Our History
In 1960, with Dr. Hugh Pyle as Pastor, Central Baptist Church met to talk about starting a Christian Day School. In September 1960, Panama City Christian School began with 32 pupils: 20 in Kindergarten and 12 in First Grade. Two rooms were built to accommodate these classes followed by the Elementary and Preschool facility. In 1973, the school enrolled nearly 1,000 students, Day Care through High School. The High School/Gymnasium was finished in 1976. Extensive remodeling was carried out through 1984 and 1985, and again in 2007. Properties now include football, baseball, and softball fields, and eight buildings valued at over 37 million dollars.
The "Success Center" program was begun in the fall of 1987 as a means of meeting the needs of those who were advanced beyond the majority of the class, who had a scheduling conflict, or who needed help in a particular course of study. In 1995, the "Discovery Program" (N.I.L.D.) was added to our school ministry allowing us to work with the learning disabled. These programs were replaced in the last decade.
In the late 1990's PCCS was able to offer Dual Enrollment opportunities to our students. This allowed them to attend Gulf Coast Community College and gain college credit as well as high school credit for certain classes. We also began participating in the Bright Futures Scholarship Program which allowed students who maintained high GPAs and testing scores to get financial aid for college. Both of these programs are still ongoing.
In 2001 Panama City Christian School became involved with the John McKay Scholarship Program and once again we were able to offer more to students with learning differences. In 2005-2006 technology caught up with Panama City Christian School and we added our first "Virtual Classroom." The ITC (Integrated Technology Center) gave us the ability to allow students to take a variety of subjects on-line with the "Switched-On Schoolhouse" curriculum. Students were able to work on individualized subject matter in order to make up work that was missed due to schedule changes or transfers.