From humble beginnings
Where the values of the Christian faith and the pursuit of knowledge intersect
Looking back, what impresses the most is the audacity of it all. After all, schools are not the easiest thing to launch.
In 1976, following years of planning and dozens of meetings, our doors opened for the first time. As a community, our founders established Timothy Christian School on the Biblical proclamation that The earth belongs to God and everything in it.
The students and a single teacher first met in the basement of the First Christian Reformed Church (top of Moore’s Hill, turn left). Then the church offered, for two dollars, a lot next door and the school society built its own tiny school, complete with 4 classrooms and free use of the church’s gym.
Families joined, from Reformed roots but also from Anglican, Baptist and a host of other Christian backgrounds. We became the largest, most enduring, inter denominational endeavor in Grey-Bruce.
Enrollment hovered around 30 families, then settled around 40 to 45, with perhaps 60 to 75 students. Tuition was based then, as it is now, on a per family, not per student, number.
Around 2000, the school was clearly in need of an expansion. Student numbers were up, we had two portables and we were still using the church’s gym across the parking lot. Yet our base was still modest by most measures and a brand new build did not seem practical.
Prayers were answered. An historic, much beloved school was declared surplus by the public school board. We sold our building back to the church which had been so faithful to us (again, for two dollars). In 2005, to the delight of neighbours and of past alumni, we moved into the former Victoria Public School, tucked a block or two west of Kelso Park. Our new place had soaring ceilings, a regular gym and stage, gorgeous polished hardwood floors. The students and staff reveled in it all.
We were blessed with continued growth, to where, for the first time, we broke the 100 student barrier and kept growing to where, in the academic year 2022-2023, we now have 150 students from 77 families. The Lord has been good.
Our school belongs to God and the curriculum that is taught must also reflect the majesty of God. TCS has continued to grow and offers a wonderful alternative to public education in the Owen Sound and Grey-Bruce area, graduating many great leaders in our community and abroad.
Today TCS continues to educate many great leaders in their classrooms. We are proud to say that today TCS graduates span the globe and serve and work in their communities in all areas. We are proud of all of our alumni and many continue to return for annual school events.
We will not, however, and cannot forget our roots. When we relocated to Old Victoria, we took with us the cornerstone from our old building and placed it at our entranceway. It sets forth the proverb, The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom. May that always be our guiding light.
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