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MGolden Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Whilst I think the administrative process at > Kingsdale leaves a huge ammount to be desired I > have to say the people we have spoken to have been > sympathetic and helpful. This month they had a mock Ofsted and then last week a real Ofsted inspection so they have had their hands full! Gosh, if they had 150 appeals I wonder how many applications they had?

Yes give them packed lunch if you can or they might starve.

To any parents still worrying about secondary school places for September this is what I have gleaned from talking to lots of parents about their experiences last year. Place allocation continues right through to September and onwards and doesn't settle down until Y8. Children shift their places around for months and places become available throughout March-July and then come Sept/Oct there appears to be hundreds of children on the move between schools. Some arrive at their chosen school and don't like it so leave and some don't turn up at all becuase they accepted two places (yes happens all the time becuase someone who is offered a place on a waiting list doesn't tell the previous school futher down on their list that they have been offered another place higher on their list, and is something I think needs to be addressed by the LAs) or some have moved away and didn't tell anyone or a child gets excluded, bullied, etc, etc. Throughout this current year 7 I know of children who have left Harris Crystal Palace, Harris Boys, Forest Hill boys, etc and got a place at Kingsdale and visa versa. What suits one child doesn't suit another. With the opening and expansion of secondary schools and dropping birth rate, places are not so much at a premium as one expects and come September/October you will most likely get a place at the school of your choice, if not before. Just hang in there!

Queenie23 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have to say that I found Kingsdale's active > targeting of the middle classes very off putting. > The headmaster seems determined to mould the > school into a middle class haven. The open day > consisted of listening to an endless stream of > children telling us how wonderful Kingsdale was > (which is meaningless really at a school open day > with the headmaster and teachers present!) and I expect the reason he targets the middle classes is becuase their presence has been lacking in the school. My child volunteered to do a speech at open day and wrote her own speech after volunteering and it was not altered in any way.

From what I understand the Sixth form at Forest Hill Boys (mixed) get calls from the RCA asking what students they have for them each year because of their high standards of teaching. Worth checking out.

Dogs do it all the time in the street but you haven't complained about that. Your disgust is a construction of what you deem acceptable behaviour and something which this parent and toddler doesn't seem to share with you. You would be better employed complaining to the council for the lack of public toilets.

From my experience the proceedures for bullying at Kingsdale are very robust. They employ a number of strategies which are very effective in not only preventing and stopping bullying but also helping those invloved in any incident to remain or become friends. My child was involved in a very small incident but it was dealt with very quickly and effectively. Remember this school has a lot of experience in handling difficult children in the past and although their intake has radically changed they don't seem to have lost those skills. Bullying happens in the workplace (as any HR professional will tell you)so you must expect it in every school. If I was to complain about Kingsdale it would have to be about their admin. Paperwork is not always their strong point. They recently had a mock inspection to identify their weak points so I expect they will have picked up on that.

I put forward an idea to discuss which I acknowledged was not an idea of my own but was also not based on superstition or medieval practice. I did not claim a conspiracy but realised from your responses that some of you have already decided the answer and have no desire to explore the question - maybe the reason for the circles and 11 pages. You also assume I put God and religion together. I hope you never do jury service, lol!

If religion is angry what's your excuse? I could pick through all your comments but you're not looking for an answer to the question. This is just a forum to promote your own ideas. Bon chance!

I just thought it was an interesting topic to explore here but some are just so quick to dismiss without any real desire to look in it. I agree that religion gives itself a bad name but I am a little taken aback by how those who have even a small suggestion that God could exist is dismissed as a fool. Where's the open minds on here?

It should not be up to you to decide whether this child is being abused or not. If you feel uncomfortable with how this child is being treated you should report it and leave it to the authorities to decide. I know social services don't have the best track record but they do have the experience to know what to do.

Why is it that in order to promote your beliefs you do it by trying to belittle others? Mocking someone's point of view doesn't make yours right you know.

No, it was just a speech and language therapist told me you can't develop speech or develop cognitively without being exposed to sophisticated forms of language and engage in interaction. Of course there are more amazing things like things termites so I do wonder how you can begin to think it all just happened by chance.

Has anyone considered how there must have been a God to start speech and language? Evidence suggests that in order for children to learn to speak and develop cognitively they must have interaction with those that can speak a language. Children who don't have that interaction with speech grow up mentally retarded. How can that work with the theory of evolution?

My eldest had the jab at two weeks old with no ill effects and you cannot see any scar at age 12. The second had it at age 18 months and it took longer to heal and is a little more visible. I think the older you are the more likely you are to scar. A few years ago one of my relatives got TB at age 13. She had never been out of England so the doctor assumed she picked it up from a child at a secondary school in SE14. Fortunately she wasn't ill but she did have to take medicine for a whole year.