The first school to open in Whistler opened in 1933 with only nine students. Prompted by Lizzie Neiland, designed by Bill Bailiff, constructed by local volunteers, and funded by the Alta Lake Community Club, the school was a labour of love by the community. While the schoolhouse only had one room heated by a wood stove, it also included a playground for its nine students. The first teacher hired for the Alta Lake School was Margaret Partridge, but she may not have taught for very long. During its early days the school struggled to keep enough students to warrant staying open. One teacher, Mel Carrico, was hired on the condition that all four of his children attend the school!
Battling to keep enough students to stay open, the school opened and closed based on attendance until the 1970s. The struggle for the school shifted from not enough students to far too many in 1966 when Whistler Mountain opened and the population of year-round residents started to grow rapidly. By 1970, Alta Lake’s one room schoolhouse could no longer accommodate the growing number of students and had to close its doors permanently.
By 1976, Alta Lake School was replaced with the Myrtle Philip Elementary School, located approximately where the Delta Village Suites are today. When it first opened the school welcomed 57 students. Definitely a jump from the nine students that attended Whistler’s first school! In addition to teaching the children, the community school also hosted adult education programs in the evening. They offered a variety of activities including gardening, French lessons, basketball, and karate. Despite an addition and eight portables, the school was eventually unable to meet the needs of the growing population.
Construction of the new Myrtle Philip Community School in its current location on Lorimer Road was completed in 1992. At the time it opened, the school had sixteen teachers as well as additional support staff. It wasn’t long before history repeated itself and the school was too small to meet the needs of a growing student population. Not long after, half the school was being taught in the ten portables that were added to combat the growing student body. By 2001, the Howe Sound School Board (now School District 48: Sea to Sky) began to draw up catchment plans for a second elementary school. The second elementary school, Spring Creek Community School, opened its doors in 2004.
While elementary students in Whistler attended schools in their own community, it wasn’t until 1996 that high school students had the same opportunity. From 1969 until 1996, students were bussed to Pemberton to attend Pemberton Secondary School. Finally, in 1996, Whistler Secondary School opened. Unable to shake the pattern of being outgrown, it had portables for opening day.
Today, Whistler is home to about 1081 students. Luckily for them, it is much easier to access education today than in the past. Whistler currently has two elementary schools; Myrtle Philip Community School and Spring Creek Community School, as well as École La Passerelle, a french school that offers education from kindergarten to grade 7. There is Whistler Secondary for high school. There is also the Whistler Waldorf School, a not-for-profit, independent school that offers education from kindergarten to grade 12. After high school there are a few opportunities for post-secondary in Whistler. Whistler Adventure School (WAS), offers training in Marketing and Media, Mountain Sport Technician, Design and Innovation and more. There is also Whistler Institute which collaborates with post secondary schools such as BCIT to offer education resulting in certificates, diplomas and degrees in several different disciplines. Despite its small size, Whistler offers a variety of programs and there are multiple institutions to choose from when it comes to getting an education in Whistler!
Ella Healey is the Summer Program Coordinator at the Whistler Museum through the Young Canada Works Program.
Sometime in the late 1950s/early 1960s a new, much more modern one-room school was built on the little plateau above the Alta Lake station house (an area which later came to be known as “Chaplainville.”). The old original one-room schoolhouse (it actually had a couple of little anterooms) continued to be used by the Alta Lake Community Club for events such as movies, dances, etc. I remember there being a large Gestetner machine in one of the anterooms that was used to print the Alta Lake Owl (later, the Echo). The Carrico family lived in the district-owned teacher’s house adjacent to the new school. And yes, continuing operation of the new school was premised on all four Carrico kids attending. I was friends with Robbie, one of the 4.