, Stephen, Phillip and Russell. After spending some time in Ballarat the Abrams family moved on to Drysdale. During his time in Ballarat Col was actively involved as a parent in the school and was a member of both the Board and the Parent Support Group. Unfortunately, Col passed away while this book was being prepared.

Secondary College Contributors

Once again, during the time that the Secondary College has existed it has been impacted by many people in many different roles. In the same fashion, some of those people are no longer with us. This section pays tribute to three members of the College community who impacted the College in their own way, each of those ways unique in some aspect.

Steve How was a parent who sent his two children to the College during the 2000s. He was not content to send his children along to school each day, but became involved in the life of the College in many ways.

Kerry Hutton delivered a short eulogy at Steve’s funeral in 2008, in which he noted Steve’s involvement in the life of Ballarat Christian College, by saying “Steve is the founding Chairman of the College’s new Community Support network, which replaced the Primary and Secondary Parents and Friends Associations. Steve is also a new member of the Board of Directors of the College.” He went on to talk about the unique qualities which Steve possessed and those which made him an ideal person to head up the newly formed Community Services Network as follows, “Steve’s faith in God, his loving personality, his impish sense of humour, his ability to network and his gift in seeing the forest yet knowing and tending each tree, equipped him to ably lead the new and diverse organization known as the CSN.”

In Memory of Mr Steve How

Kerry’s concluding remarks were a challenge to a specific group of people present at the service. “To the College community I ask that you honour Steve by building on his vision…his vision for community built on love. His enthusiasm and effort should not be in vain.” That challenge ultimately resulted in a series of fund-raising appeals as the College community turned Steve’s vision into reality. An overgrown, weed-infested backyard area behind the old Primary Staff Room was roofed, enclosed and given a concrete floor to turn it into a workshop for the College Maintenance Team along with storage facilities for archive material. That area known as “Steve’s Shed” was dedicated in 2010 and is still used every day for those purposes.

Tim Rogers

Tim literally blew into the College in 2012 from Lighthouse Christian College in Keysborough Melbourne, stayed for five terms and then moved on to a position in a Hong Kong school for which he had been selected before he came to Ballarat, but which had been put on hold for the time being. However, in the short time that he was in the College he had a very large impact on many areas. Tim was described by Mr Hutton as an “… interesting stranger with the wild hair, familiar moustache and rapid movements …” to which may be added a rapid fire delivery of anything that he said which often resulted in people asking him to repeat his comments.

Tim came to ‘help out’ Principal Hutton in consolidating the Middle School section of the College. He had many years of experience in Christian Schooling and had taught in England, America, and Saudi Arabia as well as schools around Australia. Tim had also been involved in the publication of Christian educational resources. Tim applied that experience to the running of the Middle School and he also became involved in other aspects of College life.

Tim was passionate about each student achieving their very best in all areas of their life and encouraged them to respect all members of the community. He posted reminders of the behavioural expectations around the college and some of them remain to this day. However, one of his passions came from his training as a Mathematics teacher. He was there during the month of March twice and he introduced students to Pi Day which is celebrated each year on the 14th of March (since that date is written in the American way as 3.14 the common decimal form of the value of the mathematical function known as Pi). He was also instrumental in the introduction (along with the Librarian Max Duthie) of a Silent Reading program that encouraged all students across the College to read for 15 minutes after lunch each day.

Tim left Ballarat Christian College at the end of Term 1 in 2013 to take up the position of Principal of Island Christian Academy in Hong Kong. He took with him, the best wishes of the staff, students and parents to do in Hong Kong what he had done in his short time in Ballarat. His emails and Facebook comments amused and encouraged those who read them for the first weeks of his time in Hong Kong. Tim was an avid distance runner, and it was with a sense of disbelief and shock that the College Community heard the news of Tim’s death from a heart attack during a running excursion in Hong Kong on Sunday August 25th, 2013. He is sorely missed by all who knew him, and while he is remembered in the form of a tree planted in front of the Trade Training Centre, there is no better way to honour him than to reprint parts of the eulogy that was delivered by Principal Hutton at a memorial service for Tim.

“Tim Rogers was very good at what he did and very good for this college. … Tim often shared with me his particular love of the college and its staff, and his desire to return in retirement to Ballarat. … He brought a mixture of professionalism and love for teaching, blended with his love of God and mankind, to this role. … Tim’s character was refreshing in its depth and consistency. His love for God and family was an expression of this character. … Tim’s character was distinguished by common sense practicality, which outworked in practical problem solving, looking forward, and telling it like it is. There was no compromise in Tim’s relationships with students, staff or parents. Honesty, integrity and accountability were worn on his shoulders and to the depth of his soul.” (Extracts from eulogy delivered by Mr Kerry Hutton at memorial services for Tim Rogers in 2013)

Mr Tim Rogers at his farewell from BalCC

Judy Duke

Judy came to teach at Ballarat Christian College in 2005. She was a qualified Art teacher who had taught in secondary schools around Ballarat. Judy had a long association with the Carmel Christian Community School as her two children attended the school, and she also taught Art on a voluntary basis at the school during the 1990s. As a mark of the respect in which Judy was held by the school community, she was awarded the Michael Ronaldson Community Service Award in 1995.

Judy left teaching at Ballarat Christian College at the end of 2010 when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She continued to ‘pop in’ and visit her friends, both staff and students, over the next four years but the disease slowly took its toll, and she was released from earthly suffering in September 2014. Judy’s bright smile and cheerful personality are sadly missed around the College, and her life is to be remembered in the Judy Duke Creative Arts Award, which will awarded to a senior student

“who is studying either Art, Graphics, Studio Art or Visual Communication and Design who honours God in their work, and uses their God-given talent sensitively with an appreciation of the wonder and beauty of God’s creation”.

There are undoubtedly other people who have had an impact on the two schools since 1985, but unfortunately the author was not able to gather information on all of those folk who contributed so much to Christian Education in Ballarat since 1985 until the present day. To the family and friends of those not listed in this chapter, the College community extends it its thanks and appreciation for a job well done.

Mrs Judy Duke – beloved of all who knew her

The Rainbow is a reminder of God’s promise for the future of our beloved College.

Conclusion

As I close this history of 30 years of Christian Education in Ballarat I want to reflect on what has happened. We have seen God’s hand at work from the establishment of Carmel Christian Community School in 1985, continued in the opening of Ballarat Christian College in 1999, and finally as Ballarat Christian College Prep to Year 12 from 2007 onwards. He has guided men and women of God as they had a vision of a school with a Christian distinctive and worked to realise that vision.

As we move into a new era from 2016, with the appointment of a new Principal, let us continue to seek God’s guidance as we are privileged to work in ‘His School’. Let us take Principal Hutton’s closing remarks in his 2014 Yearbook report as our own.

“Finally, I wish to acknowledge our gracious God, who continues to progress His vision for His College. He has answered our prayers for His children in this place over and over again. His miracles are before our eyes every day. I am comforted and inspired by the following scripture, and believe beyond doubt that as God has blessed us in the past, He will bless us in the future.”

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will he not also with Him, freely give us all things …” (Romans 8:31-32)