Re-enrolment of your child at Shawnigan Lake School for the academic year 2020/21

Posted 4/30/2020

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Spring Break is traditionally about the time we ask you to indicate your continuing relationship with the School. However, this year we have delayed requesting your confirmation while we have concentrated our energies on responding to the evolving Covid-19 situation, and especially in preparing and then implementing the rapid transition we have made to a virtual Shawnigan with the launch of SOUL (Shawnigan Online Unique Learning).

For the remainder of the 2019/20 academic year, we remain completely committed to providing your child with the very best educational experience through the delivery of SOUL. The School’s plans are extensive, go well beyond the classroom, and constitute as full an educational, pastoral and Shawnigan experience as we can possibly deliver. The response from our parents has been overwhelmingly positive, rating what we have done at an overall score of 4.2 out of 5 across eight measurements in the recently conducted survey (with the analysis carried out by an external company). The feedback has been hugely motivational to the School’s staff, who have worked tirelessly to adapt to the new reality we face.

Toward the end of Spring Break, the Chair of our School’s Board and I wrote to you about Shawnigan’s Strategic Guiding Principles in response to Covid-19 and, more recently, we have outlined our approach to fees for Term III and associated support structures. We have sought to communicate regularly and transparently with parents to keep all of you informed of the School’s responses to this unprecedented and unforeseen event – all this correspondence is also accessible and available on ShawNet for your reference.

We are now writing to inform you about re-enrolment for the academic year 2020-21.

Each year, the Board of Governors sets and approves the next academic year’s fee increase after detailed analysis of the BC economy, the financial demands on our families, inflation, and the cost pressures experienced by the School, with a firm expectation that efficient and effective budgetary controls will always be applied in line with our status as a registered charity. However, this year the School, like all organizations across the globe, is dealing with a sudden, unanticipated and unprecedented shock, which will clearly affect how we are allowed to operate.

The Board, based on extensive deliberations involving members of the Senior Leadership Team and the Finance Committee, has set a provisional schedule of fees for 2020-21. The schedule is listed on page 5 of this letter, and is available on our website. We are very sensitive to, and aware of, the financial uncertainty that many families are currently facing. We will revisit and review our financial budgeting and fee schedule as required between now and September, guided by the circumstances arising from the global pandemic, and informed by the type of education we always strive to offer here at Shawnigan. These are extraordinary times and, as part of the School’s wider response, the Board of Governors has approved an increase to our existing financial aid budget.

We continue, of course, to hope that we will be allowed to be fully operational and back on campus by September. We are engaged in extensive contingency planning including identifying an innovative ‘blended’ educational model to ensure the new academic year begins on a sound footing, should we be unable to return to full campus life in September 2020. If we are unable offer a full boarding program right from the start of September, our tuition and boarding fees will be adjusted to reflect these circumstances.

Following the Covid-19 pandemic, it seems certain there will be a marked worldwide economic downturn. We are very aware that our families may experience a negative change in their circumstances. With this in mind, we are putting in place systems, support structures, and philanthropic initiatives to increase markedly our financial aid budget. We, as a School, are committed to our ongoing approach of ‘Conversation, Compassion, Community – and Courage’ in the face of adversity and in support of others. We recognize many of you in our Shawnigan community may face challenges in the coming months, and we will make every effort to give you our support. The School will deal sympathetically with any hardship issues (including adjustments to dates and payment plans) and we have set aside a special emergency amount in our Founder’s Fund to support financial assistance for families in need.

One way or another, we dearly hope that every student, irrespective of any changed circumstances, will be able to return in September to their second ‘home’ at Shawnigan.

In keeping with our Strategic Guiding Principles, we have temporarily laid off over 90 operational, administrative and educational staff, which was a deeply painful but necessary decision. Please rest assured that the School is providing these staff with support and care at this time. We have also requested that staff join our temporary salary reduction program during these extraordinary times. All savings from payroll will go towards sustaining the School, the hardship fund for staff families impacted by layoff with the remaining funds going towards families of current students who have been impacted by the pandemic. We appreciate the staff who are leading by example and stepping forward to support Shawnigan. We will also be inviting those among our wider stakeholder group (Board, alumni, past parents etc) who have the capacity to help to step forward in tandem with the staff to support the School at this time and to ensure we can bring all our students ‘home’ to campus in the fall.

We will continue to act responsibly, ethically, thoughtfully and fairly. Please be assured that the School’s Senior Leadership Team and Board are carefully and continually monitoring the situation and evolving our plan during this time of rapid change.

We believe that a Shawnigan education is both special and unique – and we hope you and your child (or children) think so as well. We understand that an enrolment contract is a significant financial commitment, especially in a period of uncertainty. Upon individual family requests, we will work with families by providing flexibility with payment schedules. In response to your unwavering commitment to provide the best education and a safe place for your children to learn and grow, here at Shawnigan we shall continue to put in place appropriate changes to our campus to create a safe and productive environment for these extraordinary times. The safety and well-being of your child is and always has been our paramount concern and, as we consider the re-opening of our campus for day and boarding students, we will do our utmost to continue to deliver a first class home-away-from-home experience for your children.

We now ask that you do the following:

Please complete your enrolment contracts for next year by no later than Friday May 8th. Knowing our enrollment numbers as accurately as possible for the upcoming school year will enable us to move forward with faculty and staff decisions and other plans for next year.

We truly thank you for your understanding, patience and support in this time of challenge and change. Our goal is to continue to deliver a high quality Shawnigan education on our campus, with the highest safety standards for the welfare and well-being of your child. Thank you for continuing to entrust us with the care and education of your child(ren) here; we will not let you down.

We have shared this letter with Chair of the Shawnigan Parent Association and we received helpful feedback pre-publication.

Regarding financial questions, please do not hesitate to contact our Finance Department (finance@shawnigan.ca). More generally, our staff remain fully available to discuss any other queries you may have.

We wish you and your family all the very best in these uncertain and difficult times.

With best wishes

Richard D A Lamont,
Headmaster

Fiona Macfarlane,
Chair of the Board

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