St. John's-Ravenscourt School

St. John’s-Ravenscourt School (SJR) is a private school offering classes from kindergarten through grade 12 to male and female students. While some out-of-province students reside at the school in dormitories, most students come from Winnipeg  and surroundings. Initially solely a boys’ school, girls were admitted in stages starting with upper year students in 1971 and progressively adding lower grades until the school was completely co-educational by 2006.

St. John’s-Ravenscourt School was created with the amalgamation in 1950 of St. John’s Collegiate School (founded 1849) and Ravenscourt School for Boys (founded 1929). Ravenscourt School had been operating from Thomson House at this location since 1934. St. John’s had been operating near St. John’s Cathedral in the city’s North End.

The school’s first building, Thomson House, was designed by architect Cyril W.U. Chivers. Construction of Thomson House began in 1914 for lawyer Robert McDonnell Thomson. Thomson lost his life in WWI and the house was not completed until 1931 when it was bought by Ravenscourt School. The campus’s second building was the 1937 Richardson Gymnasium by Moody and Moore, which still retains some of its Art Deco-inspired details.

Successive waves of building programs after WWII have resulted in the campus as seen today.

Significant buildings include the 1959 modernist Headmaster’s House at 444 South Drive by Moody Moore and Partners, the 1961 Camsell Science wing and the 1967 Dutton Memorial Arena, both by Smith Carter Searle. Later building programs occurred in the 1980s (Moffat Richardson Building and Reimer Gymnasium), 1990s (Albert D. Cohen building, New Memorial Wing, Robinson-Wolinsky Hall and Max Bell Primary Centre), 2000s (Max Bell Primary Centre Phase 2) and 2010s (Richardson Senior School and Riley Fitness Centre).