History

Building on our past

St. George's School was founded in 1930, and has, as such, accumulated a wealth of history. Many students, teachers, and headmasters have passed through the School's classrooms and halls, each with their own stories to tell.

Douglas E. Harker, one of St. George's past headmasters, committed his own story regarding the School to the pages of a book, The Story of St. George's School for Boys. The following is an excerpt from the book's first chapter, of which the full text has been made available for download.

This is the story of a School, of the ventures and traditions, the laughs and heartbreaks that went into the building of it, the men and women who gave their time and talents to its development.

Today St. George's School, Vancouver, is probably the largest or second largest independent school in Canada. At first, and for a number of years, it was no more than a collection of boys housed in or coming daily to a private residence on the outskirts of the city. Erstwhile sitting-rooms and bedrooms were made to do duty as classrooms and games rooms.

The School survived and flourished because over the years a number of men and women gave it devoted service. Some were business and professional men who found themselves fascinated by the many sides of life in a school and worked for it as governors or directors, fund-raisers, lawyers or accountants. Some were parents of boys, or boys, who allowed the School to become a major part of their lives, both during and after their time at it.

"...went digging through the many old Georgians and the mass of papers that constitutes the St. George's archive that [he] became excited about telling the school's rags-to-riches story through some of the yearbook's eloquent voices and the archive's wonderful photographs. After much thought [he] decided to tell the story chronologically, decade by decade, using a timeline to place the activities of the school community in a wider context. This approach allowed [him] to concentrate on the significant events and the procession of visionary, energetic, and colourful characters who took the school forward and whose influence lingers on in the memories of the boys and their families."

The Junior School campus is also rich in history. The spectacular and historic building was constructed in 1912 in a Gothic revival style for the Convent of the Sacred Heart, who ran a girls’ boarding school there until 1979 when St. George's acquired the building. Interestingly, there used to be an outside walkway on the third floor, which became known as the "Nun's Gallery." Unfortunately, after 100 years, the metal on the gallery became too rusted and had to be removed.

In 2015, the School received a Heritage Award from the City of Vancouver to acknowledge the extraordinary effort and resources that it has put into the Junior School main building and the associated Boiler House.