Founders' Day - where it all began

A day to look back? Yes, in gratitude for those who, more than 50 years ago, had a dream to establish a Christian school for the children of Christian families. In looking back, we thank God for the people of the past and for what has grown out of their dreams, courage and commitment.

We also tell stories. Our invited guest was Judy Frankish, whose children attended Donvale in its very early years, and who also taught here for a while. She told us how one day just before Mother's Day a child in her class was stuck for a verse to write in his card for his mum. Looking up to see the verse of the day written on the classroom whiteboard, he was inspired to copy it. "Dear mum," he wrote, "Happy Mother's Day - be sure your sins will find you out. Love, Adrian."

After a Secondary assembly at the beginning of the morning, nearly 50 guests joined us for the Primary assembly. Both assemblies heard a bit of the Donvale story and students then prayed for each year level.

The Primary students watched this video: 

And the Secondary students watched this video:

There was a special moment was to acknowledge the 92nd birthday of one of the founding committee members, John Kroon, with an appropriate birthday cake and the whole Primary school giving full voice to singing Happy Birthday!

We used to celebrate Founders' Day in June. Nobody really knew why, so we've moved it to early in the year so that the day also becomes a time to look forward and dedicate the school year just beginning to God’s care - so that Donvale Christian College will continue the task begun nearly 50 years ago (and I quote from our prospectus here),  “...to prepare young women and men to graduate from Donvale with a high-quality education, able to profess a well-reasoned, maturing Christian faith, and eager to use their God-given abilities to make a difference.”