number 2

That's really bloody tough Loulou. Whereabouts are you? Does anyone have any idea of when the waiting lists tend to start moving? The deadline for accepting/declining places doesn't see, to have had anything but a negative effect for most on here!

Thanks Renata, you are, as always, very helpful and well informed. Thanks so much for replying to this thread so religiously!

Speaking as a member of the teaching staff of a school (which isn't the village!) parents are generally very, very happy with the education they get at our school after leaving the villa. There are some extremely good schools in the area.

Yes, I got a reply from admissions today asking about that. She said that people who apply late, if they live closer, go above you on the waiting list. Seems more than a little unfair to me!

Sorry Gina. That's really tough. Have you looked at any other schools?

People keep saying "ooh, you'll definitely get in" as we are 5th on the waiting list for Ivydale. I don't know when these lists start to shift though. We've done nothing but move down it (albeit by one space) - has anyone actually moved up their waiting list yet?

Does anyone know if, for instance, someone has a place at a Southwark school, but then gets into a school in Lewisham (be it a local authority school, free school, independent, whatever) are the waiting lists from the 2 local authorities linked? So would Lewisham notify Southwark that the child no longer needs a space at that school? If both schools in question were applied for as part of the CAF system, would the 2 LAs keep in touch about that? Thanks

Just wondering, has anyone come to the top of a waiting list yet??

gina i would say that 14th sounds hopeful in a school with a big intake like that. fingers crossed. hmmm, we've gone down the ivydale waiting list :( soooooo not happy. i bloody well hope whoever has overtaken us has a good reason other than just forgetting to apply!!

Fair enough Zamboanga. I probably misread your post. It's what I'm dreading - that people will be sitting on places rather than letting southwark know that they don't need a place. Sorry if I misunderstood.

I have to say Zamboo, that I think keeping 2 places (one local authority, one not) is a little unfair, no matter what Judith Kerr school says. I can understand why people might do it (hedging their bets if they suddenly can't afford school fees, decide a free school is not for them, find that the school is not yet built!), but there are people out there who are stuck on waiting lists for their schools, in horrible states of limbo without a place at even one of their 6 choices. I'm speaking from personal experience here (see my thread of last week) - we are 4th on the list for our 1st choice which is our closest school by far. We are more or less entirely dependent on people being fair and acknowledging that they don't need a place because they have a better offer outside the Southwark admission process. To me, people sitting on 2 places just seems so, so unfair to me, and I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same if I was opting out of the community state school system. There, I've said it.

i loved mother goose when i went to look around. i thought the inside was a little cramped but the outside was amazing. it seemed like a really lovely happy place too. we ended up at puddleducks in nunhead but i would have been equally happy with both i think.

Liam came to talk to parents at my son's nursery and was a mine of information. I don't know how many nurseries know about the facility though and I guess for those children who've not been to nursery the information wouldn't filter through.

njc, i've always thought of the classrooms in the school i work at as small and i was really concerned about how much smaller the rooms felt at hollydale. it was chucking it down the day that i went to look around though so we didn't see a whole lot of the playground. maybe there were bits that i didn't notice. i guess the same goes for the classrooms. it was such a dark, horrible day that it can't have shed a positive light on the building!

where did your little person end up then? or would you rather not say?

Thanks Zephy, that's really good information. Seems like you really have to be in the know to find stuff out!! Also, meant to (but actually didn't) say thanks to Hollybush. I know I said your reply was lovely, but then didn't say thanks!!

I think I am a little bit over emotional about the whole thing (or premenstrual) because your lovely reply just made me well up a little bit Hollybush. I'm sure we would come to love Hollydale too. It's all just so emotive. I promised myself I wouldn't get het up about this whole thing!!!

Thanks Renata, I guess that is better than 14 places on distance which is what we first thought. I'm going on the assumption that new families are less likely to take their places than families who have one or more children already in the school. Clutching at straws perhaps................

Thanks Renata. I know we are lucky to have the place at Hollydale and some people have not been so lucky. This situation with the Aske school is the sort of thing I'm worried about. We will accept the Hollydale place, I just have huge reservations about the actual physical size of the playground/classrooms having a lively boy! Thanks for your advice.

Just crashing this thread (hope you don't mind) - also hoping for Ivydale. Renata, do you have access to information on how many children offered places at Ivydale were siblings? I heard it was 76! But this may have been chinese whispers.............................

Ok, we are in the reasonably happy situation of having been offered a place at our 2nd choice which was Hollydale. I thought it was quite a nice little place, but it is VERY little (playground and classrooms) and that worries me. As far as I could see there was no other option for a 2nd choice school as we're in a little bit of a black hole for schools once you take Ivydale (1st choice) out of the equation. We are 4th on the waiting list for Ivydale, which I really like. We're .34 mile away from Ivydale. What I want to gauge is people's opinion of whether, if they had got a place at an independent school, free school, were moving out of the area, whatever, would people notify Southwark by 2nd May to let them know they don't need the space. I appreciate that I am slightly guilty of this in that I would rather we had a place at Ivydale but I don't want to give up Hollydale if that place never arises. I'm just aware of the fact that not everyone great at thinking of others and the fact that they might be sitting on 2 school places when some people don't even have 1. What do people think? Thanks

"day to day dyslexia in the classroom" by joy pollock is great, and "dyslexia: a parent's guide to dyslexia" by valerie muter are both very good. also anything else by these two and also gavin reid is generally good. i love the first one as it's really readable. also the british dyslexia association are great and have a very informative website. good luck!

Another vote for puddleducks. Our boy is very happy there

we also had loft life do our loft 3 years ago, and i've recommended them to anyone who'd listen. they were GREAT! i only wish they did stuff other than lofts, as we appear to have been stung in one way or another by every other person we've had to do work on our place!!

i'd ask about what sort of groups they go to with the children. i think it's really good for them (and for your child) to get out and meet up with other childminders. that was one of my main questions.