Crofton House School

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Crofton House School

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        Crofton House School, an independent school for girls was founded in 1898 by Jessie and Mary Gordon. Started in a little house on the wooded shores of Vancouver when the city was only eleven years old, it is now the oldest independent school west of Toronto. The Misses Gordon began the school as an enterprise founded on the pursuits of academic excellence, good citizenship, and manners. From the basement of her parent's home on Georgia Street and four students to a new school on the corner of Jervis and Nelson Streets with 50 students in 1901, Miss Gordon's school was an early success. Where other "British style" schools sprang up and folded just as fast, Crofton House School expanded further in 1907 with a Junior school and added boarding facilities. Academically, Crofton students distinguished themselves. In 1915, two students took their matriculation. In the late 1930s an Alumnae Association was formed. In 1937 the school was threatened with closure upon the retirement of the Gordon sisters. However, a group of interested parents and supporters rallied together and incorporated the school as an educational trust. The first meeting on October 13, 1937 appointed a Board of Governors whose vision was to continue the school with the same standards that had initiated its creation. In 1940 the Provincial Department of Education decided to offer accreditation to independent schools for the first time. Crofton House was the first independent school in the province to receive this distinction. At the same time, the school had continued to expand and by the 1940s was bursting at the seams. The Board acquired a 15-acre estate in Kerrisdale and in 1942, the 200 students moved to the new school which is the site of the present campus. Gradually, new buildings were added to the campus and students were registered from every region of North America and overseas. Boarding ceased in 1990 and the now-old facilities made way for new campus facilities. The school celebrated its 100th Birthday Jubilee in 1998. Still ranked the top academic school in British Columbia, Crofton House, while respecting its British roots, is now a multi-national school community. Students travel the world every year, and even further through its advanced IT programmes. The school is still operated as a non-profit society governed by the Board of Governors and since the 1990s has developed an integrated administration which includes the Crofton House School Foundation (a bursary-granting body), an External Relations Office which has fundraised over 20 million dollars for capital projects since 1990, and a strong Alumnae network. Interestingly, in the course of over 100 years of operation, there have been only eight heads of school.

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