Welcome Back
Welcome back to the new half term, I hope that you have had a good break and are ready for the run up to Christmas.

School Photographer
The school photographer is in school this Thursday (2nd November). Family group photographs can be taken first thing in the morning. The children who are visiting the theatre during the afternoon will have their photographs taken before they leave.

School Parking / School Travel Plan
Thank you to those of you who have completed the school travel questionnaire which was sent home before the holiday. If you haven’t already sent in your replies could I have them by Friday so that we can start collating the results. Thank you

Foundation / Key Stage 1 Reading Evening
A reminder that we are holding a meeting for all Foundation and Key Stage 1 parents on Wednesday 8th November at 6:00 p.m.

INSET Day
In order to undergo further staff training on our new reading scheme we will be closed for pupils on Friday 10th November.

Parents Evening
This will be on Tuesday 14th November between 4:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Appointment sheets are available in the classrooms.

School Meals
We have a number of children who are not paying daily for their school meals. We ask that children pay each day for their dinners, we will provide each child with a new dinner bag today for their dinner money today and if they could write their name and class on it and bring this in every day it will help the kitchen staff greatly.

Money in School
If you are sending money into the school office could it please come in in a clearly marked envelope with the child’s name, class and the reason why the money has been sent in. This will help us greatly with the administration.

Saturday 19th November    Christmas Bazaar 2:00 p.m.

Saturday 26th November   Advent Mass in Church 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday 29th November   Advent Mass at School 10:00 a.m.

Tuesday 13th December   Carol Service in Church 2:00 p.m.

                                         School Disco 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (Junior Classes)

Wednesday 14th December    Nativity Production a.m. and p.m.

Thursday 15th December    Christmas Dinner

Friday 16th December    Christmas Parties

Tuesday 20th December   End of Term / Christmas Mass 10:00 a.m.

Wednesday 21st December     Break up 1:15 p.m. # Posted by Kevin Mee at 15/11/05; 11:38:28 AM to the Notices Admin Staff dept.
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Christmas Dates and Events

Responses to Multiple Choice Questions (Percentages)

3. If your child has school dinners can you tell us if you consider whether they are value for money. 
65% Yes
35% No
4. In line with national and local changes we are trying to provide a healthier school meals service. Do you support these changes? (1 strongly support, 2 moderately support, 3 don’t support) 
83%  1
12%  2
4%    3
5. How supportive do you feel your children are to these changes? (1 strongly support, 2 moderately support, 3 don’t support) 
53%  1
33%  2
14%  3
9. If we changed from a cafeteria system to a system where we offered set meals would you support this? 
63% Yes
37% No
10. The government is stating that there will be a requirement for healthy lunchboxes in school from September 2006. Do you agree that this should be the case? 
88% Yes
12%  No
14. If the school kitchen provided a healthy packed lunch option would your children choose this? 
73% Yes
27% No
15. If we offered toast or cereal for breakfast from 8:30 a.m. would your children choose to have this? 
62% Yes
38% No

A Summary of other Responses

• In response to question 8, ‘What sort of healthy meals would you or your children like to see on the menu?’ there were a selection of foods that were regularly mentioned; rice, pasta, roasts, fish, fruit, potatoes. A lot of these foods are now available on the menu as it has developed over the last few months. It seems that we haven’t let you know the content of the new menus regularly enough.

• All of the processed foods that were being used have now been completely phased out and are no longer part of the dinner menus. As a result of the questionnaire feedback Friday’s ‘Burger in the Bag’ has been removed.

• Fizzy drinks are not part of the drinks options for the children except for carbonated water.

• The issue of a vegetarian option was mentioned several times, the kitchen offers a vegetarian option every day.

• The question about the packed lunch options (question 11.) was not written as clearly as it could have been, for which I apologise. The responses were pretty clear though that the vast majority of you would not like to see chocolate, sweets or fizzy drinks as part of their children’s packed lunch.

• The majority of you would like to see us sell fruit or cereal bars at playtime instead of crisps.

Future Changes

As a result of your feedback we are proposing the following:

• To keep parents up to date of the dinner menus through letters or the school website

• To hold a meeting for parents early in the new year to look at food options for the children in the school and to consult further with parents about what is regarded as a healthy lunchbox for the children of St. Joseph’s

• To continue to improve the quality of the food offered to the children

• To begin from January a Primary set menu instead of a cafeteria system for a trial period

• To begin from January to offer from the school kitchen a packed lunch option for a trial period

• To begin from January to offer the option of a breakfast of toast or cereal served at school for a trial period

• To change what we sell children for playtime tuck to a healthier option during the course of this academic year

Thank you for your time and effort in responding to this questionnaire, it is obviously an area that many of you feel strongly about. It was difficult to try and condense all the responses into a 2 sided letter, but I hope that you feel that I have succeeded and that the proposed measures are appropriate for your children. If you have any concerns, issues or ideas about school meals, food in school or healthy eating please contact me so that we can discuss them. # Posted by Kevin Mee at 15/11/05; 11:29:21 AM to the Notices Admin Staff dept.
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