The Shawnigan Journey
The Shawnigan Journey is an intentional and progressive educational, social and emotional experience that spans Grade 8 to Grade 12. This unique initiative is a carefully researched response to the fast-paced and rapidly changing world in which we now find ourselves. Current and future generations of Shawnigan students will need to adapt more quickly than past generations, and they will be commissioned to tackle monumental political, social, technological, and environmental challenges. Encompassing the British Columbia curriculum’s innovative and highly regarded core competencies, The Shawnigan Journey is designed to equip our students to respond to these challenges and thrive independently beyond the School’s gates.
In order to achieve this goal, our focus is to guide students through a progressive experiential learning journey that is deliberate in fostering curiosity, critical thinking, agility and resilience and is built on a strong foundation of healthy social relationships and personal wellbeing. 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. For more information about the philosophy behind the Shawnigan Journey, please click here.
The Shawnigan Journey Podcast
When I first stepped onto the Shawnigan campus I didn’t fully realize what kind of journey I was about to begin. I thought it would be about academics, sports, and a basic routine. And it is – but it also became something else. It became a place of growth, of challenge, of deep reflection. A place where I learned just as much about myself as I did in the classroom. – Mersaya, Shawnigan Journey Prefect
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Grade 8
Read MoreGrade 8 - Nurture
The Grade 8 experience at Shawnigan provides a safe and supportive environment in which students can take risks as they discover their interests, passions and limits. It encourages individual growth alongside navigating a place within the broader community. -
Grade 9
Read MoreGrade 9 - Discover
The Grade 9 experience at Shawnigan encourages students to be curious in all endeavours as they discover where their passions lie and navigate the challenges that come from learning and supporting peers. -
Grade 10
Read MoreGrade 10 - Choose
The Grade 10 experience at Shawnigan is the catalyst for students to choose their path freely and courageously as they begin to specialize and refine the passions they will pursue in their senior years and beyond. The individual emerges as they reflect on experiences of the past and their place in relation to others, and they chart their individual journey forward. -
Grade 11
Read MoreGrade 11 - Lead
The Grade 11 experience at Shawnigan pushes students to lead themselves towards their post-secondary pursuits and begin to discover how they will lead their peers, and junior students at the school, through various opportunities. -
Grade 12
Read MoreGrade 12 - Inspire
The Grade 12 experience at Shawnigan is the chance for students to give back as they have developed the ability and character to inspire their community in very different personal ways that are usually connected to the areas that have inspired them over the years. This expression of gratitude through their actions is an inspiration to future classes.
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 Pacific Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
