School ready for year of festivities

THE Ballarat Christian College community is gearing up for a celebratory 2025.

Throughout the year, staff and students past and present will spend each term acknowledging the institution’s 40th anniversary.

Principal, Ken Nuridin, said the occasion marks an important turn for the school’s longevity.

“It’s a significant milestone,” he said. “We’re probably still one of the newer schools compared to the others around Ballarat like your Grammar or Clarendon, even Ballarat High.

“Forty years, I guess, gives the school a sense of maturing, a coming of age, that whilst we’re a newer school we’re not new anymore.

“We can look back on 40 years and it gives us our own sense of history and place in Ballarat’s education sector.”

With planning underway for about six months, the school community is set to celebrate its 40th with a special event each term.

The first of the initiatives will see everyone invited into the institution on 22 March from 10am at the school’s Kerry Hutton Centre as part of a free-entry thanksgiving service and carnival day offering.

“We’ve got a ministry team from New South Wales called Word of Life coming down to run the fun side of things with games, activities, and outdoor stuff,” Mr Nuridin said.

“It’ll be open to anybody who’s interested, especially anybody who’s had a connection to the school in the past.”

A special dinner including dignitaries and former staff will be held during term two.

Details for term three and four events are yet to be finalised, though Mr Nuridin expects the occasions will be student and awards focused respectively.

School staff preceded the milestone with the release of the Yesterday Until Today digital flipbook in late 2023, which showcases Ballarat Christian College’s history via an online document and QR codes dotted around the buildings.

“Throughout the year, we’ve done little things to make students more aware of the school’s history,” Mr Nuridin said. “We’ll be trying to ramp that up a bit next year as well.”