simonethebeaver

I don't know the answer to your precise question so can't answer it. But the NHS have first call on the site and have set out how much space they want - any school would fit on to the remaining space. So the priority is the health facility above everything else.

Yes, but Henry, there are also now 60 additional places available at the new Harris Primary to be based at ED police station. Distance from that site will be the admissions criteria.

The new Harris primary has eased the Goodrich catchment quite a bit, plus of course adding its own places to the mix. Horniman is heavily rumoured to be bulging this year. We live not far from you and are pretty confident of a school place, after years when this was not the case.

363 seems to be as frequent as normal now.

Howdens measure up but don't exactly 'design'. It's pretty much left to you. That was our experience anyway - it may vary.

Thank you for the information, if not thank you for the bad news! I shall be leaving home at 6am, to get to work for 10.

As a bus rather than train user, I am now looking forward to chaos tomorrow morning as the trains try to cope with additional demand. Does anyone know which, if any, local bus routes are affected? I've tried the TfL website but unhelpfully they list the affected operators rather than routes, and I've never been canny enough to notice which operators I'm using.

We had the lovely sillywoman as our NCT teacher, and she certainly did many of the things you talk about, Ivydale (and I'm sorry you and others had such traumatic births). She waved forceps at us, we played out a C section (no one had to actually operate) and discussed the different reasons for sections, and in fact she told us that it was highly likely at least one of us would have one. We discussed induction, pain relief, we had one session which was dedicated entirely to discussing our fears about the birth and afterwards. I get the impression that the weakness of NCT is the variability of the teachers. If you get a good one, I think they can do a really excellent job of preparing and supporting you.

We used a method called 'Oh Crap! Potty Training' which can be downloaded as an e-book. Basically it works on the premise that kids really don't know when they need to go, so parents have to work it out for them. It's pretty intense for the first 2/3 days but my daughter was dry within a week, having shown very little interest beforehand.

The US is a long way to go to tutor a preschooler, yes.

Grammer tutoring?! You advertise yourselves well.

They don't have to be expensive. We have fantastic wood effect tiles that everyone visiting loves (and our builder is now putting in his own home) and they were ?20 per square metre. But I think the original poster didn't want tiles.

There's loads to go to Nunhead for, besides Ayres, with their wondrous Viennese fingers. The fishmonger, Sopers, is brilliant, and MUCH cheaper than Moxons. Bambuni has some interesting stuff, and the tiny Italian pastries in there are great with a cup of coffee. The new Beer Shop is getting great reviews. I love a trip over there.

They have 'cat socialisers' to play with the cats, but they are all adults. Many of the cats that arrive at Battersea display difficult and aggressive behaviour that needs to be addressed before they can be rehomed. A friend of mine has never approached a strange cat after her time working at Battersea as she is so aware of the unpredictability of them.

Lots of schools have their weekly menus online - you could have a look to see whether the schools you've visited are among them?

We've used LouLouMoving from this forum and she was excellent, quickly winning the trust of our toddler, and putting both her and her younger brother to bed.

You said you wanted James to respond to his constituents. I was pointing out that this affects lots of people who aren't James' constituents. As Otta says, who knows where he'll be living in five years time? I've lived in ED for 15 years and James has never been my councillor!

To be fair, James' ward doesn't cover the whole of East Dulwich. Plenty of people who will be directly affected by this aren't his constituents. Even though my kids wouldn't get into this new school, they could well still be affected by the shifting admissions of other schools.

I AM an excessively nice person, Otta!

Otta, my kids are pre-primary, in fact we live in the 'black hole' of provision, and I've been on the steering group because I had some applicable knowledge and it seemed like a useful thing to do for the community. In fact, if we're still living here when the time comes, my kids won't even get into the new secondary school. So my work, including hours and hours of leafleting and meetings, has not been to serve my own interest. I can't speak for other steering group members but I thought I should mention you owe someone some money. The issue around the second Harris primary is that there simply is no need for the primary places now, particularly in that area - we've seen no proposals on how the catchment for this school would work. All projections show that South Southwark now has enough places, something that can be seen by the fact that for the first time in several years, it appears that no primary school in East Dulwich or Nunhead is facing a temporary bulge. In fact, even where I live, we are now fairly sure of a place for next autumn.

Two adults can share pizza and big, cheesy garlic bread in Franco Manca for around ?10. But as that fails the posh cheese on toast Fox/Louisa challenge, it cannot sadly catapult the cheap meal barrier. So hard!

Dulwich Childcare provided emergency childcare for us at a very decent price. Highly recommended. We ended up taking on our temporary nanny permanently and are very happy with her.

I assume they will be using an exempted fireplace, as set out in the relevant regs. Several wood stone pizza ovens and similar seem to be included. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/1992/approved_smokeless_fuels_and_exempted_fireplaces

The Women's Room by Marilyn French? Quite depressing but a brilliant look at how feminism changed society in the last century.

We're just having a Crown kitchen fitted after a similar lightbulb moment.