Shawnigan Lake School - Yearbook (Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia Canada)

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thank you to them and to underline their generosity can in no way adequately express the tremendous gratitude which we feel. This act was one of faith in the importance of educa- tion to our future, and was one of outstanding generosity. We can only hope, and strive to the end, that our purposes and efforts here at Shawnigan will ever be worthy of their faith. In this connection, also, I am pleased to announce that we are now able to go ahead during the summer with our plans to instal a language laboratory in the new building. Shawnigan will in fact be the first school in B.C. to embark upon this new approach to the teaching of languages — and this, of course, is one of the primary purposes in education which the independent school can serve, that of taking a lead and experimenting - always in search of better and more effective methods of teaching. The language lab. technique has, of course, proven itself an unqualified success and is now established in most of our universities; but we believe that it will produce even more effective results if it is brought in too at the secondary school level where the ground work is being laid. In the other spheres of school life we have continued to encourage as wide a variety of activities as time and numbers would allow - our purpose being always to widen the interests of the boys and to extend their capabilities. In approaching these other activities I would first of all like to extend the thanks of the School congregation to Mr. Galliford and to the Choir for the magnificent work which they have done during the year. The whole philosophy of our choir singing as developed by Mr. Galliford is not that they should put on recitals, but that they should lead us in our worship; it is not their purpose to sing for the greater glory of the choir, but that through devotion and hard work they shall produce sacred music which will represent the most worthy offering to God of which this community is capable. Thus, we do not offer our con- gratulations to them as a recital group, but our gratitude to them for their service to the community in God. Another aspect of our school life, with which I have been particularly pleased, has been the greater interest shown this year in music, drama, and speech arts. So that everyone gets a chance to contribute something to the community in line with his particular talents - as well as for many other reasons of course — it is important in a school that activities like these should flourish. In this connection I would like to congratulate the directors and all the boys who worked so hard and produced such a good, standard in November in both Trial by Jury and that interesting play Dawn Will Come ; and also I would congratulate all those directors and boys who did so well in February and March in the Cowichan Drama Festival and the Cowichan Music Festival — to name a few, Mr. Josselyn, the director, and Fraser, Sharp and Grauer, the actors, in The Proposal , which was judged as the best pro- duction in the Festival; Greenwood ma. winning the Open Class for piano and Ladner winning the Under 14 class for piano; Sharp winning the Open Class for Shakespeare reading and Hunter winning the Under 16 Class for Prose reading; Arndt winning the open class for Bible Reading and Redpath winning the Under 16 Class for Bible Reading; and Sauer win- ning the Open Class Public Speaking Contest. While these were the winners, there were many other boys who entered and who worked extremely hard on their particular assignments. I think that all of these boys, and particularly the staff members who worked with them so effectively, should be congratulated and encouraged in every way possible — because only in this way can we help to develop the culture in Canada which is so badly needed. Over to another side of our school life, I can report that our Sea Cadet Corps has had one of the most successful years in our history. At the annual Tri-Service Cadet Competi- tion for all corps on the Island, which was held in April in Duncan, our Cadet Band was 13

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tasks of learning which require this. In the senior school we are purposely giving the boys more scope to work on their own so that they can develop the self discipline which they will need for success in university. Of course, the achievement of the very high academic standards toward which we are aiming takes time. It takes time to collect the teachers with a sufficiently developed sense of dedication that they will devote their intellects and their time to this purpose; and it takes time for a school to be in a position where, in selecting new students, one of the important criteria will be good potential for academic stimulation. On the former requirement I believe that we at Shawnigan are singularly fortunate in having already such a large number of dedicated and capable masters; and on the latter I can say that, due to our entrance examinations and the increasing number of applicants for entrance, we are each year more and more able to select students capable of good intellectual attain- ment. Consequently, each year there is a gradual increase through the School in the tasks of learning set and the amount of hard work required. As a result, we are in general getting away from the atmosphere so prevalent in many Canadian schools that one is a square if one wishes to work, and there is something queer about being an egghead - and this, of course, is reflected in our results each year. On the other hand, there are undoubtedly some who do not see the necessity for ex- tending themselves as we require; and there may be some in fact who, finding that they have a supp. or two to write in September, may be wishing they were at another school where they would be recommended, or where at least the exams for promotion from grade to grade would have been easier than they are here. I would point out to any of you in that category that our aim is to prepare you for effective university study and this is not the same thing as preparing you to skittle through the Grade 12 University Entrance examinations. These are not of a sufficiently high stan- dard that, having passed them, you may be certain of doing well at university. Our aim is to extend your abilities to the utmost right through the School, so that the Grade 12 Depart- mental exams will be a relatively easy hurdle, and so that you will have developed the desire for learning and the proper study habits which will be required for effective work later at university. Thus, if you have supps., and are discouraged because you have worked hard during the year, I would urge you to persevere and to aim at these standards which we are setting for you - because I can assure you that their achievement will be decidedly to your benefit later on. With regard to our graduating class, it is difficult to tell at this time how they have done in their matriculation examinations. It is a matter of record that in the last six years, out of 108 entries in our Grade 12 matriculation classes, 101 have qualified for university, and the results of all these papers have been around an average of 68 per cent. Moreover, judging by the general interest which this class has taken in its work and by the teaching which they have received, I feel that the standard of previous years will probably be im- proved. At a lower level in the School, I do have some results which may be of interest. In our annual Scholarship examinations, for which boys from any school who are under fifteen on January 1st are eligible, the top six boys - of 23 candidates from several schools - were Shawnigan boys. We feel that this fact underlines our contention that on the whole our boys are receiving sound academic training in this School. Incidentally, the two Scholarship winners for this year, whom I would like to congratulate publicly, were Andrews and Hitch- cock. Before I leave the academic side, I would like to give special attention to a most important development which has occurred during the course of this year. This is the fact that a new Science Block was donated to the School by Mr. and Mrs. Cy Craig. To say 12

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awarded the Trophy for the best band and our Guard came second. During the Naden week- end in May our Corps won the aggregate Shield for the best overall performance of all the Sea Cadet corps on the Island. These results, coupled with the outstanding performance of the Cadets in the Annual Inspection speak well certainly for the practical side of our Cadet training; with regard to the theoretical side, it is noteworthy that in their examinations re- cently all our candidates for Petty Officer 2nd Class passed, and nineteen out of twenty passed for Leading Cadet - with Marks achieving the highest result in B.C. This overall record, I feel, speaks extremely well for the officers, for the Cadets, and-, in fact, for the spirit in the Corps. I should like to mention also in this report a marked rejuvenation which has taken place in our Scouting activities this year. With the coming of Mr. Archbold, who has taken over the Group, the enrollment has doubled, and the number of activities has increased con- siderably. These included a troop camp of three days, two camps of two days each, a number of one-day hikes, and a good deal of interest and effort on the part of the Scouts as a whole in qualifying for their various proficiency badges. At the end of the season the Group now has five First Class Scouts - all of which are wearing All Round Cords and are the first in our history to have this honour — six fully qualified Second Class Scouts and some twenty who are nearly there. I am pleased to report that of the 53 proficiency badges now held by our Scouts, 23 are Community Service badges and this I consider to be a very important point. In our various activities I believe it is essential that we should continually keep before us the determination to serve, as a school, and when we can, the community in which we live. Again on the athletic side the School has had a good year; and I am not basing this conclusion on the number of wins which our teams have achieved — although the record in this regard is particularly good — but on the approach to games which our boys are showing. While they approach their games with tremendous enthusiasm, I am particularly pleased with 1% MJk m vx WM S iil r