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Our History

Laurie Hawkins Public School opened for the first time on September 6, 2011. The students and staff of Princess Elizabeth PS, Beachville PS, Harris Heights PS, Victory Memorial/Princess Anne and Westfield PS, met each other for the first time that day at the former Victory Memorial school site, which had welcomed Ingersoll students for the previous 90 years. Our new school was not quite ready for us yet, and we “camped” at Victory Memorial until Christmas.

Although we had met each other on September 29th, 2010 at the Groundbreaking Ceremony, during those first four months at VMS we got to know each other and become a school family. When we looked back at those pictures from our Groundbreaking Ceremony, as well as pictures of those cold months while our foundation, walls and roof were built, we became more and more excited for our big move in January.

While we played and learned together, the exterior and interior of our school was finished. Walls were painted, library shelving was installed, books were delivered, and our new furniture arrived. While students enjoyed their Christmas vacation, everything was moved from VMS and teachers spent long hours preparing our new building for our first day of school at the new Laurie Hawkins Public School on January 9, 2012.

What an exciting day it was! The building was so big, there were lots of bathrooms, and it smelled so nice and new! It finally felt like we were home! We were amazed that this was our new home – we had “two” gyms, an amazing music room, an enormous library and computer lab, and water tables in the early years rooms. It was like nothing we had ever seen before, and it was all for us! We proudly wore our red, black and yellow Phoenix colours!

On May 11, 2012, we celebrated our Grand Opening ceremony. We were joined by representatives from the Ontario Provincial Police and Laurie Hawkins’ family. We wanted our extended family to know that we had not forgotten our friend Laurie and the lessons she taught us.