Monkey

Sorry to hear this, Cinders.

When it comes to Kingsdale, it's not just a "border" issue. I know families from Beckenham who have two/three kids at the school. And a lot of the kids who showed me around on my visit were from quite far away. I wouldn't mind if I had access to Langley Park School in Beckenham for example but the school applies a distance criteria so it's closed to me. Kingsdale is a drain on school places for people in Southwark as per the report in the Southwark School Places Strategy meeting http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s71640/Report%202017%20Primary%20and%20Secondary%20School%20Place%20Planning%20Strategy%20Update.pdf

In its 2017 school places strstegy meeting minutes, Southwark Council said of Kingsdale: ?The Council welcomes the interest and will continue to explore whether an expansion of benefit to Southwark pupils could be secured through alternative admissions arrangements.? Not seen an update since. I don?t think this would be an unreasonable ask given how many out-of-borough kids Kingsdale takes.

I wish it were true, NunheadMum, but if you look at progress 8 scores for some of the schools that people in ?black holes? are being sent to, you?ll see that they?re negative. This means these schools are taking high prior attainers and not progressing them. On a positive note, Harris Girls should be going back to a simple distance criterion and we?ll hopefully be offered a place next year. Looking at their website every day...

Not contacted MP yet. She?s never had anything useful to say to me. Problem is that most of the schools in the area are academies so they do what the hell they want... and there appears to be enough school places at the moment. But still i?ll be in touch the councillor in charge of education tonight and copy in the councillor in charge of Dulwich Hill.

I?m with you, Oscar. I?ve been in touch with councillors but was told to send my daughter on a 1h30 round trip to a school which Ofsted says requires improvements. One of the solutions would be for Kingsdsle, which recruits heavily from outside Southwark, to have a band for Southwark residents in black holes. And also for schools to stop the sibling priority criteria. Or move everything to lottery. Frankly when I heard the head of Charter North saying he improves the life chances of his students - who are all recruited from a tiny radius in a very privileged part of town - it really grated with me.

There are lots of clubs (Dulwich college, jags but also nimble arts etc...) during all holidays except perhaps Christmas(when there are some but not as many) . These clubs don?t cover inset days so make sure you keep holidays for those.

But selecting the right kids/parents is not even always paying off in terms of progress 8 score... which goes back to my point: waste of time, energy and money.

Hi, good to know, thank you! I?ve spoken to the head and deputy head about it directly two years in a row now and will follow up with an email - good idea. It?s good they added Spanish already. We?ve also registered her at a French school just in case. Let?s keep in touch.

This whole system really is a waste of time and money for everybody: students, parents and teachers too when you take into account open days, banding exams, and the huge amount of time administering the whole system. After many school visits i?m told I have to go to, DD will still most likely be offered a place at our nearest school which, while good, doesn?t offer the foreign languages I want her to learn. I?m going to sound very old, but ?in my time? all schools offered English (brought up in France), German and Spanish and you could easily get yourself into the ones which also offered Italian and Russian. This really is a mess.

I don?t think there?s the perfect solution to the social media problem. It?s worrying me. - We?re waiting until our daughter (9) is old enough and mature enough to understand that there are intelligent people and nasty idiots and that you only care about the first lot. - Also trying to get her into a lot of sports so she has activities she likes to build self-esteem and doesn?t spend all her time on her phone when she has one. - Encouraging a love of the outdoor (camping, Guides...) for the same reasons. - Encouraging friendships in various places and not just school Fully aware that this all might come crashing down when she hits the teenage years.😉 When it comes to actual social media use, I think we?ll go on a course or something. I saw headlines saying that Meghan Markle talked about not looking at Twitter. I might watch her speech and show it to DD.

Rest in peace, Gordon.

Let them solve problems on their own from a young age.

Well done, Sue! If for some reasons the rspca doesn?t get to you, call Celia Hammond. They?re also 24/7. A big thank you from a fellow cat lover.

Swati, I've asked this question about neighbours' overflowing bins many, many times without the Council ever replying. Personally I think it should count as fly tipping. I'm sick of the rubbish on my street as well as people using the pavement to store their bins and leaving rubbish next to their bins for foxes to pick through it and drag all over the road. Get a grip, people.

Harris Girls ED is the school my Year 5 daughter is most likely to attend. I?ve seen a lot of secondary schools in the area and the teaching team at Harris ED is the one i?m most impressed with. Having seen the school in consecutive years, the improvements are visible. On my last visit, I was pleased to see how they had improved what was once a rather uninspiring library for example. The only thing that?s a problem for me is the MFL provision, which currently includes Spanish and Italian. I really really hope they?ll add French, which is a must for me. Hope this helps.

Surprised not to see more posts. Is the Southwark school allocation website still down?

I agree, Johnie. I have a friend whose daughter is dyslexic and couldn?t be happier with Harris Girls ED, if this helps. On another note, do we know what the distance is for Charter ED this year?

I see Lewisham has published distance information: https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/education/schools/school-admission/applying-to-start-secondary-school/Pages/default.aspx

Good luck to everyone.

Same used to happen on the corner of Colyton Road and Homestall Road. Recycling bins ended up being taken away, just like they were at the Dog Kennel Hill Sainsbury's. It seems that people cannot be trusted to use recycling facilities in a responsible way.

It will be disruptive for residents but, living opposite a local school and being witness to the utterly idiotic and dangerous driving of quite a lot of parents on a daily basis - even when the police are around - i?m 100% supportive of this new scheme.

Oh good. Went there a while back and other catteries I saw right afterwards were already using private pens and sneeze barriers. Anyway my own fault for not doing my research at the time.

It?s actually defra guidance - posted on Bromley?s website- which states that communal areas are not acceptable. https://www.bromley.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/3576/guidance_boarding_for_cats.pdf