OUR NEXT HOLIDAY - We will be breaking for Easter at 3.30 pm on Friday 11th April, and returning to school at 8.45 am on Monday 28th April. There are no training days attached to this holiday.

WELL DONE – to Max Danby, who has achieved his Green Belt in Mixed Martial Arts

TOMBOLA PRIZES NEEDED – We would like donations of tombola prizes for the stall being held at our Easter Eggstravaganza on Wednesday 9th April. If you have anything suitable for a prize, please drop it in at the school office. Thank you.

EASTER EGGSTRAVAGANZA - We are holding an Easter event in the school hall on Wednesday 9th April at 9.am. Our fantastic dance troupe – Strictly Balby - will perform a short version of their current routine, our choir will sing and there will be a little repertoire from the recorder group to add to the entertainment. We will also draw our Golden Ticket - Easter chocolate raffle, there will be tombola and in the traditional Easter theme, there will be tea, coffee and hot cross buns available.

BALBY BOOK DAY - Friday 11th April – the last day of this term we are celebrating Balby Book Day. This is slightly later than the national event due to the fact that we wanted to do something special. We are inviting the children throughout school to come dressed as a book character for the day and the day will focus very much on the excitement of stories and reading. Reception and Key Stage 1 will start the day by inviting parents into school at 8.40am to share a story with your child/children. This will be for the first half hour - then parents will leave. We will then have a theatre production of Alice in Wonderland scheduled for 9.30am for Key Stage 1 children. After lunch our day will continue with in class book themed activities. There will be a theatre production of Wind in the Willows for children in Key Stage 2 during the afternoon

SCHOOL MEALS - The Local Authority has informed schools of the changes for the referral of outstanding debts in relation to school meals eaten but not paid for. Currently debts over £30.00 are passed to DMBC for collection. As from 1st April this will no longer be the case and the debt will remain the responsibility of the school. Schools are not in a financial position to offer free school meals to anyone who does not meet the criteria under government eligibility. It is up to you as a responsible parent to make provision to ensure your child has a meal a lunchtime. If parents send their child to school without any provision for their dinner or payment for their school lunch then the recommendation is that they may be referred to Education Welfare Officer. This recommendation will be presented to our Governors at the next meeting for approval as it is important that children can come to school confident that they will have meal to eat a lunchtime provided by their parent. In the meantime after the 1st April we will ring parents who do not send their child with either money or a packed lunch and will closely monitor debts for the possible referral to the Education Welfare Service. Please support us by ensuring you pay for meals in the week your child eats them or alternatively provide them with a packed lunch to save any unnecessary intervention by the welfare services.

AUSTERFIELD RESIDENTIAL – 10th & 11th April – Please return your child’s medical form before the visit takes place, and if you have any outstanding money owing for the trip, it needs to be paid in full by Friday 28 th March . Thank you.

NEW SCHOOL MEALS PROCEDURE - From Monday the children will be given a coloured wristband based on their choice of food for the day. This will speed up the lunch queue considerably as children will know which option to choose before they arrive at the dining hall. It will also ensure that no matter what time their class is scheduled for lunch, the option they have chosen will be available for them to eat.The table below shows you the main course selection available each day for the next two weeks. Each day there will always be four options. The categories with which the colours are associated will not change but the menu is on a four week rotation. Each day children can choose from either Red, Green, Blue or Yellow

RED – will always be the main option for meat or fish

GREEN – will always be the vegetarian option such as pasta, pizza ,quorn etc.

BLUE – will always be a Jacket Potato with an option of cheese, tuna or beans

YELLOW – will always be the cold milk bar option of sandwiches and milk shake

All of the above have the options of seasonal vegetable or salad and a choice of pudding. Please speak to your child about the options available to them each day and encourage them to make their choice and reinforce the colour of the band which matches their food choice. This will speed things up in the morning with the distribution of bands and hopefully enable lunchtimes to runs smoothly. Below is the menu for the next two weeks – after this the menu will appear on the newsletter each Friday for the following week, it will also be posted in the notice board and will remain as ever, available from the main office.

Week Commencing 07.04.14Bands Red Green Blue Yellow

Monday Breaded Chicken Fillet Cheese Wraps Jacket

Potato Sandwich Bar

Tuesday Pork Stew & Dumplings

Quorn Sausage & Yorkshire

Pudding

Jacket Potato Sandwich Bar

Wednesday Gammon & Pineapple

Macaroni Cheese

Jacket Potato Sandwich Bar

Thursday Beef Steaklette Vegi Bolognaise Jacket

Potato Sandwich Bar

Friday Fish Cake Pasta Bake Jacket Potato Sandwich Bar