“Remember girls, you are not going home to be selfish butterflies of fashion. The Bishop Strachan School has been endeavouring to fit you to become useful and courageous women. I believe you will yet see our universities open to women. Work out your freedom, girls! Knowledge is now no more a fountain seal’d; drink deep.”
— Mrs. Anne Thomson, Lady Principal, 1872 to 1875, Bishop Strachan School
Beatrice Helen Worsley was a woman who knew her way around codes and numerical computations. She was the first female computer scientist in Canada and is believed to be the first woman in the world to earn a doctorate in computer science, which she received in 1951 from the University of Cambridge.
Canadian women’s rights activist Emily Murphy, born in 1868, became the first female magistrate in Canada and in the British Empire.
Both women, who were students at Toronto’s Bishop Strachan School, did have a greater purpose than “to be selfish butterflies of fashion” as an early principal, Mrs. Anne Thomson, put it.
In fact, Bishop Strachan School was founded to give young women a strong academic foundation. Its mission statement is “Inspire girls to be fearless. Educate girls to be leaders.”
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Over its 150 years it has done just that. And this year it celebrated its anniversary with the addition of the STEAM wing, a 64,000 square-foot education space that intersects the arts and sciences.
The story of how Bishop Strachan School — Canada’s oldest independent day and boarding school for girls — came to shape leaders can be traced to Rev. John Langtry. The staunch supporter of the Church of England wanted his four daughters to have an excellent education at a time when a good education for girls was only available at expensive private schools or in convent schools run by the Roman Catholic Church.
Langtry envisioned a school with high standards yet in reach of those of moderate means and with dogged determination worked toward his vision.
With financial support from the church — including donations from the Anglican community — Langtry founded the school and named it for the first Anglican Bishop of Toronto, Bishop John Strachan. Strachan died six weeks after the school opened in 1867, the same year as Confederation.
That first year there were 31 female students (21 day students and 10 boarders). The first school was housed in a building called Pinehurst, on property adjacent to where the Art Gallery of Ontario now sits. The next year, with a growing population, it moved to a cottage on Front St. and then to Wykeham Hall at Yonge and College Sts. in 1870. Today a historical plaque marks the spot on the building’s southwest corner.
In 1911, the school purchased land for $72,000 in Forest Hill. The sod was turned in 1913 for the construction of a permanent site for the school, which opened in September 1915 at 298 Lonsdale Rd.
The Collegiate Gothic style structure — built from Credit Valley Limestone — was designed by architectural firm Sproatt & Rolph, whose other gems include Hart House at the University of Toronto, College Park and the Royal York Hotel. The construction of its chapel was delayed until after the First World War. By 1926, the neo-Gothic structure was built and dedicated.
Although the primary intention of the school was to educate the daughters of Anglican families, it was “open to all” families “willing to conform to its regulations,” according to the first Bishop Strachan School prospectus. The school’s 1885 prospectus describes a place where young ladies would receive a liberal education which included Christian doctrines as found in the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer (used in Anglican Communion).
In terms of education, the school was ahead of its time. It was preparing women for university before universities were ready to accept female students. In fact, women weren’t admitted to the University of Toronto until the fall of 1884 and were banned from lectures and degrees at Trinity University (now Trinity College) until 1886. The first Bishop Strachan student graduated from Trinity University in 1890.
When Bishop Strachan opened, tuition for a senior student was $20 to $25 a semester (there were three semesters per year). Boarding for both intermediate and senior students was $75 per semester. In today’s dollars that’s roughly $316 to $395 per semester and $1,185.23 per semester for boarders.
Today, a year’s tuition for a day student is $31,740. Canadian boarding students pay $57,500, International boarding students, $60,130, an education no longer in reach for those of moderate means. Although the school does offer a financial assistance program for tuition assistance.
Students were initially divided into forms. By 1873-1874 there were five forms (elementary, junior, intermediate, lower session, and senior) and in 1877-1878 a sixth form was added (named 1st-6th forms, the 6th being the highest), says Sue Dutton, Bishop Strachan School archivist.
A typical senior year curriculum in 1869, included religious instruction, history, languages, arithmetic, natural philosophy, natural science, music, drawing, dancing, calisthenics and domestic economy — the latter, a home economics course, included instruction on nutrition and home nursing.
Wanting to provide a well-rounded education, classes included recreational sports such as skating, croquet and tennis as early as 1876. Bishop Strachan kept up with changes in the Ontario curriculum. In 1945, a modern physics laboratory was outfitted to supplement the existing chemistry lab and in 1982, computer science was introduced.
The school has graduated approximately 6,000 students and six generations of women and, at certain points in time, opened its junior school to boys.
Today, it is once again a girls’ only school with more than 900 students, from JK through to Grade 12 and 75 boarding students from 20 countries.
On Sept. 12, Bishop Strachan School celebrated its 150th anniversary and opened the 64,000-square-foot STEAM wing. Its space features an art studio, science labs, a music studio, theatre, as well as collaboration spaces and gym. The building was funded by Intersection, the school’s largest campaign which met its $35 million fundraising goal.
Founder Rev. John Langtry’s great-grandsons attended the opening ceremony.
Correction – October 23, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said the first Bishop Strachan School was housed in a building called Pinehurst, on property adjacent to the Art Gallery of Ontario. In fact, there was no gallery there in 1867. The Art Gallery of Ontario was founded in 1900 as the Art Museum of Toronto. It became the Art Gallery of Toronto in 1919 and later renamed as the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1966.
Bishop Strachan School’s outstanding students
Margaret Rogers Konantz, 1916, MP for Winnipeg South 1963-65
Jessica Jarvis Hunt, 1928, earned her private pilot’s license at the age of 20 and despite poor eyesight, gained a commercial pilot’s license two years later in 1933.
Margaret Baird Campbell 1929; Toronto City Councillor, City Budget Chief, ran for Mayor of the City of Toronto in 1969, Liberal MLA for the St. George riding 1973-1981, judge
Ann Southam, 1955, distinguished Canadian composer
Veronica Tennant, 1964, Prima Ballerina, National Ballet of Canada
Valerie Pringle, 1971, journalist, television host
Victoria Matthews, 1972, first female bishop in the Anglican church of Canada and Bishop of New Zealand, Aotearoa, and Polynesia
Laryssa Patten 1993, aerospace engineer, whose passion and expertise have advanced the work of the Canadian Space Agency, the International Space Station, the European Space Agency and NATO.
Megan Shank, 1996, winner, Directors Guild of America Award, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, The Revenant
Dr. Carling Hay 2002, geophysicist