simonethebeaver

We used Oh Crap very successfully, as did a few friends of ours. You feel like an utter idiot, but the pain was short.

Curmudgeon, my first post isn't very clear but the position is: Child A puts, say, Sunnyside School 1st, Grange Hill 2nd and Bog Street 3rd. Child B puts Grange Hill 1st, Bog Street 2nd and Sunnyside School 3rd. Child A lives 1250m from Sunnyside, 500m from Grange Hill and 500m from Bog Street. Child B lives 2000m from Grange Hill, 1500m from Bog Street and 1195m from Sunnyside. You need to live 1200m from any school to get in. So Child A gets into Grange Hill, their second choice. They would also get into Bog Street on distance, but have indicated their preference is Grange Hill. That's the point of listing preferences - it's not a criteria for the schools, but for the pupil, in a situation where there is actually a choice of schools. Child B gets into Sunnyside, because they are too far from the other schools, even though it's their third preference and it would be Child A's first preference - Child A lives too far away. The 15m nearer that Child B lives is what matters, not the preference order. So as others have said, there's no harm at all in putting 'wished for' schools on your list, so long as you put the schools in the order you WANT them. So if you do happen to get into two or more schools, you will be offered the place you want more. And you have at least one school on your list that you WILL get into, even if that is your last choice. The admissions are done purely on distance (apart from those schools that operate any sort of lottery system) so one child might get into five schools and another into just one, or even none. The child who has got into five schools needs to make it clear which one they WANT to go to.

I'd contact the person in charge of Private Bills for advice. 020 7219 3250. Private legislation is very complicated, expensive and prolonged. Very rarely carried out these days outside the transport sector.

If you're talking daytime, then House of Tippler is not child-free in the day. Frankins is very welcoming to children at all times. Toast has a colouring table for children and a children's lunch dish. Sorry.

Curmudgeon, the order you put schools makes no difference whatsoever. You get into schools according to their admissions policy, and then you are given a place in the one you qualify for. If you can be offered a place in more than one of your options, you will be allocated your higher preference. The school doesn't know where they sit in your preferences and they are not allowed to factor that into their offer of a place even if somehow (ie you've told them) they find out.

The kids play zone at the Maritime Museum in Greenwich is superb. Hours of entertainment there and free entry.

The ice cream in the new place is amazing, and the owner lovely. And they do a dairy-free chocolate sorbet.

Congratulations on your new baby! If you can make it to one of the breastfeeding cafes (there are at least one a day), one of the lactation consultants can have a look and discuss the next step with you. They work closely with the tongue tie clinic at King's. Katie Fisher, who heads up the clinic under Mr Patel, will do the op privately too, but it's probably worth seeing the LCs first. There's a session at Jessop Children's Centre at 10am tomorrow morning. Other cafes here, including one at Peckham Library. (Only the ones which say midwives/lactation consultants present will reliably have tongue tie experts there.) Contact details for the midwives are also on the sheet and feel free to give them a ring - they are very helpful. http://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/resources/patient-information/maternity/support-breastfeeding-lambeth-southwark.pdf

Reading Eggs is excellent.

Hurray! It looks at the moment as if we'll have over 70 people there, which is fantastic. The petition now has over 3000 signatures.

Speaking as someone who immediately knew what the post meant, I know why the OP puts it as she does. Sorry if it is frustrating for others but I'm glad she's done it.

Sillywoman, the caseloading teams will also still take low risk women and those wanting home births. I guess with those women it will be first come, first served.

We've got an appointment through the HV for October when my baby will be five months. I am very in favour of the BCG as I have a friend whose children were both found to have latent TB after living in Clapham.

From what I've heard, Oakwood will stay in East Dulwich, and the Lanes and Brierly will move to other areas. Oakwood will carry on looking after women in SE22, 21 and 23, and referrals will be on postcode, so it won't make any difference which GP you are registered with.

The campaign was featured in the Guardian on Monday! It's a nationwide issue. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/28/new-mothers-babies-support-services-cut-england-breastfeeding-midwife There will be a protest outside Kings next Wednesday (8 July) at 10am. If you can, please come along and lend your voice.

