News Detail
Under the Sorting Hat
After spending their Grade 8 year in Samuel House – Shawnigan’s newest boarding house and Canada’s first co-ed Grade 8 boarding house – Shawnigan students go through a unique ceremony to learn where they will live for the rest of their respective Shawnigan Journeys.
That would be the Sorting Hat Ceremony, which was inspired by a similar tradition in the Harry Potter universe. Under the auspices of Head of School Mr. Larry Lamont and Executive Director of Admissions Mrs. Gaynor Samuel, students take turns donning the floppy, conical headwear, where they are informed which “big” House they will join for the next four years.
Boarding houses are a fundamental aspect of the Shawnigan experience, and special homes away from home for our students. The peers they live with and the House staff become family for them during their time at the School. For each student, their House automatically becomes “the best House on campus.”
House assignments are anything but accidental, as Mrs. Samuel and the Admissions team go through a painstaking process to determine the best situation for each student. Many factors are considered, including if a parent or sibling already has connections to a specific House.
Once the students learned their new House assignments, they were presented with T-shirts in their new House colours, then welcomed to the House by the current Grade 11s. From there, the Grade 8s joined their new Houses for inter-House rugby – the final inter-House competition of the year – sporting their new colours and cheering on their new housemates.
Students sometimes go into the ceremony hoping for a specific House. A few Grade 8 boys dropped by the Admissions Office earlier this year to make requests, but the Admissions staff wouldn’t listen. “Tell the Hat,” they said, pointing to the headpiece’s place of honour in the office. The boys shrugged, then walked over and whispered their wishes to the Hat. Only they and the Hat know for sure if those wishes came true.
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.
