Monkey

Congratulations! In answer to your question, I find that my friends who have moved out of London do not necessarily find things much easier. Commuting is expensive and means being back on time to pick up children is even more difficult. Now, if you work and live outside London and near family who are willing to help, my advice would be different of course. We found the first four years difficult financially but we?re glad we stuck it out as we love London and things are relatively easy once the children are in primary school. Like RedJam says, do look at options other than nurseries such as childminders. You could save money that way. Some nurseries are also cheaper than others (Gumboots, Excel...). It?s worth investigating. Be glad that your baby will, like mine, be born in August, saving you a year of childcare expenses as they can start reception right after their fourth birthday. Good luck.

Southwark is now synonym with mismanagement. I see it mostly with secondary schools. When Lewisham has managed to keep hold of their secondary schools, Southwark hasn?t. When Lewisham sends weekly emails on secondary school applications, Southwark does jack shit. This latest development about preventing residents from going to work so Dulwich Village gets clean air and at a time when when buses are being cut is the final straw for me. This is a useless council hell-bent on not listening to its residents.

As soon as the private schools break up, Townley Road and Dulwich Village junctions are absolutely fine. It?s Alleyn?s and Jags causing the problem. They should sort it and certainly not be looking to expand. Why don?t they convert their expansive grounds into a car park for the use of all their customers?

Excellent point from Goldilocks on the Alleyn?s expansion thread. The data shows that traffic outside term time is fine, which completely fits in with my observations. So we are having our daily lives disrupted because of a bunch of kids being driven from all over London to a couple of prestigious private schools. That?s the thank you we get for voting in Labour in this area. At the very least, Alleyn?s should not be allowed to expand further.

It?s basically cutting off ED?s access to Brixton, the only major transport hub in the area.

I?m certainly not going to support a scheme which is going to push me onto a hellish commute which will take me an additional 1h20 minutes a day. Oh and that?s when I don?t have to go to parents? evening in Deptford which is where the council suggested i send my daughter to secondary... Happy to leave my car behind but give me good local transport.

And yes, Mike B, the problem is non local pupils. The Dulwich Village junction is completely fine as soon as private schools break up...

Completely agree Rahrahrah. It?s all about North Dulwich. Can we close ED to their 4X4s please, local councillors? Any of you here?

Glad you?re sorted. I think it was already the same system when we applied 7 years ago. Southwark should have this info at their fingertips. Good luck!

The Southwark admissions line is not helpful or informative. I get 100 per cent of my school admissions info - including regular emails - from Lewisham. Call Lewisham and see what they say. I?m sure they?ll have dealt with your specific situation before. Good luck.

Thank you. I will raise it with the school adjudicator. It wouldn?t be the first time Charter has got in trouble with them.

Interesting. To share your views with the school on this latest consultation, the email address is mailto:admissions@chartereastdulwich.org.uk I hadn?t looked at requirements for sixth form entry, but absolutely appalled that it?s down to siblings, being a Charter North pupil or the daughter/son of a teacher. Scary stuff.

Here?s the link: https://www.chartereastdulwich.org.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=1390&type=pdf Only read it briefly, but the little I saw, I?m not happy with. Priority to siblings and Charter North Dulwich pupils for sixth form entry.

Also lots of love from Dunstans Road. Hope you find him.

@DiD, sorry, I didn?t realise she was so scary. Sounds like it will defo take more than Feliway and that you should speak to the vets. What?s she like at the vets by the way? Good luck!

Sounds like within the range of normal cat behaviour to me. We also have a rescue female British short hair. She?ll attack my husband when he?s on the phone as he paces around (it annoys me as well!) or when he takes too long to start the fire. We?ve had her 10 years and love her funny ways. My advice would be: - Give her time - 3 months is nothing. - Make sure bed, litter etc are away from sources of noise. - Ignore her for a while - no talk, no fuss, no nothing. - take her for a check up. Shaun at Neighbourhood Vets is excellent with cats.

We got ours from Country Spray by the Plough. It?s perfect!

Court Lane is a safe bet. Enjoy.

I?ve applied to more than one Harris academy, including Crystal Palace. In this situation, the CP website says that we would automatically take the test at CP as this academy requires the children to take an extra technology test. And today I got an invitation to the banding test at ... Harris Girls East Dulwich. I tried to call CP but can?t get through... Anyone else in this situation? Thank you.

Hi - it?s all in the email sent by the school (in bold and underlined): ?non verbal reasoning tests only?. Also it doesn?t matter how well the kids do. They get placed into one of three ability bands with the same number of names pulled out randomly from each band. Have they not received the invitation? If not, they need to contact the school as you need to come with the letter/email.

Renata, I was talking about the lack of information from Southwark. The lack of simple emails such as ?you can now apply?, ?careful - deadline tomorrow?. All I got from Southwark is a crumpled letter at the bottom of a the school bag and my daughter passing on a message from her school - two days after the deadline - that the school couldn?t see me on the list of applicants and they believed I hadn?t applied. Lewisham on the other hand sent me regular informative emails about the process. I called the council two weeks ago asking whether I needed to make contact with the schools for banding tests. Person didn?t know. I didn?t get called back as promised. I now understand that letters will be sent by the schools but they haven?t yet because the council hasn?t sent the list of applicants to the schools. Looks like Kingsdale might have to postpone banding tests which were supposed to start on Saturday. I, and many others, have been keeping all the banding test dates free in case we get called in. I?m glad I don?t work in a job where changing a shift is a problem. I?m grateful for your commitment and availability but I think Southwark, even in the difficult circumstances it has to deal with, is falling short. On the actual issue of publication of distances (and number of siblings places), can you confirm the council has actually contacted the schools to publish the data and that the schools have refused? Thank you and sorry to harangue you. I would ask Jasmine Ali, councillor for schools. Unfortunately my emails are ignored unless I put Helen Hayes and Harriet Harman in copy.

Worldwiser, the current arrangements in Southwark are designed to cream off the top pupils and exclude the children of chaotic families. Nothing else. It?s a disgrace. I understand that the Council can?t do much. However, the little it could do (sending regular informative emails like Lewisham does for example) it doesn?t. I?m grateful to Renata for posting here and always being on hand to help, but we shouldn?t have to resort to the forum for this kind of information. This kind of information strategy targeted at a small subset of the population is unworthy of a council run by Labour. In Southwark, it feels like it is for the few and not the many.

Agree, HelloSailor. It?s impossible to get any reliable information. In addition, banding tests are happening very soon and I?ve still not got my dates. I presume schools expect us to drop everything at once for them. It?s high time these bloody schools got taken down a peg or two.

Thank you!

Renata, thanks for this. Do we now wait to be invited to the banding tests? Or do we need to contact the schools proactively? I phoned the Southwark helpline but they had no clue. Thank you again.