Coach Beth

Thanks Thunderblue! I'll message you directly!

Hi there... I'm a volunteer for a grassroots project called the The Hygiene Bank and we basically get donations of toiletries and distribute them to charities. I've got about three bags of toiletries including toothpaste, soap, shower gel etc and I'll drop them over to you tomorrow or first thing tomorrow morning.

Having followed this post for a while I'd like to point out a couple of things: 1. The OP said several times that his wife did have her handbag strapped across her body and it sounds like took all the correct precautions. 2. As the parent of a teenage boy, I know that many of the muggings around her are committed on teenager by older teenagers. He has been mugged about 4 times over the past three years, once he turned 13, it seemed like he was considered fair game. The last time which was a couple weeks his phone was stowed safely in his bag... approached by two young men on his way back from football training - they threatened, he thought they might have a knife and then chased him untill he dropped his bag. The first time he was mugged he was on his way back from school at 3:40pm and he was pushed to the ground and they took his knapsack. He was also mugged for his new bike once. 3. We reported every time to the police. The last incident we got a crime number but then an email saying they couldn't investigate as it was unlikely they could identify the criminals. Personally, I think that one of the reasons teenagers are the victims of crime so much is that the criminals KNOW that crimes agains teens are taken much less seriously. I myself have been fortunate not to have been mugged - I supposed I could be smug and say it's because I do this or don't do that. And yes, I take a number of percuations as I had been pickpocketed many, many ago when I was new to London and fairly green. But I feel there is psychological mechansim that happens so we can protect ourselves from feeling vulnerable ... if we can find something that someone else MIGHT have done that resulted in something terrible... whether it be to become a victim of crime or to be a victim of cancer ('well, if people just didn't eat meat or drink milk, maybe their wouldn't have gotton cancer), we can feel less vulnerable. What I find intersting is that we don't tend to blame shops or corporations for theifs or fraud that happens to them. We don't go. 'Oh well, of course people are going to nick from Sainsburys... what are they thinking, putting all those goods on display rather than under lock and key!'. Finally, I have just come back from visiting family in Canada. They were pretty shocked to hear about my son's mugging and even more shocked when I explained how common place this is - that most teenagers in our area will be mugged at some point. I would be interested in more ideas of how as a community we can develop strategies to make our streets safer - particularly for those who are more vulnerable of crime.

Hiya... my child is in year 11 and it's up to individual parents.. at most secondary schools I think it's not such a tradition of gifts to teachers as in primary school... I often brought in a cake and left it with reception with a note that it's for all the staff...apparently that was popular with staff! I also have given notes or a little special gift when a teacher we liked was leaving the school. When I was in the Friends at Charter East Dulwich I think the thinking was not to do a collection amongst all the parents as it can be an extra burden on individuals to give and people already gave alot already... and some people thought it took away from when you wanted to give to a particular teacher or write a special personal note. Funnily enough I'm popping in today with a little thank you to a couple of the staff who are leaving... possibly some cake too! :)

Yes, they have jazz ensemble, wind band, choirs, songwriting, keyboard club .... plus individual music lessons ... it?s pretty good ... they have had lots of space for music and music classrooms .... Ms Withers built up music programme from the beginning .... my partner is a pro musician and son did play drum kit up to grade 4 level till year 9. Anyway more on music programme here - https://www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk/page/?title=Music&pid=49 I know a few kids went into the Brit school from charter Ed too...

yes, my boy has just finished year 11... it's generally been positive for him. One thing I think that worked well is the number of younger male teachers who my son found very encouraging and relateable. He has decided to stay on for 6th form as well despite having another conditional offer of another more well established sixth form. I do think that his experience was really shaped by being one of the founding cohort... it felt like those students developed strong relationships with the staff and they really know those kids. I'm not sure how it is for those in more recent years but I think the ethos is similar. Lots of good extra curricular provision - sport, art, music, language clubs, games and coding clubs and the music department it great btw.

