School History

1944                The First Brethren Church of Long Beach, under the leadership of Dr. Louis S. Bauman, purchased 20 acres on Signal Hill in July. It was planned that upon this location a school could be built which would eventually include kindergarten through high school.

1947                Action was taken by the congregation to start the church school regardless of the rezoning of the property on Signal Hill. The plan was set to open the school in the basement of the church at Fifth and Cherry.  In the spring, Reverend Albert L. Flory was called as Minister of Education to head the proposed school. Plans shifted to open the school in a cooperative effort at the Second Brethren Church of Long Beach (later to be known as North Long Beach Brethren Church.) On September 15, 1947 the Brethren School opened in Seal Beach with an enrollment in the first eight grades of 102. Later, land was purchased in Paramount and the school moved there.

1975                Long range planning dream of Pastor David Hocking and the leadership of 1st Brethren Church and school to plant a Christian school in West Orange County.

1980                In January, a goal was set by the leadership to move the Paramount Brethren School to West Orange County to make room for the Brethren Junior High School and Brethren Senior High School expansion; and plans were laid to negotiate a lease with the Los Alamitos Unified School District for one of its closing elementary schools.

September 14, 1980   First day of school with 200 students and about 20 staff members.

1985                Development of a new Strategic Planning Committee to aggressively pursue acquisition of a permanent site for the church and school.

1988                In September, Grace Christian School began its new pull-out Opportunity Program to help children with learning differences.

1992                Grace Church (now Seacoast Grace Church) and Grace Christian School moved in January to its new site in Cypress on 5100 Cerritos Avenue. Enrollment was at 410 students with two classes per grade level K-6 plus a Preppie Kindergarten class.

2006                Dr. Don Pettinger took over the leadership of Grace Christian School from Frank Coburn.  

September 2010                Under a mutual understanding with SeaCoast Grace Church,  Grace Christian School becomes an independent Christian school. Grace Christian School will now actively work with all of the churches in South Orange County. 

2013                Under the leadership of Dr. Don Pettinger, Grace Christian School moved over the summer to its new site in Cypress at 4545 Myra Avenue.  With the addition of Junior High, the school is now Preppie Kindergarten through 8th grade, with two classes per grade level K-6.

May 2014       Grace Christian School launched Camp Oasis, a summer enrichment program to assist working parents and provide an incredible opportunity for children during the summer months.  Camp Oasis offers exciting field trips every week and a chance to build lasting friendships with their peers.

September 2014   Grace Christian School adopted a Transitional Kindergarten program to help better serve the community and prepare children for Kindergarten.

2015                Grace Christian School starts plans to open a preschool.  Mrs. Shirley Masterson is named the first preschool director.  Her and a team work diligently to process all of the paperwork with the state and county to obtain a preschool license in order to open in the fall of 2016.

June 2016        Dr. Pettinger and Mrs. Masterson cut the ribbon to the brand new Grace Christian School, Preschool building.  First day enrollment was 43 children between three classes consisting of 3 and 4 year olds.