Shawnigan Campus Tours 101

So, you’re coming to visit campus for the first time. What can you expect? How do you arrange a campus tour? What days or times are tours offered? What should you ask to see? These are all common questions asked by prospective students and families inquiring about attending Shawnigan Lake School.

 

Campus tours are organized by our Admissions team and are an important step in the admissions process to give prospective students and families a feel for what the Shawnigan experience is like. A prospective student and their family will be invited to tour our beautiful campus on a weekday from October to May of the School year prior to the applying year of entry. For example, if you were applying for Grade 10 in the 2025-26 academic year, you would be welcomed to visit campus between October 2024 and May 2025. Our team is of course understanding of the fact that sometimes you may need to tour earlier than this. We do welcome summer tours for families who may be visiting Vancouver Island during summer vacation, or for a tour a year prior to application if travelling from afar. We do not offer weekend tours as we want students to experience a day in the life of a Shawnigan student, including the academic day. 

To arrange a meeting, please reach out to the Admissions team, who will then follow up with time and date availability. Once confirmed, you will be asked to complete an inquiry form or application prior to your visit to collect some initial information about your child so that we can tailor their visit to their interests and passions. Families are encouraged to join the tour and they typically last one hour in length.

 

Families are guided by our talented student tour guides. Our senior students earn the privilege of providing campus tours, and we feel it’s important for families to get the student perspective of someone currently living the Shawnigan day-to-day lifestyle to best show our bustling campus. It also helps students feel at ease when they come with questions because it helps them realize that their tour guide was once in their shoes receiving a campus tour. Having that sense of relatability truly benefits the visiting student. We also do our very best to pair a visiting student with a senior student who has similar interests, so they can discuss specific programming that they might have been involved in.

 

We like to remind visitors that no question is a silly question, and to ask as many as you’d like – our Shawnigan students are eager to share about their own journey! You’ll notice that some of our senior students proudly wear a tour guide pin on the lapel of their uniform, signifying that they have earned the pin by providing fantastic tours to our visiting families.

 

Now you’re ready for your tour to begin. You will arrive on campus and meet your tour guide and an Admissions staff member just inside the Main Building. Tour highlights include:

 

 

Once your tour is complete, you will have the chance to sit down with one of our Admissions Associates who can answer any questions that might have come up during the tour, and they will explain the next steps in the admissions process. A child may also be invited to stay for a class shadow experience, where they would be paired with a student of similar age or grade, so a visiting student can sit in on classes and experience lunch in stunning Marion Hall with other current students, as well as joining an extra-curricular activity at the end of the class day should it align with the visit schedule and travel plans. 

 

Sometimes our visiting students feel a little bit nervous or hesitant about asking their list of questions, or by coming at all in the first place, but please know that our current students are all excited and happy to welcome you! They are very used to seeing our visiting students join in on classes and walking around on campus. Even though you may not be in a uniform, we hope that you feel right at home during your visit. 

 

If you are not able to come physically to campus, our website includes a great virtual tour. This can be found linked here.