I'm a Southwark leaseholder and I think it very much depends on whether your flat is in a large block or not. There are two flats in our building/house - council tenant beneath and we own the top. Service charge is reasonable e.g. no more than ?250 a year generally - one year they charged us for something they hadn't done and I rang and they took it off. HOWEVER, I wouldn't buy in a larg block because I could imagine it would be very difficult to challenge any costs and also, there have been case of leaseholders in major block being charged alot for repairs to the whole estate.

This was about 5 years ago but my son got a music scholarship place at Kingsdale - he played drums and at the time had his grade 2 drum kit exam so it definately wasn't grade 5! (Actually, only got grade 4 a couple years ago and then sadly he decided he didn't want to play drums anymore). In the end, he didn't take the place and went to Charter ED instead. My recollection of the entrance was that he brought in a CD of a piece he was working on and played along to that... as you would in an exam. He was asked about his favorite drummer and, being the son of a jazz musician (my husband), said Buddy Rich! Equally, a friends daughter who had played violin and I think had her grade 4 didn't get a scholarship. There could also be an issue with the school wanting a balance of instruments - so if they play the bassson, which is rarer than violin, they might stand a better chance. As an aside, I wish someone had told me when I was young that most bands will need a good rythm section and bass guitarists are in high demand... as opposed to flute players who are a dime a dozen!

Hi there - My son goes to Charter ED but I was curious as I thought all secondary schools round here do 9 GCSE's. I think the difference is how Harris Boys presents the GCSES' Basically, English is two GCSE's English Literare and English Languarge. And Science counts as two as well. So at Charter ED it's compulsory to do English (English Lit and English Lang) Double Science (unless doing triple), maths, either French or Spanish, either History or Geography. That's almost the same as Harris Boys... except Harris Boys makes is compulsorary for them to to BTEC Sport. Then, they need to pick a creative subject (art or music or design tech or dram).... then one option - could be GCSE PE or BTEC Sport, Enterprise or another creative subject. Charter ED might have a couple more options I guess but it's pretty similiar I think.

It is a beautiful building and I'm glad the chalet will form part of the school. Firstly, full transparency: I'm a parent of a child at the school - part of the founding cohort. I just wanted to gently point out that under the Tories, no new school can open that isn't an academy or a free school so that would be the case of any new state school. The local parents who fought for the school had no choice. In terms of charges of the school being elitist, according to the last Ofsted report of Charter ED: - Pupils come from diverse backgrounds and the proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds is much higher than average. (just over half students come from BAME backgrounds) - The proportion of pupils eligible to receive free school meals at any time in the last six years is much higher than average. (I believe the last stat I heard was 36%?) - The proportion of pupils who have an education, health and care plan is broadly average. More pupils than average are in receipt of SEN school support. Many local children benefit from the school including children who go to the local Goose Green Primary School (a vibrant and diverse school) and also children who live in the nearby East Dulwich Council Estate. It's very different from the private schools just up the road... with their coaches bussing in children from all over London. In terms of the physic garden the parent led eco volunteers group which has been led by parents spent alot of time to keep up the garden with monthly volunteer sessions open to all. Sadly, they found out a a few months ago the builders needed that piece of land.... not sure why and yes, parent volunteers were disappointed at this outcome. The volunteers spent a day salvaging what they could about a month ago and relocating what they could.

STAC is Catholic but has a considerable number of children at the school who are other faiths or no faiths My son was accepted there a few years ago and we were told by the headteacher at the time that 50% of student body were not catholic - in the end, we were also offered Charter East Dulwich (it was the first year of the school). We decided on Charter ED as it was nearer and we liked the idea of the small size of the year 7 class but we were very impressed by STAC.

Yes just reduced - not chopped down as it?s a lovely tree! It?s a 4 person job ... it?s that massive!

I tried to knock on as many neighbours doors yesterday in the area to let them know but as noise travels far, I thought I would post here. The big plane tree has been dropping branches into mine and neighbours gardens so we had to get tree surgeon in. It?s a massive all day job so big apologies for noise but it needs to be done for safety sake. Sorry for the distrubsnce.