Birthday Policy

Early Childhood Birthday Celebration Policy 
2015 – 2016

Dear Parents,

At Discovery School we cherish the opportunities to celebrate the life and the relationships that are constantly being built among our students. Keeping that in mind, and after a careful revision and discussion about our students birthday celebrations, the school administration has come up with the following policy:

For Birthday Recognition During School Hours:

1. No invitations of any kind allowed to be handed out if the celebration is to be held in school.

2. No gifts will be brought to school..

3. No goodies/candy bags will be allowed to be handed out at school.

4. Parents should notify the teacher at least one week in advance of a classroom birthday party.

5. Birthday celebrations will be announced by the teacher in the weekly blog posts so the parents know not to send lunch on a specific day.

6. If the parents choose to bring cake/lunch it is their responsibility to be at school on time to serve the lunch/cake. The teachers will assist the parent if needed, but will not be in charge of the event. If a parent cannot be present for the event, it must be discussed and cleared with the teacher so the teacher can take charge and make the necessary arrangements (i.e. duties, personal day, etc).

7. For beverages, parents can provide fruit juice or water.

8. No party should be elaborate or disturbing to others. It should not take more than 30 minutes of class time and can be at the end of the school day or during lunch. More than one birthday can be celebrated at the same time, and the teacher may decide to celebrate all of one month’s birthdays at the same time. Information concerning class parties should be communicated to parents.

9. Students of both sections of a grade level (e.g. Grade 2A and Grade 2B) will be included in all birthday parties for that grade

For Birthday Parties Outside of School Hours:

· 
Only if every student is invited in both classes, the invitations can be given to the teacherto hand out at an appropriate time. Parents are not allowed to hand out party invitations in class.

· If all children in both classes are not going to be invited to a party, the parent must use an alternate way to distribute the invitations—e.g. by email or phone) – The invitationscannot be given on the school’s bus or the school campus.

We hope you will be supportive of this new policy and help us teachers enforce what we feel will maintain the focus of celebrations to a time for sharing and having fun.

Sincerely Yours,

The Discovery School Early Childhood Teachers