About The Beckett School at Laurier

  • Instruction in music, art, and drama.
  • Opportunities for participation in special musical and artistic events throughout the year
  • Annual non-competitive festival
  • Association with other students and teachers provides a stimulating and challenging learning environment
  • Preparation for examinations and competitions upon mutual agreement of students, parents, and teachers
  • Summer programs in music, art, drama and theory
  • Enrichment through related branches of the arts

The History of the Beckett School

The Beckett School began in September 1980 in a gracious older home in downtown Waterloo, offering instruction in piano, theory, and early childhood music. In 1986, two adjacent houses were added, providing space for additional programs in strings, voice, recorder, art, and speech arts and drama. A branch was opened in Pioneer Park in Kitchener in 1993, offering lessons in piano, theory, guitar and singing. In 2000, the school moved to 5 Michael Street, providing more studio and classroom space in this thoughtfully renovated, beautiful older building. Beginning fall 2015, Laurier's Faculty of Music will assume operation of the Beckett School of Music which was gifted to Laurier by its owners William J. Labron and Lynn McRuer.  The school, now known as the Beckett School at Laurier will be housed at 190 Lester Street, Waterloo on the Wilfrid Laurier Campus. The Beckett School at Laurier continues to be the largest of its kind in the area, with an enrollment of more than 1000 students and a faculty of more than 40 teachers.