There’s school spirit, and then there’s what Shawnigan Lake School in British Columbia has. Headmaster David Robertson says the grade 8-12 school has something that few schools in the region or even the country have, and it’s something that forms the core of the school’s mission. “I would say right up front that it’s our very strong sense of community,” Robertson says. “We’ve always been a boarding school, and we’ve managed to remain a school that’s relatively pure in the boarding school world.” 

Unlike many other boarding schools in Canada, Shawnigan Lake has not taken on many day students. Robertson says admitting too many day students can dilute the focus of a boarding school’s mission and prevent the creation of the community that is so important to Shawnigan Lake. “There are so many teachable moments that occur outside the classroom,” he says.

The school has about 50 day students, but Robertson notes that these students spend as much time on campus as possible. They typically stay at school from breakfast until 10 p.m., and also come in on weekends. 

Learning together

Building and maintaining a community has been one of Robertson’s primary objectives since coming to the school 19 years ago and becoming headmaster 12 years ago. In that time, the school has made numerous improvements to its 300-acre campus aimed at improving the residential experience for students and staff. 

Over the last several years, Shawnigan Lake School has built five new residence halls, with the fifth currently under construction. The school is also upgrading its three existing residence halls, and Robertson says the emphasis was on creating comfortable spaces that encourage students to get together and socialize or study. “We’ve tried not to make them like double-loaded motel corridors,” he says. “So we’ve created spaces inside the rooms and outside the rooms where they can interact.” 

These spaces include double-sized common rooms in each residence hall where students can gather to work together on projects or just watch TV. Each hall also includes a visitors’ common room where students can spend time visiting friends and relatives. 

The sense of community applies beyond the individual residence halls, as well. “The single biggest facility in terms of impact on the school has been this magnificent dining hall, our ‘Harry Potter’ dining hall,” Robertson jokes. The medieval-style dining hall was built eight years ago, and allows the entire student body to eat together three times a day, something Robertson says is invaluable in fostering the sense of togetherness that the school believes in. 

Technological improvements

The improvements at Shawnigan Lake School have not been limited to the residential experience, however. Robertson says the school has made significant investments in technology in and out of the classroom. A technology committee of faculty members determines the direction of the school’s technology investments, and in recent years the school has equipped its entire campus with wireless internet. Also, students each have their own laptops.

One of the many partners the school is working with to improve its technological edge is THOUGHTstream, a software platform that functions as a way for administrators and faculty to share ideas remotely and collaborate without needing to get together. Robertson says he sees THOUGHTstream “as an innovative tool for collaboration, THOUGHTstream has helped us to facilitate consultation and listening – key features of the modern workplace.”

Robertson says Shawnigan Lake School is taking a relatively modern stance on the application of social media, as well. The school has a presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and students are allowed to use social media under a policy of responsible usage. This strategy is working for the school, as Robertson says prospective students have found Shawnigan Lake School through social media and expressed interest in the opportunities it presents. 

The use of social media and other technology is helping to combat the stereotypes most people have of boarding schools, Robertson says. “It alternates between complete lack of knowledge to misconception,” he says. “A modern boarding school is quite different from a boarding school of 20 years ago.” 

To help get that message out and build up the school’s brand, Shawnigan Lake School recently hired a marketing and enrollment director with experience in the independent school field. This has helped the school establish contacts and links with areas of the country where the school wasn’t known previously, Robertson says. “We actually didn’t suffer during the recession in the sense that our enrollment continued to increase during the recession,” he adds.

The next century

Robertson joined the school in 1993 as a deputy headmaster before becoming principal in 1998 and finally headmaster in 2000. He says a combination of good interpersonal skills and a motivating enthusiasm has helped him be an effective leader at Shawnigan Lake School. “I see myself as the steward of the school,” he says. “In other words, I’m stewarding the values and ethos of the school.”

That includes preparing the school for its 100th anniversary in 2016. Robertson says the celebration will be a significant event for the school, and one that will feature many significant changes leading up to it. “Always trying to do things better is our approach,” he says. “Setting the school up for the next 100 years is what we’re trying to do.”