Monkey

Hi new mother, Where did you get the DUCKS stats? I did have a look but could not find them anywhere. I am not from this country so this is all a bit alien to me. Any help appreciated. Tks.

My daughter starts at DUCKS in September. From what I understand, DUCKS prepares the children for the entrance exams of the schools they are targeting but there is no "natural progression".

They can't pressurise you to take a year off. I work as part of a small team where we try to manage our costs so what I did is that I worked out how long I wanted to take off from the start and stuck to it. It helped that I could not afford to take more than four months off in any event!:))

There is a lot on offer to youths these days in terms of after school clubs, youth clubs, school buildings which are out of this work (just look at Kingsdale's auditorium just as an example) I grew up on a council estate, went to an average school and managed to go to uni and get myself a job in a foreign country. Not been easy but I did it and I have my parents to thank for that. My point is: can we really undo the harm that bad parenting does? Isn't it all about the parents?

You seem to have a lot of time on your hands...

Errr... Summer probably thinks of her children first with other people's children coming close second. That makes her a good parent. The tone of the responses here to someone who has legitimate concerns about her children's safety shows that it is next to impossible to have a constructive debate on this forum.

Those free nursery places are about education not childcare. The activities being planned over the course of the week, children must attend everyday to get the most out of what the school has to offer. A lot of people would love to get five full days a week for free. My local school only offers 5 mornings or afternoons a week which is completely impractical. You should consider private nurseries which offer free places for 15 hours a week after a child turns three.

Don't have a pb with academy status and certainly no problem with goodrich teaming up with an outstanding school. Goodrich is now below national and Southwark average so something needs to be done.

oooh sounds nasty. Hope he's ok. Whistling man turned up quickly and started to misdirect traffic.

Don't rely on nurseries to run their waiting lists efficiently? Keep pushing!

Good to hear. I was already very impressed with the care I got in August 2009 in the labour ward. Unfortunately all these good feelings were promptly wiped away by appalling level of care or shall I say absence of care on the post natal ward. And it was not due to lack of staff or a busy ward...far from that.

It could be that you're just not used to nurseries! I cried all night the first time I went to visit one. Less than a year later, I happily sent my daughter there. And they looked after her brilliantly. Now I did visit mother goose on upland road. Thought downstairs was great compared to other nurseries I saw but did not like the baby room which I thought was very bare, not very stimulating. Manager agreed with me and said transforming the room was his next priority after the garden. And considering what an amazing job he did with the garden, I think the baby room could become fab. That said, try Asquith Peckham rye. That's where my daughter is now and I have only good things to say about it.

Asquith Peckham rye is excellent.

My daughter has been at nursery full time since she was four months old. She is now 21 months old and a lovely, healthy, balanced child (though we are approaching the terrible twos!). I really think nurseries are great places for little ones. They do so much there: singing, dancing, mark making, "art"... We go to Asquith Peckham Rye: great, happy, energetic and caring staff, lovely children, fantastic food (the other day my daughter had fish pie for lunch and butternut squash soup for dinner), really nice outdoor space. To answer your questions: most nurseries have got waiting lists (although some operate them very inefficiently such as Bright Horizons), none of the ones I saw required a 12-month commitment or any time commitment at all expect for one month's notice when you want to leave.

helena handbasket Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Monkey Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > For goodness sake, James. I now really regret > > voting Lib Dem. As you know, headteachers are > > extremely well paid and there are no > > violence/discipline problems at the school as > per > > the Ofsted report (apart from people reading a > > tiny bit too much into school posters). There > are > > many worse schools out there and many heads > would > > like their biggest problem to be pushy > parents.I > > am sure that should the position become vacant, > > we'll have lots of applicants. All we're asking > is > > for results to go up and not down. And no I > don't > > care about value added. I am talking about the > > cold , hard facts: percentage of pupils > > achievieving level 4 in maths, English and > > science. > > > Honestly, most educators I know would be much > happier taking "complex" students and social > issues than pushy parents. I've never seen > anything like this, it's just so ugly. If you > think well educated adults will be lining up to > take on this position, you are breathing rarified > air. Any sane teacher will think twice as well, I > should think. Who needs this? Honestly, if you > read these threads and knew you were the next > thread, would you sign up? Fat chance! The > school will suffer, the children will suffer, the > community will suffer. Can you imagine what > anyone would think if they google ED as a > potential place to move to and this comes up? > > Frankly, every time I feel sad to have left I read > a thread on this poor school and feel like I've > dodged a bullet. It's absolutely shocking. No bullet to dodge if you do not call the police unecessarily on a governor who's giving his time to the school. Lots of gratitude to be gained if you do a good job. For the teachers who want "complex" students, there are lots of jobs available in more deprived areas than ED. My friend who had a ruler stuck down her pants in full view of all her pupils would much rather deal with pushy parents. And I actually think that a large majority of parents in ED are committed rather than pushy. I am sure lots of headteachers are highly able but saying they would be earning much more elsewhere is debatable. They do make A LOT of money. They certainly would not get the same amount of time off, that's for sure.