The Standard story will now appear tomorrow. Hopefully this means it will be able to cover this afternoon's debate. Helen Hayes spoke about the campaign, which was great. She and Harriet Harman are talking to Kings on Friday.

I think you've got your wires crossed there. Children from schools across East Dulwich were there - each school had a time slot and a parent liaison organiser who worked with SPACE.

Thank you, Barrie. That sounds positive. The Standard is covering this story today, which is fantastic. Any local parents who support the campaign and are free at midday today are welcome to be part of a photo call at Rosendale Children's Centre. Alison Thewliss MP will be mentioning us in her debate on breastfeeding this afternoon at 4.30pm. You can watch online. It's in Westminster Hall.

My husband is now one of your biggest fans and we're working our way through your beer stock!

As promised, a read out of the meeting. There remains general shock that Kings have made such a huge move without any consultation, seemingly at extremely short notice. It seems that Kings management have been rather shocked by the extent of the outrage already expressed. We discussed the best ways to campaign. We are asking everyone to contact their councillors and MP to express their feelings about this move, and to ask them to encourage Lambeth and Southwark councils to work with Kings to find a way to keep the service as it currently is. It does not seem that any thinking has been done on how this might be done within what are undoubtedly funding constraints. The group was able to think of several ways the closure of the cafes will end up costing the NHS money in the future, without of course taking into account the impact on local families and the public health implications. Again, this is a point that needs to be made loudly and clearly. We will be contacting the Clinical Commissioners at Lambeth and Southwark, and all the Chief Executives involved. Again, we encourage anyone interested to do the same. We have already made contact with local MPs and Helen Hayes has offered her support. We have spoken to Alison Thewliss MP, who has a parliamentary debate on breastfeeding tomorrow, and she has supported the petition on Twitter. We have also been retweeted by several national organisations. We are talking to several national organisations who may be able to offer support. Our campaign has been covered aleady by BBC London radio, and the South London Press and Londonist will be running stories. We have some interest from national media. We'd like to ask any bloggers out there to cover the story and share. Please retweet our petition - twitter handle is @CommKch. We are developing other plans as well as preparing model letters, petitions for MPs and press briefings. They will all be available via our FB group Save Kings College Community Breastfeeding Clinics. The group is closed to prevent newsfeed spamming but just ask to join - we're open to all. If you'd like to suggest anything else, either here or on FB, we'd love to hear from you. We hope another MSLC meeting will be held soon, this time with clinical representatives from Kings. We have three months till these clinics are due to close. Let's make some noise.

I think Lambeth and Southwark provide a better service than many other parts of the country. The easy access we have to the expert midwives and lactation consultants is different to other places who may only have peer supporters or fewer experts. They should be proud of this model - and they have won awards for it very recently. Staff costs are always in excess of salary. I know when I went on secondment at work I boggled a bit at my 'value'. But it's quite right to say we need the local authorities and Kings to work together here to find a solution - Kings are more or less admitting that they are making this move to force Lambeth and Southwark's hands on funding. I don't think anyone believes the LAs will set up replacement roles. The opposition so far has been significant and I hope tomorrow we can discuss ways to make it as strategic and constructive as possible. The breastfeeding women of Lambeth and Southwark, and their supporters, are a formidable lot and we need to make best use of the knowledge and skills we have. Please do come along if you can contribute any personal or professional help!

Two things: The lay members of the Maternity Services Liaison Committee, who weren't consulted about this, are meeting this Tuesday at 9.30am at Punk Me Up Cafe on East Dulwich Road to discuss the matter and possible alternatives. It turns out that Kings have been subsidising Southwark and Lambeth funding for the midwives and are no longer willing to continue. So pressure needs to be put on the local authorities and Kings to between them find a way to keep the services running. Please make your concerns known to http://www.healthwatchsouthwark.co.uk @hwsouthwark

And now 1000. The comments are really heartfelt - so many women have benefited from this free, accessible service.

The petition now has over 800 supporters!

Could anyone who lives not in Helen Hayes' constituency but the neighbouring ones who would be prepared to get involved in campaigning against these closure please PM me?