Head's Welcome
Head of School's Welcome
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Welcome to Shawnigan! Our responsibility as staff here at Shawnigan is to support and inspire our students – with our values-based education at the heart of our teaching – so that they can achieve their potential and live fulfilling lives.
Shawnigan Lake School's mission and values are inseparable from the fact that we are first and foremost a co-educational boarding school; a welcoming community whose aim it is to prepare our young men and women equally for independent and inspiring futures through the means of a well-balanced, holistic education.
Five hundred students, representing over thirty nations, come together each year to live and study in this unparalleled setting on the edge of Shawnigan Lake, Vancouver Island. We encourage all students to develop an understanding of and commitment to the people, the place and the heritage of Canada, British Columbia and Shawnigan. At the same time, we challenge ourselves each year to be relevant, purposeful and of service in a changing and increasingly global world.
The conversations, connections, sense of community, and friendships forged through these shared experiences are, I believe, part of the magic of our School.
On this website, we will try to give you a sense of who we are and what we do – and we hope that your exploration of these pages will lead you to visit us in real time and to meet the people who together create this unique and remarkable community at Shawnigan.
I look forward to meeting you.
Richard D A Lamont
Head of School
Head's office
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Email the Head's Office at:
Executiveoffice@shawnigan.ca
Team Organizational Charts
Head's Reflection
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Head of School's 2026 Major Academic Awards Ceremony Address
Read MoreI was thinking last night about the end of year awards ceremonies, our school motto – Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat (Let the rewards go to those who have worked to deserve them) – the Shawnigan Journey, inspirational teachers and coaches, report writing and much more.In a recent Senior Leadership Team strategic away day off campus, I asked each member of my team to write down the name of a teacher or coach who had inspired them when they were at school – and to share with us more about the individual teacher and why he or she had made a significant difference to their life. I suggested at the end that each member of the Senior Leadership Team write to the teacher (or his or her family) – decades on – to express gratitude for the encouragement, support and inspiration and to tell them, even now, that their influence continues. It is, after all, never too late to say thank you.What struck me most was that Mr. Mayes (Class of ’89) chose not to highlight an inspirational Shawnigan teacher but instead told the story of a science teacher in the 1980s who had actively discouraged him from taking chemistry in Grade 12. Mr. Mayes had loved chemistry from an early age, inspired by a Christmas gift of a chemistry set.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 12 –18 on Canada’s beautiful Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
