Emski

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.

Only assume you'll get into your nearest school if you're within the furthest distance offered from this year. You're unlikely to get into any of the popular schools unless you're extremely close. Fill in all 6 of yr choices.

Thanks Indiana, have tried this site too - from the furthest point of our property to the furthest part of Goodrich is 450m. So looks like being the closest to Southwark's software. (Still suggests we're nearer than this mythical 457m though - grr!) Attempting to be philosophical, I guess it shows the tiny distances that are making all the difference for us.

Pickle Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Emski, the distance figure will (I think) include > offers made to siblings I'm not sure, Pickle - Renata said: "Goodrich last place distance offered was 457 metres. Heber had a last place distance offer of 263 metres." I understand that as an offer made on distance only. Renata, can you clarify? 20-30metres currently seems to equate to 5-10 places down a waiting list, so it would be helpful if Southwark could provide the means by which parents could accurately calculate distances I think.

midivydale Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does anyone know what tool they use to calculate > the distances between home and school? I've tried Google maps (giving us a distance of 420m from Goodrich), freemaptools as suggested by a previous poster (417m) and daftlogic as recommended above (438m). Yet Renata says that Goodrich has offered a place to applicants 457m away. We didn't get in, so I have no idea how or where they're measuring from... Would agree, though, that Anita and the admissions team have been great with their quick responses. I emailed earlier asking to be added to some extra waiting lists, and she replied positively within a few minutes. (NB anyone with queries about Goose Green - it's recently become an Academy, so you need to contact them directly instead of Southwark as they're no longer a community school).

Sorry to hear you've had bad news. I would agree with the above - expressing should keep your supply up. Perhaps just pumping at the same time of evening for the usual duration of your feed would ensure you don't increase or decrease your supply?

Fella opposite the Plough is great - good value, no queues, will usually butcher what you want then and there if it's not available in the disPlay. The pork and lamb (I think) are from his own herds.

This is hideously traumatic. We didn't get any offers from our 6 choices (we picked our 6 nearest schools - and are only 420m ish from Goodrich) and have also been allocated Langbourne (extremely difficult to reach without a car - I seriously don't know how I'd be able to do drop-off and have a job). I only stopped crying at 4 this morning. The letter this morning from Southwark does contain plenty of useful info, as well as contact details for phoning to find out your place on waiting lists (supplied by Renata above) - I've found out we're 6th for Goodrich, which sounds promising but I'd love to hear from any of last year's parents whether that gives us a realistic chance of an offer at some point. I'm also confused about whether or not we're automatically put on waiting lists. The general info that came with our letter says we are, but our specific information on our letter says that we've been put on the waiting list for three of our six, but not for the other three. They weren't able to explain this to me on the phone - just suggested I email and request to be added to the lists. Two of these three are in Lewisham, so I then phoned Admissions for this borough, where they suggested that I would be on the lists (but couldn't give me more info for 3 weeks) and it was just Southwark's wording that was misleading. The wording reads: "Your child did not meet the school's oversubscription criteria so could not be offered a place." Is j&m correct that you only get put on the lists in your own borough? This whole thing is a mess.

Thanks for the advice, Renata. I will email Liam on the address you provided. We have not been offered any of our 6 choices - instead a school in West Norwood that I haven't heard of and won't be able to get to (far too far to walk and not on a bus route). Feeling pretty shafted - we only live 500-odd metres from our first choice. If anyone has any further advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

We used a great childminder on Forest Hill Rd near Peckham Rye for my daughter until she was 3 (Pm me if you'd like details - she may have a vacancy), and then moved her to nursery, which she's really enjoying - Mother Goose on Upland Rd. I'd happily recommend them, but don't know about waiting lists I'm afraid. Think they go from 1yr.

Does anyone have the link handy for where we can check? Thank you and good luck!

My nearly 4-yr-old does a Saturday morning class with EOS dance school at the Dulwich Community Centre - I think they run one for the next age group up straight afterwards. Would highly recommend.

I also used Daniel at Therapy Rooms. Contractions started that night - but then again I was 9 days overdue, and was also doing curry/sweeps/pineapple/sex/long walks/raspberry leaf tea etc etc.... So indeed, who knows?! Unfortunately also experienced the failure to progress after 3 days of contractions. But as I was being threatened with a hospital induction instead of the home birth I desperately wanted, also felt I had nothing to lose... Good luck, I'd say it's def worth a try!

Thank you very much to everyone who's helped!x

Does anyone know of any daytime pregnancy yoga classes in East Dulwich? I did one upstairs at Soup Dragon last time I was pregnant, but I guess that doesn't exist anymore... Any suggestions gratefully received - including any DVD recommendations. The only local classes I can find all seem to be evenings. Thank you!

My daughter started at Mother Goose (Upland Road) a few months ago, and is very happy there. There don't seem to be any 4 yr olds there though, so your child is likely to be the oldest. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad!