Strategic Plan
We believe that the work that goes toward creating a great school is never finished, and is strengthened by a growing community that listens, reflects, and moves with intention toward a clearer version of itself.
Our strategic plan is our promise to our students, our families, and the community that surrounds us in Shawnigan Lake: we are not standing still, and everything we do is guided by a clear sense of where we are going and why it matters.
Our plan is built around three commitments that reflect both who we are and who we are becoming. Each commitment carries its own identity, its own motto, and its own core value, and together they form the foundation of the St. John’s experience.
COMMITMENT ONE
Experiential and Holistic Learning
Student Identity: The Explorer
The Explorer is the student who arrives at St. John’s Academy ready to discover and leaves with a lifelong habit of curiosity, a deep love of the natural world, and the confidence that comes from having learned by doing.
Motto: Curious by Nature / Core Value: Courage
We believe that the most powerful education is one that extends far beyond the classroom, and we are fortunate to have one of the most extraordinary natural classrooms in the world right outside our doors. Our first commitment is to deepen and formalize the relationship between learning and place, embedding outdoor education, environmental stewardship, and hands-on experiential learning into the daily life of every student across every grade.
Establishing forests, waterways, and field sites as spaces for academic work and recreation is an essential part of our operations to ensure every grade has access to field experiences that are intentionally connected to what students are studying. Building meaningful partnerships with indigenous communities, local environmental organizations, and regional experts brings the living world into our curriculum. We are deepening our commitment to our arts program, working with passionate educators who can share a broad range of artistic disciplines and mediums with our students and provide hands-on experiences.
COMMITMENT TWO
Excellence and Innovation
Student Identity: The Leader
The Leader is the student who arrives with ambition and leaves with the skills, the integrity, and the global perspective to act on it.
Motto: Empowered to Act / Core Value: Integrity
Our second commitment is to academic excellence and future-ready programming. We are committed to delivering the highest standards of IB education, investing in our teachers, deepening our inquiry-based practice, and pursuing partnerships and accreditations that support this endeavour. We are committed to innovation and the understanding that modern academic excellence looks different than it did a generation ago.
Our senior Pursuit programs (WILD, CREATE, BEACON, and COMPASS) are a direct expression of this commitment, giving students the freedom to pursue an individualized path through senior school while graduating with a recognized qualification and the skills that will support their future success. We are embedding technological literacy and design thinking into our curriculum at every level, and building student leadership structures to ensure every Seawolf leaves St. John’s Academy knowing how to lead.
COMMITMENT THREE
Community and Wellbeing
Student Identity: The Pack
The Pack is the promise we make to every family that joins us: their child will be known and valued.
Motto: Stronger Together / Core Value: Caring
Our commitment to community and wellbeing is designed to ensure that every single student at St. John’s Academy feels that they belong here.
Our team intentionally weaves social-emotional learning into our classes, works to strengthen the connection between our day students and our boarding students, and aims to create a truly unified community that reflects the One School philosophy we hold dear. We have a strong focus towards building out our peer support systems and deepening our advisory program. Our goal is to continue growing our community thoughtfully and with intention, with plans to extend our offering downward to welcome our youngest learners, building a foundation of belonging that begins even before Grade 4.
Our Commitment to Continuous Improvement
Alongside our strategic plan, St. John’s Academy Shawnigan Lake operates a formal Continuous Improvement Plan that tracks our progress against clear, evidence-based targets in three priority areas: student belonging and community wellbeing, academic growth and literacy across all grades, and the depth and quality of our experiential learning program.
We measure key indicators in these areas to understand where we are doing well and where we can do better. Our leadership team, our educators, and our board review this data together throughout the year, and we share our progress openly with our parent and school community.
Who Shapes This Plan
The commitments and priorities that shape our path forward were informed by our students, our families, our educators, our boarding and operations staff, and our board: the full community of people who make St. John’s what it is. We are grateful for their honesty, their ideas, and their shared belief that this school is worth investing in.
If you have thoughts to share as we move forward, we would love to hear from you.