Shawnigan Lake School
Shawnigan Lake School is a co-educational independent boarding school located on Vancouver Island in Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded by Englishman Christopher Windley "C. W." Lonsdale in 1916, and was partly modelled after the Westminster School in England. Located on 270 acres of lakefront property, the campus has 35 buildings including 11 boarding houses, an observatory, ice arena, crew house, grass rugby pitches, water-based field hockey turf, Growing Dome, and fish hatchery. The school's Latin motto, , means "Let whosoever deserves the palm bear it." Location. Shawnigan Lake School is built on  the shores of Shawnigan Lake and occupies a wooded property. It is located just a few minutes away from the village of Shawnigan Lake, or a 45-minute drive from Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. Students. As of September 2021 The student body at Shawnigan Lakes School consists of 520 students representing 27 countries with 430 students residing on campus in the boarding houses, making it the boarding school with the largest number of full-time boarders in Canada. Day students make up 10 percent of the student body. Students come from all over the world with 20% from  International locations, 15% from the United States, 15% from other Canadian Provinces and 50% of students being from British Columbia. Current campus. Currently Shawnigan has approximately 35 buildings on its campus, ranging from classrooms, dormitories and staff housing, to a theatre, ice hockey arena, and extensive sports fields. Boarding Houses. The school is primarily a boarding school with 90% of its students attending the school as boarders. The school currently has 6 residences for boys and 5 residences for girls. Each boarding house has a house director (formerly called the housemaster) and an assistant house director, who are assisted by  student house prefects in the management of house duties and issues. Copeman's House: Founded in September 1929 and named for John Y. Copeman, a Victoria lawyer who was chairman of the Board of Governors for many years. The original building, which housed 90 boys and had its own kitchen and dining room, mysteriously burned to the ground one night in the autumn of 1968. The current dorm was built in 2005. Duxbury House: Founded in September 1999 and named after Frank Duxbury, a teacher who was Senior Master at the school during the 1950s and early ’60s. Groves' House : Founded in September 1927, “Groves’” was named after Jocelyn James Douglas Groves, its first head of house, who rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the British Army. Groves’ was converted to a girls' residence in 1992. Groves’ House was rebuilt in 2004. Kaye's House: Founded in September 1989 as the second girls’ house, it was named to honour G. Peter Kaye, the school's second headmaster, whose sons and grandsons also attended the school. Lake's House: One of the two original houses, “Lake’s” was founded on May 12, 1927. “Lake’s” was named after Harry  John Lake, its first head of house, who later became a colonel in the Canadian Army. Col. Lake's uncle, Sir Percy Lake, was first Chief of the Canadian General Staff and served as chairman of the Board of Governors, while the Colonel's father was Sir Richard Lake, sometime Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan. Lonsdale's House: Founded in September 1968 and named for Christopher Windley Lonsdale, Shawnigan's first and founding headmaster. “Lonsdale’s” moved into a new building in March 2007. Renfrew House: Established in September 1996 in order to expand the space for girls wishing to enroll  at the school. Ripley's House: One of the two original houses, “Ripley’s” was founded on May 12, 1927, and was named after its first Head of House, Alexander 'Alec' B. Ripley. Strathcona House: Founded in 2007 and named to mark Shawnigan's long association with Strathcona Lodge School, a defunct girls’ school in Shawnigan Lake which closed its doors in 1977. Shawnigan has since adopted the former 'Old Girls' of 'Strath' as honorary Shawnigan alumnae to incorporate earlier generations of women from Strathcona Lodge School alumnae within the ranks of Shawnigan's current alumni. Stanton House: Founded in  September 2019 to house the Grade 8 girls. Stanton is named after the first school nurse at Shawnigan, Eleanor Stanton who worked there from 1918 to 1962. Levien House: Founded in September 2020 to house the Grade 8 boys after the success of Stanton House. Named after a dedicated and dynamic member of staff from the 1920-1930's, Captain 'Tiny' Levien