Grade 8 Experience
My house team shaped me as a person by allowing me to balance between my education and social life. - Hayden
One of Shawnigan’s uniquely differentiating features is our carefully crafted Grade 8 experience. For our 12- and 13-year-old Grade 8 students, we have developed a nurturing program that acts as a supportive springboard into the wider Shawnigan community.
In early 2024, Stanton and Levien will come together in our pioneering new boarding house, Samuel House – a co-educational House (with separate wings for boys and girls) designed to build on the success of our distinctive Grade 8 experience by bringing all Grade 8s together under one roof.
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Houses
My favourite part about Stanton/Levien is the community. Everyone in each house is so close, to the point where you feel like siblings. - Ava
Stanton
Founded in September 2019 to house the Grade 8 girls. Stanton is named after the first school nurse at Shawnigan, Eleanor Stanton who worked here from 1918 to 1962.
Colours: Pink & White
Motto: Cervae, optime educatae, floreamus” ~ We hinds, brilliantly educated, flourish
Colours: Pink & White
Motto: Cervae, optime educatae, floreamus” ~ We hinds, brilliantly educated, flourish
House Director: Rainbow Bartlett
“My House Director asks us every morning about how we are feeling....she does an awesome job of giving us enough time to figure things out.” - Yumi
“My House Director asks us every morning about how we are feeling....she does an awesome job of giving us enough time to figure things out.” - Yumi
Levien
Founded in September 2020 to house the Grade 8 boys after the success of Stanton House. Named after a dedicated and dynamic member of staff from the 1920-1930s, Captain ‘Tiny’ Levien was a colleague of Stanton. He introduced rugby to Shawnigan and taught the younger boys.
Colours: Brown & Cream
Motto: Iuventutis Vehamus Fortunas ~ Let us bear the fortunes of youth
Motto: Iuventutis Vehamus Fortunas ~ Let us bear the fortunes of youth
House Director: Ed Taylor
“Doc T. is very supportive and will do his best to help you through tough stuff…” - Ryland
“Doc T. is very supportive and will do his best to help you through tough stuff…” - RylandGrade 8 News
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Grade 8s Take a Hike
Read MoreOur youngest students have been getting to know Vancouver Island in their first months at Shawnigan thanks to some off-campus excursions with our Outdoor Education teachers, part of our OuterEDGE experiential learning programs aimed at Grade 8s and 9s.In mid-September, the Grade 8s hiked through campus, and kayaked and canoed on Shawnigan Lake, and last week, the group hiked Maple Mountain near Duncan, exploring the fall colours and the way the environment changes as we move from summer into fall.“For the students, it’s an introduction to where we live and what’s in our backyard, and to outdoor activities they might not be familiar with,” says Outdoor Education Coordinator Ms. Jessica Dick. “It will help prepare them for the Beyond the Gates program next year and give them a little taste of activities and help them find things they might be interested in.”
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Grade 8 Sorting Hat Ceremony
The student journey at Shawnigan is a carefully crafted one, and for our youngest students, our Grade 8 program offers an experience unique to any other boarding school. From the moment they arrive on campus, the specially designed Grade 8 Houses, Stanton for the girls and Levien for the boys, welcome these students into an environment where they will be nurtured and cared for as they learn the ropes of Shawnigan and experience being away from home for the first time. These students get the opportunity to bond and create close friendships, an essential foundation for them as they finish their first year.Read More
The Shawnigan Journey
As part of the Shawnigan Journey, each grade experience is guided by a single overall concept that is linked to our core values of curiosity, compassion, community and courage. These guiding concepts have been further developed into concrete grade-specific goals—our distinctive “moments that matter”—that fall under each of our three strategic pillars of Academic Excellence, Co-curricular Distinction and Student Life Unparalleled. Read More
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 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
