In the early 20th Century, with an elevation 400 feet higher than Victoria, the air was considered to be bracing and healthful. Some parents felt that this made it an ideal place to send their children to school.
1893-1951
The first public school in Shawnigan, originally called Malahat School, was built at the corner of Shawnigan Lake and Malta Road. (The building became the local Catholic Church in 1951. That structure was demolished in 2021). It was renamed Shawnigan Lake School in 1914. Children from around and down the lake and as far as the end of Sylvester Road travelled by train, rowed, walked or came on horseback.
In 1951, a new elementary school Shawnigan Lake Elementary School, was built in the Village. It was the only local school until 1981, when Discovery Elementary School was built on the west side of the community in the Shawnigan Beach Estates subdivision.
1912
A private school for girls was established ¼ mile east of the Village in a house. The school, owned and operated by Miss Cole, moved to two buildings on Renfrew Road. In WWI, Miss Cole found it difficult to get her money from home, so she returned to England.
These buildings were eventually bought by Mr. CW Lonsdale to establish Shawnigan Lake Boys School.
1916
CW Lonsdale founded Shawnigan Lake School, a private school for boys. This school opened with six students, four boys and two girls. The school operated for most of the twentieth century as a boys-only private boarding school. In 1988, it changed to a co-ed school. The school has an excellent reputation for high educational standards and students attend from all over the world.
1922
Odo Barry who had been teaching at Shawnigan Lake School left to establish his own school, Leinster Preparatory School. This school was set up in a large rambling house (on what is now Hipwood Road) at the top of a steep hill. The school opened with fourteen pupils decked out in uniforms that had been sent from England. Barry was considered to be a brilliant teacher. According to renowned scientist Frances Kelsey, in her "Autobiographical Reflections", she started her education, as the only girl, in this boys’ school.
1927
Strathcona Lodge School for girls, founded by Minna Gildea, was established in the old Hotel with 25 students in grades 8-12. The school operated successfully until 1951 a year after the death of Gildea.
At that time the property reverted to a hotel for a number of years. Then, in 1959, it opened, once again, under new management, as a girl’s school.
1934-1974
Elsie Miles came to Shawnigan Lake, in 1933, as governess to Dr. Boyd’s three girls. When he married Mrs. Allen, who had six children, they had enough for a school to be built by the Government. This one room school began in Dr. Boyd’s garage until a proper school could be built. Elsie Miles was the only teacher at the West Side School. When the school closed, she moved to Shawnigan Lake School. When the Catholic Church bought the old school property in 1955, Elsie Miles moved to the new Shawnigan Lake School in the Village. When she retired in 1974, the village school was re-named in her honour. The school closed in 2014 and became a park property of the CVRD, which is aptly named Elsie Miles Park.
1959
Cliffside Preparatory School for boys opened on the site of the current Easter Seal Camp on land that was previously owned by Judge Hunter. Mr. Curtis, formerly of Shawnigan Lake School, established the preparatory school Cliffside as a feeder school for Shawnigan Lake Boys School. Cliffside closed in 1977. A significant landmark on this property is a concrete lion that was made early in the 20th century by George S Gibson, a well known architectural carver, from Shawnigan Lake. To this day the lion still guards the property on the waters edge. The lion was adopted as the symbol for the school crest.
1981
Discovery Elementary School became the second elementary school in the community, offering education for grades Kindergarten through Grade 7.
1988
Maxwell International Baha’i School opened on the property of the former Strathcona Lodge School in the September of 1988. It was a multicultural interdenominational boarding school with students from all over the world.
1996
Lakeside Preparatory Academy opened as a private school for international and local students from grades 7-10. Lakeside used the same grounds that Cliffside had once occupied.
1996
Francis Kelsey Secondary School was named for Frances Oldham Kelsey, who grew up in Shawnigan Lake. Dr. Kelsey prevented the approval of thalidomide in the United States while working for the Food and Drug Administration. The school became the local secondary school for students in south Cowichan. (previously, students had attended Cowichan Secondary School in Duncan). The school houses Grades 8-12.
2009
Dwight International School purchased the former Maxwell International Baha’i School and offered the International Baccalaureate diploma program to students from grades 7 through 12.
2015
Brookes Shawnigan Lake was the next school to use the property, but chose to move their operations to a new facility in Colwood.
2019
St John’s Academy purchased the Brookes Shawnigan Lake site. The school continues to add more grade levels and the option to complete the International Baccalaureate Program.