Our History
Pike Creek Christian School started as a dream of Rev. Ronald H. Hayden, pastor of Temple Baptist Church. In the early ’70s, Rev. Hayden envisioned, as a church ministry of the church, a Christian school for the children of church members. By the time Temple Christian School opened its doors to kindergarten through twelfth grade students in 1974, the vision had expanded to include families outside the church. Busing had started in Delaware and had become a controversial topic, so many people thought it was a tremendous opportunity from the Lord to evangelize the families affected by the busing ordinances. Consequently, the school set upon a mission to introduce these families to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Bill Strickland worked on curriculum and Delaware state requirement and then became the first headmaster of Temple Christian School. To get the school started, Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) was used except in the lower elementary school, which had traditional classrooms. ACE was a system of individualized study packets in every subject that each student worked on according to his or her own pace. The junior and senior high schools were housed in two separate learning centers where a head teacher was in charge to help, teach and maintain discipline within the center. Rev. Hayden began to hire more teachers to make the transition to a more conventional educational environment. Dr. Don Jesse became the principal in 1976 and led the school in its new format. In 1979, Rev. Hayden made the decision to hire Alan Pue to lead the school as principal. Under Dr. Pue’s leadership, the faculty was expanded to have degreed and qualified teachers in every classroom. He was also instrumental in upgrading and expanding the curriculum.
In 1983, Wilmington Christian School opened an upper school facility in Hockessin, Delaware, and was looking for students to fill it. At that time, it was decided to merge the upper schools of Temple Christian and Wilmington Christian at the one facility. When Temple Baptist Church changed its name to Pike Creek Valley Baptist Church, Dr. Pue, now the pastor of the church, decided to change the name of the school to better reflect a ministry of the church. Also, when Dr. Pue took on the pastorate, Mrs. Louella Reimer accepted administrative duties for the school. Pike Creek Christian School came into being in 1985 with grades preschool through 6. The following year, Mrs. Catherine Sielski took over the responsibilities as principal, and Mrs. Reimer became the elementary supervisor. Under the leadership of both Dr. Pue, and Mrs. Sielski, the school doubled the classes to two of each grade. Due to the request of many school parents, in September, 1996, the school added a sixth grade and a seventh grade, making Pike Creek Christian School the preschool through eighth grade school that it is today. Mrs. Joye Outlar and Mr. Steve Taylor have succeeded Mrs. Sielski as school principals.
The school initiated the ACSI accreditation process in 1999. Under the leadership of Mr. Steve Taylor and Mrs. Gennie Moore, PCCS received ACSI accreditation in November of 2009 .