Co-Ed or Bust

Like the decades before, 1977-1996 proved to be revolutionary times for Shawnigan Lake School. The biggest change of all was the decision for the School to transform from a boys-only school to a co-educational one. Before that change can be discussed, however, it would be an oversight to not mention how the School came to this fork in the road.

 

We have to start this story decades ago back in 1927, when a remarkable school was founded by a remarkable woman: Miss Wilhelmina “Minna” Gildea. She bought the old Strathcona Lodge, the very same one Shawnigan founder C.W. Lonsdale had worked at many years before, with plans to make a school that would turn out girls who were not simply educated but who knew the value of lifelong learning. This vacation spot on the lake would go on to become Strathcona Lodge School. Minna and Lonsdale quickly formed a close friendship, and with Strathcona sitting a mere 3.7 kilometres away a bond between the schools quickly formed.

 

The two schools worked together to organize dances and other events for their students, and to see students from one or the other institution hanging around the other school was not uncommon. There is much that could be said about Strathcona and the impact it had on Shawnigan, but there is simply not enough space to do so here.

 

The loss of Strathcona as Shawnigan’s unofficial sister school in 1977, 50 years after its founding, meant that the School lost much more than a good working relationship. Friendships were cut short, social events became rarer and harder to come by as the Shawnigan tried to recreate this unique relationship with other schools, and in some cases, siblings lost the ability to remain close together as often the boys in a family would go to Shawnigan while girls would go to Strathcona. The loss of Strathcona was shocking and meant that the boys of Shawnigan Lake School were left alone in the wilderness once again.

 

Time kept marching on though, and one year after Strathcona Lodge School closed, Reverend Horace McClelland stepped away from his role as Shawnigan headmaster. This caused quite the stir at the School, and a question was raised as to who would take on the role. Historically, Shawnigan had appointed headmasters who had deep connections with the School, as previous decades had seen old boys and longtime staff members step up to the plate. This time, however, the Board of Governors decided to look outside of the well-known pool of staff members who had flourished within the Shawnigan system and, after an extensive search, Darrell Farrant was appointed as headmaster. Darrell Farrant was recruited all the way from England and had years of experience working in English boarding schools. Unfortunately, this proved to be a point of contention amongst alumni, students, and the wider Shawnigan community. There was a real concern amongst those who loved the School that Farrant would come to Shawnigan and turn it into a replica English boarding school and not value the institution as an entity of its own creation. In the words of alum and longtime English teacher Jay Connolly ’80, Shawnigan Lake School was a “Canadian, British Columbian, rural Island school,” and very few believed that Farrant would be able to integrate fully into the system.

 

During his five years at the School, Farrant used every opportunity to try to create the best boarding school he could, and tried to prove that his interests lay with the well-being of the students and the success of Shawnigan, not with recreating a British boarding school. He had grand goals and modern ideas that chafed against traditions long set in stone at the School. One such idea he had was to open up Shawnigan to girls. Brentwood Bay School had done this a few years before to great success and it was clear that the demand for an independent school education for girls was desired. However, having girls attend Shawnigan would break with the long tradition of the School and would mean Shawnigan would have to fundamentally rethink what it would mean for the School to become a coeducational institution. At the time, the idea was unimaginable and the prospect of coeducation was struck down. After trying to prove himself as headmaster for many years, Farrant left Shawnigan in 1983 and would later go on to become the headmaster of Abbotsholme School in England.

 

His departure brought up the question again of who would take on the top job at Shawnigan. The School now had experience with insiders and outsiders helming the ship and during the search for a new leader the Board of Governors looked within the School and across Canada. The top two contenders for the position of headmaster were Derek Hyde-Lay, a well-respected, loyal, longtime staff member of the School and who was incredibly respected, and Doug Campbell, who had worked as headmaster at a small boarding school prior to his candidacy, and brought with him a wealth of knowledge, the benefit of youth, and who was, most importantly, Canadian through and through. The role ultimately went to Doug Campbell and upon his arrival he brought with him a significant shift in ideas that were more readily tolerated by those around him. This isn’t to say that he didn’t meet resistance but through careful friendships and a willingness to figure out how to mesh tradition with modern ideas, Campbell created new roles still recognized today such as the Dean of Academics and the Dean of Students and introduced Advanced Placement classes to hopefully draw the attention of even more students who sought a challenge.

 

Most radical of all, though, was Campbell’s attempt at introducing the idea of co-education to the School and the Board of Governors. It was becoming abundantly clear that Shawnigan would begin to struggle as it had in decades past if the School remained a boys-only institution. Unlike when the School was founded in 1916, other independent schools had popped up across Canada and on Vancouver Island, which meant prospective students had more options. Young boys didn’t only have one school to choose from, but several, and the competition was fierce. In addition, Shawnigan had never truly recovered from the social loss of Strathcona Lodge School. Attempts had been made to forge relationships with Queen Margaret's School in Duncan, but it was never the same as before. Campbell’s final argument was that it would be nearly impossible to reach the School’s ultimate goal of having at least 300 pupils enrolled if they didn’t expand their applicant base. With careful consideration, the Board of Governors passed the proposal for coeducation and on March 11, 1987, the Shawnigan Lake School Society met for its annual AGM. In order for the proposal to pass, at least 75 percent of Society members had to vote in favour. The stakes were high, but Campbell’s gamble ultimately paid off as an astonishing 97 percent of the Society voted yes to make Shawnigan Lake School co-educational.

 

The first girl to enrol at Shawnigan was Renate Grass, daughter of Rolf Grass, who had been teaching at the School since the 1970s, and she graduated as the only girl in the Class of 1988. The first proper class of girls arrived at Shawnigan in September 1988 and the rest, as they say, is history. The inclusion of girls helped the student population explode, and Doug Campbell and Darrell Farrant, were proved correct that girls were the future. Over the next eight years, girls came to Shawnigan in droves and three houses were created or reassigned to accommodate their growing numbers. School House, which was originally located in the Main Building, was the first girls house at Shawnigan and it became clear quickly that another house was needed. In 1989, Kaye’s House was created and named after Peter Kaye, the second Headmaster of Shawnigan Lake School, whose sons all attended Shawnigan.

 

The girls kept coming, and by the early 1990s, it was clear that more space was needed for them. An arguably controversial move for the School was to reassign Groves’ House, one of the two original Houses, and historically a boys house, as a girls’ house. The following decades would see the creation of two more girls' houses: Renfrew in 1996, and Strathcona in 2007. The latter was named as an homage to our lost sister, and the Old Girls of Strathcona Lodge School were officially adopted into the ranks of Strathcona House alumni.

 

The 1996 school year ended at Shawnigan with a total of 82 graduates, including 28 young women ready to make their mark on the world. In fact, the goal that Doug Campbell had to push Shawnigan beyond that elusive 300-pupil mark had been reached and exceeded as 333 students walked through the halls of Shawnigan Lake School that year alone. For all his work, Campbell never got to see that goal reached in person as in 1989, just one year after his fight to make Shawnigan co-educational was won, he was appointed as the headmaster of Ridley College in Ontario. It was Derek Hyde-Lay, finally appointed as Headmaster from 1989 to 1990, and Simon Bruce-Lockhart, Shawnigan’s 11th headmaster, who saw Shawnigan reach this milestone.

 

Between the efforts of these four Headmasters, Shawnigan found its sure footing and was primed to grow and become the School we know now.