Irwin School

Students attending O.M. Irwin school this year will be going back to school in stages over the next couple of days.  

The previous middle school which will now house grades K-8 has introduced the staggered start this year in order to help students and parents according to Irwin prinicpal, Larry Kielo.

"With our K-8 reconfiguration of Irwin school, we felt that it was important to be able to meet the needs of all kids and all parents in the first couple of days of school by doing a staggered entry. Just to make it a little bit more gradual as this whole change evolves."

Grades 1-4 students will return to a full day of school tomorrow, while grades 5-8 will return on Wednesday and all grades will be in attendance on Thursday.

Tomorrow and Wednesday will see students arriving at 8:30am and a welcome assembly will then be held in the gym for students and parents followed by the opportunity for students to find their classrooms and teachers.

Kielo adds that the kindergarten classes do their own staggered start schedule throughout this week.

Now with over 425 students, Kielo says the school has undergone many renovations in anticipation of this new school year.

"We have converted our downstairs wing into our k-4 area. We also have moved the playground from Ashley Park school over to our playground area. We have renovated our library. We've purchased a gym curtain to divide up our gym space knowing that we've got double the needs of that space for our children."

Additionally, Kielo adds that a portion of the increased number of students is also comprised of rural students as a result of the school now being the receving school  for rural children around the city.

In response to the reconfiguration and the new school year, Kielo says it is an exciting and once in a lifetime opportunity and they are looking forward to seeing everyone this week.