Calderwood Christian School was founded in 1989 as Tongarra Christian School operating out of All Saints Church in Albion Park, New South Wales with 14 students. In 1994, the school amalgamated with Illawarra Christian School to form one association with two campuses and was referred to as Illawarra Christian School - Tongarra Campus. The first year 7 class commenced at Tongarra in 1995 and in 2000 the first Year 12 students graduated from the campus. In 1996, the school moved to its current location from Albion Park. It wasn't until 2017 that the Tongarra campus was registered with NESA as an individual school now known as Calderwood Christian School. One of the main people responsible for this change was Annette Holmes, one of the board. She brought in the hat rule and she organised so much more. She was one of the two or three main people who went to look at the land in the first place. At the time, she had 2 children who went to the school and she had a very hard time trying to keep it a secret from them. Since then, Annette's work has grown and many people have joined the school and there are more to come.
Governance
Calderwood Christian School is governed by Illawarra Christian Education. They also operate Calderwood Prep.
School structure
Calderwood Christian School currently has three learning communities:
P-4: Foundations & Growth
5-8: Collaboration & Experimentation
9-12: Specialisation and Launching
The school was accepted to the Elevate project in 2015 run by Australian Independent Schools in partnership with the Innovation Unit, and the Australian Insititue for Teaching. The program supports educators to collaboratively design and implement powerful practices to lift learning outcomes for high potential learners.
Activities
Movember: students and staff grew moustaches to raise awareness for health issues faced by men.
Sprout Hub Library: students were involved in painting the street library at the Sprout hub in Calderwood Valley in preparation for its launch.
Wollongong Homeless Hub: students donated hampers to the hub with the school's Student Representative Council visiting and assisting.
Associated schools
Calderwood Christian School currently has a sister schooloperated by Illawarra Christian Education:
