Shawnigan Lake School is an independent and co-educational boarding school located in Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, Canada. The school was founded in 1916 by Christopher Lonsdale, and partly modelled after his alma mater, the Westminster School in London, England.
Originally an all-boys' school, it became fully co-educational in 1988. The school has produced many notable alumni, including several artists, athletes, diplomats, politicians, scientists, and businesspeople.
Lonsdale chose Horatio Nelson's motto, Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat ("Let whosoever deserves the palm bear it") as the school's motto.
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Students
As of September 2025, the student body at Shawnigan Lakes School consists of 540 students representing 30 countries, with 440 students residing on campus in boarding houses, the largest number of full-time boarders in Canada. Students come from all over the world, with 50 percent from British Columbia, 15 percent from other Canadian provinces, 5 percent from the United States, and 30 percent from other international locations. Shawnigan sets aside $6 million for financial aid and scholarships every year.
Current campus
Shawnigan Lake School occupies a wooded 270-acre (1.1 km2) campus near the village of Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia. There are approximately 80 buildings on the site:
The Main Building, built in 1926, sits adjacent to the quadrangle, which houses the school's chapel (built 1928), dining hall (Marion Hall), and the Bruce-Lockhart Centre for Creativity (built 1934, formerly the Hobbies Building). Other facilities include classroom buildings, dormitories and staff housing, a theatre, a music building, an astronomy observatory, a recording arts studio, a growing dome, a salmon hatchery, and a robotics lab.
Athletic facilities include the Charlie Purdey Arena for ice hockey and figure skating, a rowing crewhouse shared with Rowing Canada Aviron, the Hyde-Lay Rugby Pavilion, two gymnasiums, six tennis courts, eight squash courts, and seven sports fields, including Canada Field, often used by Rugby Canada and other international teams.
School life
Student Body & Boarding Houses
The school is primarily a boarding school, with approximately 82 percent of its students attending the school as boarders. The school has 10 boarding houses: five for boys in grades 9-12 and four for girls in grades 9-12, as well as Samuel House, a dedicated Grade 8 boarding house with separate wings for boys and girls, which opened in 2024. Each boarding house has a full-time House Director and an Assistant House Director, who are assisted by other staff members, along with student Heads of House and House Prefects in the management of house duties and issues. Each year, houses compete against each other in an annual intramural competition for the House Cup, determined by a variety of events throughout the year as well as academic achievement.
Shawnigan's student government consists of Round Tables from Grades 8 to 11, with the highest position of student leadership being School Prefects, who are appointed in their final year. The Prefects are led by the Co-Heads of School, who are elected from within the incoming Prefect group at the end of each academic year.
Boy Houses:
Lake's House (1927)
Ripley's House (1927)
Copeman's House (1929)
Lonsdale's House (1968)
Duxbury House (1999)
Girl Houses:
Groves' House (1927)
Kaye's House (1989)
Renfrew House (1996)
Strathcona House (2007)
Co-Ed (Grade 8):
Samuel House (2024)
Academics
Shawnigan's academic program is university preparatory. It was ranked by the Fraser Institute in 2017 as 11th out of 253 British Columbian Secondary Schools based on a score of 9.3/10 for academic achievements. The school provides 25 Advanced Placement (AP) courses offered by the College Board, as well as a Dual Dogwood Diploma program for French Immersion students.
Fine Arts
Students are required to try a variety of fine arts and activities, known as the 360 program, selecting from a list of 30 or more options.
Notable programs include recording arts, robotics, musicals, Model United Nations, astronomy, woodworking, search and rescue, and various bands and music groups. The theatre program includes at least one large-scale production each year, which is usually performed at the McPherson Playhouse in Victoria.
Athletics
Shawnigan has official partnerships with Rugby Canada and Rowing Canada, with both national teams using the school's training facilities on a regular basis. The school also has a partnership with Thunder Indigenous Rugby. In 2014, Shawnigan joined the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.
Sports offered at the school include rowing, rugby, ice hockey, squash, tennis, badminton, basketball, soccer, golf, volleyball, field hockey, and cross country.
Shawnigan's sports rivalries include those with Brentwood College School, St. George's School, and St. Michaels University School.
School athletic championships
(Note: championships exist pre-2001 to the founding.)
Rugby union
BC AA Girls Rugby Champions - 2023
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions - 2022
BC Boys AAAA Rugby Champions – 2019
BC Boys AAAA Rugby Champions – 2017
BC Junior Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2017
Junior Boys Rugby 7s Champions – 2016
BC Junior Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2016
Senior Boys CAIS Rugby Champions – 2016
Girls CAIS Rugby Champions – 2016
BC Girls AA Rugby Champions – 2016
BC Boys AAAA Rugby Champions – 2016
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2015
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2013
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2012
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2011
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2010
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 2009
Boys CAIS National Rugby Champions – 2008
BC Boys AAA Rugby Champions – 1998
BC Girls AA Rugby Champions – 1997
BC Girls AA Rugby Champions – 1996
Field hockey
BC Girls AAA Sr. Field Hockey Champions – 2014
BC Girls AA Field Hockey Champions – 2011
Ice hockey
CSSHL Midget Varsity Champions – Boys' Midget Varsity – 2016
CSSHL Midget Varsity Champions – Boys' Midget Varsity – 2015
(Note: championships existed pre-1996 to the founding.)
Notable people
Notable alumni
Robert Stewart Hyndman – Artist
Peter Saul – Artist
Eloise Blackwell – New Zealand Black Ferns captain (46 caps)
Brett Beukeboom – Rugby Canada captain (32 caps) and Cornish Pirates player
Casey Crowley – New Zealand field hockey player (38 caps)
Hannah Darling – 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, 2015 Pan American Games gold medalist, Rugby Canada player
Bryan Donnelly – Team Canada rower, 2000 Olympic Games
Eddie Evans – Rugby Canada player, prop for Canada national team, 1987, 1991, 1995 Rugby World Cups (50 caps)
George Hungerford – 1964 Olympic gold medalist for Team Canada in the coxless pair
Josh Jackson – Rugby Canada player (22 caps)
John Lander – 1928 Olympic gold medalist for Great Britain in the coxless four
John Lecky – 1960 Olympic silver medalist, eight; Rugby Canada player
Kristopher McDaniel – 2005 & 2007 World Championship bronze medalist, coxless four and pair; 2006 and 2007 Oxford and Cambridge boat races
Djustice Sears-Duru – Rugby Canada player (67 caps)
Jim Shaw – CEO of Shaw Communications
Anthony Vincent – Canadian Ambassador to Peru
Notable staff
Tom Brierley – Cricketer
Jennifer Manuel – Author, winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize (2017) and Geist Literal Literary Postcard Story Contest (2025), shortlisted for the 2025 CBC Poetry Prize
James Robertson Justice – Actor
Laura Russell - Canadian national team rugby player
Jeff Williams - Canadian national team rugby player
Affiliations
The Anglican Church of Canada, diocese of British Columbia
CAIS – Canadian Accredited Independent Schools
NAIS – National Association of Independent Schools
TABS – The Association of Boarding Schools
FISA BC – Federation of Independent School Associations in British Columbia
ISABC – Independent Schools Association of BC