was a colleague of Stanton. He introduced Rugby to Shawnigan and taught the younger boys. Former. School House: Founded in September 1988 as the inaugural girls’ residence in the School, named after its unique position in a refurbished  wing of the School's main building, School House was replaced in 2007 by Strathcona Lodge School House. Academics. Shawnigan's academic program is university preparatory. Shawnigan was ranked by the Fraser Institute in 2017 as 11th out of 253 British Columbian Secondary Schools based on a score of 9.3/10 for academic achievements. Fine arts. Students are encouraged to try a variety of Fine Arts, selecting from a list of twenty options. Athletics. The athletics program at Shawnigan Lake School is an extension of the School's mission statement: "Through athletics, we lead young people in the pursuit of personal  excellence.” Shawnigan has partnerships with Rugby Canada and Rowing Canada which bring national teams to train at the school. In 2014, Shawnigan joined the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. Experiential Learning. Beyond The Gates: Launched as a pilot program in September 2021, Beyond the Gates is an exciting opportunity for Grade 9 students at Shawnigan Lake School. This dynamic year-long program takes students out of the classroom and into the beautiful and diverse wilderness of Vancouver Island and beyond. Students participate in a series of excursions and community projects that incorporate rich First Nations culture, sustainability concepts, and a  love of the outdoors, allowing the connection between the classroom curriculum and real-world applications to be explored. OuterEDGE: The OuterEDGE program takes Grade 8 and 9 students on outdoor adventure-based journeys, creating connections to the beautiful wilderness areas of Vancouver Island. Through outdoor challenges such as sea kayaking in a national park, braving white-water rapids, or hiking to peaks in the mountains, students learn to embrace challenge and work as a team. Previous outdoor adventure experience is not required or expected – with the support of qualified instructors, these trips intentionally stretch our students, putting them in uncomfortable  situations, allowing perseverance through adversity and learning through experience. EDGE Service Trips: EDGE (Engagement, Development, Gratitude and Experience) is Shawnigan's experiential education program. Launched in 2005 as a direct humanitarian response to the tsunami in Southeast Asia, EDGE introduces students to multi-week outdoor adventures encompassing internationalism, environmental awareness and systems thinking. Since the program launch, students groups have visited countries as diverse as Thailand, Costa Rica, China, Ecuador and Zimbabwe. Ski Week: Ski Week has been a unique and integral part of Shawnigan's annual calendar since 1973. Taking place in February each year, Ski Week is timed  to take everyone off campus to a fresh, fun environment at a point when the usual dark, rainy West Coast winter days seem to be stretching unrelentingly on. Manning Park Resort is located in the beautiful British Columbian Cascade Range, and for the duration of Ski Week, Shawnigan takes over the whole resort, turning it into an experiential learning playground where students, teachers, and staff families spend memorable quality time together outside of the classroom. School athletic championships. Rugby union. BC AAAA Boys Rugby Champions - 2019 BC AAAA Boys Rugby Champions - 2017 BC AAA Junior Boys Rugby Champions - 2017 Junior  Boys Rugby 7s Champions – 2016 BC AAA Junior Boys Rugby Champions – 2016 Girls CAIS Rugby Champions – 2016 BC Girls AA Rugby Champions – 2016 Senior Boys CAIS Rugby Champions – 2016 BC Boys AAAA Rugby Champions – 2016 BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2015 BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2013 BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2012 BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2011 BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2010 BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2009 Boys CAIS National Rugby Champions – 2008 BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 1998 BC Girls AA Rugby Champions – 1997 BC Girls AA Rugby Champions – 1996 Field hockey. BC Girls AAA  Sr. Field Hockey Champions – 2014 BC Girls AA Field Hockey Champions – 2011 Ice hockey. CSSHL Midget Varsity Champions – Boy's Midget Varsity – 2016 CSSHL Midget Varsity Champions – Boy's Midget Varsity – 2015 Notable people. Notable staff. For a full list see "List of Shawnigan Lake School people"