August 25, 2017

 

Dear Members of the Shawnigan Lake School Community:

The Board of Governors of Shawnigan Lake School is delighted to announce the appointment of Mr Richard (Larry) Lamont to the position of Headmaster from July 15, 2018.

Larry has been appointed following a rigorous recruitment process that attracted interest from some of the best schools in the world. Throughout the process, the Board has been impressively assisted by Perrett Laver (a leading international executive search consultancy). Larry will succeed David Robertson who, together with Lynn, will be retiring after twenty-five years of service to Shawnigan, including an outstandingly successful eighteen years as Headmaster.

Larry holds qualifications from the universities of London, Cambridge and Oxford and is a teacher of English Literature. His own academic interests lie in Renaissance and Restoration Drama, Satire, French, Irish and African Literature. He was Head of the English Department and then Head of Upper School and a member of the Senior Management Team at Marlborough College (UK) – during this time and as part of a teacher exchange, he worked for a term in the English Department at UWC Waterford Kamhlaba (Swaziland), which gave him his first insight into the educational model and philosophy of the United World Colleges.

Larry has been Rektor of UWC Red Cross Nordic (Norway) since 2012 – a co-educational residential school in the fjords with 215 students from over 95 countries. UWC Red Cross Nordic – in parallel with 16 other UWC schools and colleges across the world - gathers a deliberately diverse student body with an explicit mission to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.

His wife Kathini, who grew up in Zimbabwe and Kenya and studied Drama at the University of London, is the Events Coordinator at UWC Red Cross Nordic and is also a qualified counsellor and yoga instructor. She looks forward to playing a full part in school life.  Larry’s step daughter Phoebe (aged seventeen) is entering the second year of the International Baccalaureate programme at UWC Red Cross Nordic and plans to take up a Davis United World College Scholarship for her university studies in the US from September 2018. Poppy (aged five and a half) is currently at a local kindergarten and thinks she is Norwegian.

Larry has a background in experiential and expeditionary learning – and has co-led school expeditions to many parts of the world, from cultural tours of Cuba to wilderness trails in the iMfolozi and Drakensberg reserves in South Africa. He is a keen team sportsman, skier and fly fisherman and an experienced cricket and field hockey coach.

On his appointment, Larry said: ‘It is a tremendous honour to have been appointed to succeed David Robertson as the next Headmaster of Shawnigan Lake School.

Shawnigan - with its values-based educational model, strong reputation for pastoral care and community-building, development of co-education and commitment to developing access and diversity - will provide me with an unparalleled professional challenge and a personal adventure for my family. Shawnigan strikes me as a school stepping confidently forward from a period of consolidation, strength and development and, at the same time, challenging itself to be relevant, purposeful and of service in a changing world.

Kathini and I are excited to be taking this step and can see ourselves making a positive and important contribution to Shawnigan’s remarkable community and, as we move from the fjords to the Pacific coast, we hope also to develop an understanding of and commitment to the people, the place and the heritage of Canada, British Columbia and Shawnigan.  This is undoubtedly an exciting time and I look forward to contributing to the architecture of Shawnigan’s future.’

 

Shawnigan Board Chair Matthew Brister remarked, ‘We are extremely fortunate to have attracted Larry to Shawnigan. His experience, reputation and success to date in his career had our Search Committee excited to meet him. It was evident from the outset to the Governors, Staff and Students that met Larry and Kathini that they understand and appreciate what makes Shawnigan a special place and a tremendous opportunity for young people seeking a holistic and values-based boarding experience. We are excited to have identified and selected a leader with talent and vision aligned with Shawnigan values.’

Larry will be working with David to ensure a smooth and supportive transition over the next academic year and he will be traveling periodically to the school over that period as schedules allow; we will inform the Shawnigan community of those opportunities once they are scheduled. Please join me in welcoming "Team Lamont” to Shawnigan and Canada!’

 

 

 

Yours truly,

 

Matthew Brister, Chair

Board of Governors

Shawnigan Lake School