For goodness sake, James. I now really regret voting Lib Dem. As you know, headteachers are extremely well paid and there are no violence/discipline problems at the school as per the Ofsted report (apart from people reading a tiny bit too much into school posters). There are many worse schools out there and many heads would like their biggest problem to be pushy parents.I am sure that should the position become vacant, we'll have lots of applicants. All we're asking is for results to go up and not down. And no I don't care about value added. I am talking about the cold , hard facts: percentage of pupils achievieving level 4 in maths, English and science.

Why do people assume that parents are giving the head a hard time just because she's black? Because they're white and middle class? Isn't that a racist assumption to make? Goodrich's results have been going down. It's a fact. My poor impression of Goodrich (apart from this thread) comes from looking at league tables and also from seeing a number of grammatical mistakes on their website, including a glaring one on the homepage (now removed)... That's why I decided not to send my daughter there. If a new head is appointed and results start going up, I will reconsider my decision, whatever the colour of the new head. Headteachers are paid a lot of money (far too much in my opinion) so when they don't deliver, they need to be held accountable.

Dear me. I thought things had improved since I was a foreign exchange student. I remember a host family in Austria telling me that they had never met anyone from the travel agency. I have always been very lucky with my families but baby Monkey won't be going on any trip of the kind!

I would try not to plan too much in advance if I were you. Just see what your HV is like, listen to what she has to say and if in doubt go to your GP. I was with the Townley Road clinic and I thought my HV was great and very friendly. She was a reassuring presence and I valued her advice. However when she told me it was not normal that my baby was sleeping through for 12 hours aged 10 weeks and that it must mean I was overfeeding her during the day, I ignored her and continued as I was doing. I could see that Baby Monkey was absolutely fine - gut feeling and I was right. As you grow more confident as a mum, you'll soon learn to make your own decisions. Be prepared for people to give you lots of advice, HV, MILs, complete strangers... My MIL is horrified we don't give orange juice to Baby Monkey... She and lots of others said I should not put her in nursery, evil places for evil people... etc etc...

I did not go to any NCT classes and still managed to give birth, love every minute of maternity leave, make lots of friends and most importantly raise a happy and healthy baby.

Nurseries offer a happy, caring and safe environment for little ones, IMO. I put my daughter in nursery full time when she was four months old without any qualms and we've never had any problems with her crying or being unhappy. She is now 18 months old and a complete delight. She loves other children and has bonded really well with nursery staff. She does lots of things during the day: including mark making, singing etc... which she probably would not do with me at home. My husband drops her off in the morning and she happily goes to sit down at the breakfast table and waves him goodbye. And she loves it when I pick her up in the evening, running to me to give me a big cuddle. I hope our story makes you feel better! As your little one will be a bit older when you first leave him at nursery, he might take a bit of time to settle but all the babies in the two nurseries we have attended looked settled and happy. No reason why your little one would be any different. What you could do between now and then is take him to lots of playgroups to get him used to other adults and children. I hope this helps. Don't worry. Just visit as many nurseries as you can to get a feel for what's on offer. Ask about food, staff turnover, activities, how long the manager's been at the nursery, is she good with the staff, does she know all children by names etc... and just look at the children: are they active and happy?

I have only good things to say about Asquith Peckham Rye on Waveney Avenue.

Both the Forest Hill and Peckham Rye branches are rated as "good". My baby spent six months in the Forest Hill branch last year and we were very happy with it until a lot of staff started leaving including the manager so, sadly, we left. More on a whim than anything else actually. It's now all settled down or so I hear. On the positive side: the staff is very, very caring, parents' involvement is good, the children have lots of fun there and there is a fantastic community feel to the place. It's a very happy place. On the not so good side, I find the premises at the Forest Hill branch a bit cramped - especially the pre fabs for the 2-3s - and that was the other reason why we left when a place came up at another nursery we loved. The whole place was also in need of a good makeover which I think has now been done. The Peckham Rye branch's premises - which I have not seen - are said to be great but don't have a garden. Having said that the Rye is just next door so not a huge problem. Excel is not the hell hole that many people would have you believe. They did fail some Ofsted inspections a few years ago but the issues have now been addressed. It is a good little nursery which plays an important role in the community. The standards in terms of premises for example are not the same as Asquith or Bright Horizons but the monthly fees are much lower. Hope this helps.

I feel your pain... Re: Harris Girls' School, sadly, I am less worried about the GSCE results than the metal detectors the police felt they had to instal at the entrance of the school's end of year party last December.

I sympathise. I work 7.30am-5.00pm everyday and then pick up daughter from nursery. I have been doing that since she was four months old and she's now 18 months. Last summer I cracked up - went a bit nuts really. Much better now thanks to understanding colleagues but can't imagine doing all this while pregnant so no you are certainly not a sissy. I do hope you have a cleaning lady. I do and also a lady I can call in only when I need to when the ironing pile's gone out of hand. I can give you her number if you want. At the weekend, we exhaust Little Miss Monkey in the morning so we can have quiet afternoons and this new routine has certainly helped. Sorry I do not have any more tips.