PRINCIPAL ADDRESS
Dear families,
Here we are coming up to the month of June! Another year has gone by quickly and we are
proud of the accomplishments of our students! May was a busy month! We held our Autism
Celebration Bubble party, and learned about mental health week. Thank you to the organizers,
volunteers and to all of our families who were able to attend the BBQ. We hope that families
enjoyed the evening and being a part of the new time capsule. A shout out to our grades 3 and
6 students and teachers, who have been working hard writing EQAO assessments, which
started the last week of May and will continue until June 10.
Thank you to all of the volunteers that have been helping with the breakfast snack program at
Irwin. From buying food, preparing and delivering, to cleaning up, this requires a lot of
volunteers to make it happen! Our school community is thankful that we have healthy snacks to
start our day of learning each day! Thank you to our volunteers for hot lunch as well. There is a lot of work put into providing the school lunch once a month.
There is an update on staffing for the 2025-2026 school year. At this time, we will be going into
the next school year with 6 classes. We are sad to say goodbye to Mrs. Whaling. We have
enjoyed having her as part of the Irwin school community and wish her the best of luck next
year.
The month of June is recognized as Pride Month in Canada. In support of our commitment to
providing a positive school climate for all students, staff, and community, all TLDSB Board
offices and schools will fly the Progress Pride flag alongside with the Canadian flag during the
month of June.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to your child’s teacher.
Erin Hills, Principal
MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
June is Pride Month and Indigenous Month!
3rd, 4th and 5th – Intermediate trip
3rd – Primary class trip (Mrs. Whaling, Mrs. Conner and Mrs. Cleary)
4th – Mrs. Hall’s class trip
6th – PA day
9th – Grade 8 students to Huntsville High School – AM
10th – Grades 1-8 track and field day (school council providing kid-cuterie lunch!)
11th – Pizza Day (switched from Tuesday)
11th – Kinder track and field day
12th – Pancake breakfast fundraiser
12th – 7pm school council meeting
13th – Regional track and field
16th – Kinderland’s class trip
16th – 4-8 French field trip to Riverside 10-12:45
18th – Hot lunch!
19th – Mr. Maxwell’s class year end trip
20th – Indigenous Day (activities last block)
20th – Volunteer Assembly 8:50am
24th – Grade 8 graduation ceremony and dinner
25th – Kinder grad
26th – Report Cards, LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! Assembly at 8:50am
PARENT COUNCIL
Happy Last month of the school year Irwin families!
We had a great May at Irwin and are looking forward to more fun together in June!
We would like to thank everyone who supported the Tim Hortons Smile Cookie Campaign last month. $34,379 was raised, which was divided between 6 local schools, with $5730 coming to Irwin. This money will go towards finishing our outdoor classroom and providing other outdoor education experiences for all students. It was an amazing opportunity, and we are very grateful to have been chosen as a recipient this year!
Another thank you to all who joined us for our Family Engagement BBQ and time capsule event. It was well attended by current families as well as Irwin Alumni from 1967! Our students were all invited to add something to the new time capsule, which Cole Shields generously built and donated. Thank you Cole! At a school-wide ceremony last week, the time capsule was put inside the Centennial Cairn and will be reopened in 2050! Thank you to Marshall Clarke and Jamie Cousintine, who are also Irwin graduates, for repairing the damaged stone cairn and closing it up for us!
Our May hot lunch of Mac and cheese raised a total profit of $546.25. Thank you to our sponsors, Bacher Construction and Robinson’s General Store/Baysville Country Store, for your ongoing support! We are happy to share that we will be hosting the next lunch on Track and Field Day at Irwin, and we will bring back the FREE kidcuterie boards for a day of grazing for all Irwin students! We will have our last Hot Lunch on June 18th, and would like to sincerely thank all families who support this monthly fundraiser, as well as all of our very generous sponsors! To date, we have raised 3673.50 for Irwin, and also donated $1000 to support the Huntsville Hoyas Robotics Team on their quest for the World Championship! A huge thank you goes out to Dana Sinclair and Joanna Marrelli for taking the lead on planning and preparing these hot lunches each month, and to all parent volunteers who help to prep and serve the lunches!
The Irwin vegetable garden has now been planted by our students and will be cared for by the Kinderland team throughout June. We are looking for families that would like to help water the gardens during July and August. Please reach out to [email protected] if there is a day of the week that you would be willing to water for 15-20 minutes, either month! Thank you!
Our last Parent Council meeting will take place on Thursday, June 12th, at 7 pm online. Please reach out if you would like the meeting link. We would love for you to join us to celebrate another fantastic year at Irwin!
Last but not least, we would like to send a big thank you to ALL of our parent/guardian volunteers, staff, and community who help to make Irwin the best school ever for our students! We will be sharing some of the accomplishments that we achieved together this year soon. Thank you all!!
Track and Field
Track and field day is Tuesday, June 10th, grades 1 to 8 (rain date June 11th)
Regional track and field day Friday, June 12th.
If you are interested in volunteering to help with track and field and have an updated vulnerable sector check on file please contact Mr.Y. at the school.
Please see message from our Transportation Department
Dear TLDSB parents/guardians,
We are looking forward to providing transportation next school year. Each year, we see many students being driven to school rather than taking the transportation provided for eligible students. As we plan routes for the upcoming school year, Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) Transportation Services Department is asking eligible families to let the Board know if your child(ren) will not be accessing transportation for the 2025-2026 school year by completing a form.
Parents/guardians are asked to fill out the Parent/guardians Portal Opt-out Form once per child. If your child(ren) is eligible and will be using transportation, there is no action required.
Please note, the opt-out form applies to home address transportation only.
The deadline to opt-out for 2025-2026 transportation is Friday, July 4.
Follow the steps below to opt-out of transportation:
- Go to www.mybustoschool.ca
- Click on the Parent Portal
If you have a parent account:
- Sign in and select “Online Forms & Requests” at the bottom of the page
- Click on the Opt-In/Opt-Out Request Form: 2025-2026
- Complete and submit the form once per child
If you do not yet have a parent account:
- Click “Create Account”
- Add your child(ren)
- Select “Online Forms & Requests” at the bottom of the page
- Click on the Opt-In/Opt-Out Request Form: 2025-2026
- Complete and submit the form once per child
If your circumstances change, leaving you needing transportation, complete the form again choosing the opt-in drop down. Please be advised, at the discretion of TLDSB Transportation Services Department, students may not be added back until designated points in the school year calendar (example in January or following March Break) if the student is eligible for transportation.
Troubleshooting: If you do not have access to the internet, or are having trouble accessing the opt-out request form, please reach out to your child’s school for assistance.
Dwight Library
Check out the Dwight Library for summer programs! https://www.lakeofbayslibrary.ca/programs-and-events
It’s been a pleasure!
2024/2025 Irwin Staff
JK/ SK – M. Maxwell, K. Scott
Gr. SK/1 – J. Whaling
Gr. 1/ 2 – K. Conner
Gr. 3 – H. Cleary
Gr. 4/5 – L. Hall
Gr. 5/6 – M. Maxwell
Gr. 7/8 – L. Felhaber
Arts and Prep – K. Wunsch
EA – S. Brown
EA – K. Vince
EA – C. de Bock
SERT – P. Yungblut
Office – K. Reuvekamp
Librarian – H. Wilkins
Head Custodian – T. Lovelace
Custodian – C. Batsford
Principal – E. Hills
