Emski

They sort their own tax. We paid ?5/hr a couple of years ago. You could phone up the Council for their list of Ofsted-registered childminders - this has details for all as well as prices.

I have a 4-month-old who's a very 'variable' napper, so cooking time isn't guaranteed. I should sometimes be able to knock up a ragu or fish pie filling though and freeze in ramekins - great idea. We would love her to be more adventurous with food, but she's taken to announcing that she doesnt like pasta and tomato sauce, or peas - things that were guaranteed favourites a couple of days before! It could be the new baby and starting school that are making her play up, but at the moment I don't want to turn every mealtime into a battle (more than they are already!). I figure sticking with simple stuff for now, but making sure there's a good variety, is the best way to go for now - at least til things settle down for her. As long as they're quick to make I don't mind making her supper separately.

My 4 yr old has just started school, but as they're only getting sandwiches for lunch I want to give her something hot and nutritious when she gets home (& ideally bread-free). I'm already struggling for inspiration after just a week! She's going through a picky phase so I'm keeping it pretty simple, but as my husband doesn't get home til late it doesn't need to be anything too sophisticated as we'll be eating later. Any ideas out there? So far we've had: Omelette with ham and cheese, green veg Pizza & salad Chicken goujons / fish fingers, pasta & veg Baked potato w tuna & crudit?s Salmon fillet, rice and veg Thanks!

I think that 'holding on' and not weeing frequently enough during the day could also be a cause of UTIs. As can not drinking enough. Also, does she know to wipe front to back, especially after a poo? Also a v common cause. It could well be one of these causing the infections rather than night nappies. Then you could hold off the nighttime toilet training till she's more ready... Sounds infuriating. We tried briefly with our 4 yr old (who was potty trained at 2 and a quarter) - after a few interrupted nights we gave up and will leave it till she's keener. For what it's worth, cranberry supplements and weak green tea always did wonders for my cystitis, but guess they're not something a 5 yr old would be keen on...

Not much help, but it wasn't on last week (we foolishly turned up!). I think most non-holiday activities seem to restart next week, so I'd suspect it's not on...

You sound like you'd be near enough to Goodrich School poss? Use a website such as walkjogrun.net to give yourself an approximate guide as to how many metres away you are. Can't remember off the top of my head what the furthest place offered this year was - think around 520m away. Have a look at the Southwark Reception places 2013 thread for more info. Just beware that Southwark's distance measuring software doesn't seem to bear much relation to many of the online tools... In our case they seem to have come up with a totally arbitrary measurement. I'm not the best person to offer much hope on this one I'm afraid - as you'll see from my ranting on that thread... You may well be in the same 'black spot' as us. I think the new Harris Primary may at least be an option for you? And prob a good idea to put down Judith Kerr school as one choice as it is unlikely to get as oversubscribed as everywhere else. Otherwise, moving house so that you're practically opposite a school appears to be the only way to guarantee a school place within walking distance. Sorry to be negative - it has been a very difficult experience for us. My advice would be to put down your nearest 4 and a couple of less popular or at least newer schools that perhaps will have shorter waiting lists.

I'd opt for the storage - life with kids certainly leads to having more STUFF!

Just a reminder now we're a bit further down the line to please reject any unwanted community schools place if you've decided on an alternative. There's a fair bit of movement in the waiting lists now (although personally we're only back to where we started!) so thanks to all who have done so. We're desperately hanging on for a place via the lists, and unfortunately because I don't know yet whether my daughter will be going to a school nearby that she knows, with her friends, or will have to travel to an entirely new area where she won't know anybody, I'm not able to do much to prepare her for the huge life change of starting school. Please make the effort if you haven't already done so!

Thanks for the advice. Is it normal for builders to expect you to enter into a contract without having agreed on plans first?

Our 4 yr old's bad behaviour seems also to have escalated recently. Altho her tantrums are short-lived, they're pretty frequent! I'm sure she's more stroppy now than when we were in the 'terrible twos'. We get lots of 'I don't like you', 'You're not my friend', 'You're not coming to my house', (which I have to try not to laugh at!)etc. In our case it's almost certainly been triggered by the arrival of a new baby. It's also more likely when tired and bored (been stuck indoors all day). I realised I was only saying negative things to her when trying to counter the bad behaviour (Don't speak to me like that, Don't be disobedient, You need to listen to me etc etc). The harder I tried to stamp out the naughtiness, the bigger the stand-off. So now we're trying the opposite - reward charts, loads of cuddles and attention. We had been giving loads of praise, but think maybe more physical attention/affection is more important. Of course tricky when there's a nearly newborn around! I think I remember someone saying that they don't really settle down until more like 6... Hmmm...!

We're in the early stages of planning a loft conversion and would really appreciate some advice on a few points: I understand you don't need planning permission for a rear dormer. But what is the likelihood of getting planning permission for a front dormer too? There's a mixture of properties along our road (ie no uniformity to housing), with a pretty ugly front dormer next door - although I don't think it got planning permission.? Our loft height is close to what I think is the minimum recommended for a conversion - 2metres. Does anyone have experience of having a low attic conversion, and does it feel cramped for a master bedroom? Any tips on maximising the space?? It's going to be very tight as to whether we can fit in exactly what we want. I'm unwilling to enter into a contract without knowing that we can achieve our wishes, but we've been told by our preferred company that although it 'should' be possible they won't provide drawings before we sign, and these wouldn't be accurate enough to provide a guarantee still anyway. Apparently they can't confirm the finished ceiling height until the suspended floor is in place. This seems a little too far down the line for my liking! It's not worth us doing this project unless we can get the layout we want. Any advice please?? Many thanks to anyone taking the time to help!

