It’s a regional K-6 school that pre-COVID had a total of 74 students. School Principal, Matthew Drennan, has a picture on his office wall that is the school photo of 2019 with the total of 74 children. The front row is the kindergarten class made up of eight children.
Fast forward to 2024 and the school has enrolled two new classes of kindergarten children, going from 8 to 38 in just a few years. “Now we’re interviewing 60 families for those 38 positions for next year”, says Matthew. “A very different problem we now face!”
Coast Christian School has experienced many ups and downs over its 25-year history, but the last 5 years have seen a season of rapid growth. The school has now grown to over 210 students in K-6 today, with 40 additional students in a pre-school program.
This rapid growth created an urgent need for new facilities.
As the school grew, they struggled to secure financing from their previous lender, who did not understand the needs of Independent Christian Schools. That’s when they were introduced to BFS, who were able to provide the finance and advice needed to build four new classrooms and a covered area, completed just before the start of the current school year.
Given the continued strong demand and growth and the confidence gleaned from the partnership with BFS, the school board is now seriously considering expanding the school to include secondary grades beyond year 6. This would require significant additional financing, which they plan to seek from BFS.
“We can only put the school‘s success down to God‘s favour and blessing, as well as the quality of our staff. Because we share the same values, we feel the partnership with BFS is an extension of the school‘s kingdom-focused mission. I really love the idea that we‘re partnering with a financial institution who is not just about money,” Matthew said.