This world is beautiful because our God made it, and it is because of His faithfulness that Donvale Christian College stands today. - Bronwyn van Bockel (A student from 1975 )
An Educational Heritage
“We had all been to Christian schools, we wanted Christian education for our kids, and we weren’t happy with what the State was offering, so the only way to get that was to come up with Christian education ourselves.”
“Our parents, […] had all had Christian education in Holland, so they were determined to do it here. Hence, we started looking for land …”
Surrounded today by carefully cultivated grounds, amongst modern school buildings, it’s hard to imagine that this was once just stones, scrubby trees and an old wooden farmhouse. Yet it was the place where the prayers of those Dutch immigrants would be answered and where, one day, they would open a school “…to offer an affordable Christ-centred education for the children of Christian parents …”
So began years of prayer, searching for land, and fundraising until, in February 1973, the Association for Christian Education of Box Hill (for that was the formally constituted name of this group of determined believers) took possession of 155 Tindals Road, Donvale.
Opening Day
Saturday, 25 January 1975. No hot sunshine and shimmering haze – it was wet and, underfoot, muddy – there were no asphalted paths then!
On this day Donvale Christian School was formally dedicated by Sir James Darling, former headmaster of Geelong Grammar School and a man who “carried his Christianity into every area of life, whether public or private.”
Two weeks later the first students arrived.
“I remember the first day very clearly. I think the first exciting thing for me was going on a school bus”
Astonishingly, nobody really knew how many children would arrive that first day. Perhaps 30? But word had spread, and on Monday, 10 February 1975 no less than 90 turned up, ranging from the youngest Prep to the oldest Year 6.
A Natural Environment
“It was this raw, rugged little one-building school … lots of mud … which was great because we were quite happy playing in the mud!”
This was Donvale Christian School in 1975 – just one building and lots of bushland in which to play. Scrapes, bumps and the delights of the natural world were part of everyday school life. Formalities which we now take for granted, like a school uniform for example, were unknown in those early years.
It didn’t remain just one building for long.
From 1975 to 1979, a new wing was built each year as the student population grew, both in numbers and in age.
By 1979 the school offered Christ-centred education up to Year 10. However, if you wanted to do HSC (now VCE) you had to travel to neighbouring schools such as Doncaster High School, Mitcham High School or Mount Evelyn Christian School.
It wasn’t until 1985 that our first Year 12 class graduated – it consisted of just five students.
Growing Fast
“The great joy I had was to put to the members that we were 350 and the Board would like the members to consider going to 500 students. And they totally agreed – it was lovely.”
The mix of buildings gradually formed during the school's first 15 years are no longer adequate to support such a growing student population across all years from Prep to Year 12.
The steeply sloping bushland, once perfect for imaginative and energetic play of all sorts, now becomes space for new classrooms to accommodate Secondary students. For the first time, Donvale has a separate Secondary campus, opened in 1991.
Enrolments continued to climb, putting more pressure on space. Next door was an apple orchard, from where students used to buy bags of apples at lunchtime.
Many attempts were made to buy the orchard to provide for future expansion. It was finally purchased by the school in 2001, and two small sections were sold off, thus allowing the new acquisition to be debt free.
There’s still a remnant of the old orchard visible, just down the hill from the Primary Oval.
During the first decade of the 21st century, Donvale Christian College (we left “school” behind in 1994), continued to grow, bringing more families with different expressions of their Christian faith to the school.
The Story Unfolding
“No matter what size we are, every individual is still precious in God’s sight [ …] I pray that Donvale will always have the nurturing and caring aspect that it had back in 1976 for me”
Above our school, on top of a hill, stands a Cross. Made of unwanted wood, it was dedicated “To the glory of God alone” in 2019. Our life is lived in its shadow.
On the first day of school in February 1975, 90 Primary students arrived to be greeted by just three teachers.
Now there are more than 1600 students, at every age from Prep to Year 12, some 200 teaching staff, a separate Year 9 campus 10 minutes up the road in Warrandyte South … and many more families waiting to send their children here.
“We often think it’s what we do that makes the difference. It is actually the faithfulness of our God that is the reason that Donvale Christian College stands today.”