Myatts fields was on today!

Hi there, Congrats and good luck! I was with the Brierley - also fantastic. I wanted home births with both my babies. The first I ended up being transferred to Kings after 3 days of contractions and failure to progress. The second I had a 3hr waterbirth at home, which I was so pleased about - it was almost an enjoyable experience! I'd be happy to try and answer any questions that you have if you want to PM me. I also found hypnotherapy for birth v helpful. Best of luck!

Hi Monkey We've also been offered a place but would like to find out more about the school before committing. (We didn't get any of our 6 choices so are looking at other options.) it's difficult to know what to make of a place when it's a start-up and you don't have any history, results or parental experience to go on... We'll be at the 'transition event' this afternoon to try and get more of a feel for the place. Have you managed to gain any further useful info?

Thanks for the reassurance! Much appreciated. Little babies are just so perverse! Will reassess in a couple of weeks. At the moment I can't even begin to imagine persuading her to self-settle!!

My 10-wk old has never been great at sleeping in her basket, but now she seems to have taken against the buggy as well... just cries whereas it used to be virtually guaranteed to make her drop off. Now she'll only sleep in the papoose, where she will drop off quickly and sleep for hours, but am I storing up trouble for myself? Should I be pushing the basket, and even working on getting her to fall asleep on her own without rocking her into slumber first? My feeling is she's still too young for that, and to wait for the magical 12-week turnaround before biting any bullets... Any advice? Could it just be the weather throwing her? Thank you

Always good to hear a reassuring story from someone who did get a place via waiting lists - thanks Rachel. I also think you're right about not checking your positions too often - I'm going to restrict myself to once a month! There's just no knowing though, is there?!

I know exactly how you feel, Gina! It's an incredibly frustrating experience. We started at 6 with our first choice school, and felt reasonably positive, and are now 13th with absolutely no idea whether we'll continue moving down the list or eventually succeed in gaining a place. One other school we were told we were first and are now 30 odd! Helpless and furious in equal measure probably covers it.

My 3 yr old has been at Mother Goose UPland Rd for nearly a year. She really likes it - as do I. Friendly staff, lots of activities, outdoor Play every day... Other mums nice too!

Completely agree, busylizzie. There seems to be something fishy going on with Goodrich's list. I emailed Admissions to ask if they could explain where these extra people have come from - how come they're appearing so late in the day and why seemingly only at Goodrich. Needless to say, I got the standard answer about SEN, moving closer, siblings... It still doesn't add up for me. Very little transparency.

Yes, have moved a good few Places up DVI and Heber - but down 6 places on Goodrich (from 6 to 12)! And this one was our big hope! Have no idea what's happening here - how can so many people have been added into the top 5?!(there must be people who've turned down their Place by now or got in from the list, so that's a lot more than 6 families managing to move house within a few hundred metres of the school)... What on earth is going on with Goodrich?!

I also know of 2 people who aren't taking up their place but haven't found it necessary to reject it officially. And these are both at the school that we're desperately hanging out for a place at...

Drive at night so they sleep? Have your meals in the car (picnic-style foods) so they're kept busy eating for an hour or so. These are prob best if you just have one long journey to do, and can relax once you get to your destination, rather than an actual driving holiday tho. Otherwise, nursery rhyme CDs, stickers and cheap spiral-bound notebooks so they can use up as much paper as they like. Etch-a-sketch? We also had a portable DVD player - ?60ish - and so worth it!

Hi Gina I don't know if this suggestion is useful... I also live miles away from Langbourne but have been allocated a place there. My daughter is a June birthday so I've deferred her place until January, in the hope that we get into a nearer school via waiting lists before then. In the meantime her nursery is happy to keep her on. It seems preferable to starting her at one school and then moving her soon afterwards. And even if a place doesn't come up, we've got more time to come up with an alternative option. Langbourne were v happy to do this. I suspect that it won't be until September that more places are opened up when kids simply don't turn up. My understanding is that if you've been allocated your first choice, even if you don't respond (accept/decline the place) it's still kept for you. So people who are moving away or going private and haven't bothered to let the community school know, are holding onto places unnecessarily while those on waiting lists are left in limbo. In my view this is the main failing of the system. There should be a centralised system for all primaries, whether community, private, free or academy, so children are allocated only one place, and parents should be chased up to officially accept or decline their offer. Why can't this happen? > Langbourners.. Langbourne have sent out a letter > today with a slip to send back on the bottom (by > Monday 3rd June) to ask whether we require the > place or not. Do I just reply that we don't? I > still have no intention of sending her and don't > want to hold a place we don't require/that she > wont turn up for in September. I don't want to > mess them around.

ticket2ride Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This could be interpreted as east Dulwich parents > being disproportionately unrealistic about which > schools they are likely to get. Or, like me, they put down their closest six schools and didn't get offered a place in any of them. We live under 500m from Goodrich, put that down as our top preference, but would have been happy with a place at any of our 6 choices. We weren't being unrealistic, or even trying to outsmart the system in any way. We did exactly what we were supposed to do. Some of us have been very badly let down by this system. Please don't suggest in some way that it's our fault.