prickle

Agree, bluemusic. The mystery of those disappearing posts were as exciting as EDF gets!

Metallic, no I don't think the cheating allegations was anything to do with admissions. Although there are issues with the transparency and clarity of KD's admissions policy?

> I see the purpose of the forum includes "It also > ensures that the admissions system is > straightforward and easy for parents and carers to > understand.". If they do show signs of life, > perhaps they could turn their attention to the KD > Lottery and Scholarship system. No one I have met > understands how they can say in their prospectus > that they take 15% of their intake on scholarship > and yet having a full scholarship does not > guarantee a place, which can only be allocated on > lottery. Hear, hear! Don't know how they get away with it year after year. Surely they should take a look?

> A new 'free' secondary school has just been agreed > for 100 chilren admitted per year. Suspect that > will turn into 120 as educationalists views are > that 4 x form entry (4 x 30) is minimum required > to have enough teachers to give a broad enough > curriculam. Pls supply more info - what? when? where? how? Thank you!

FatherJack Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Prickle...as far as I'm concerned it was not to > provide access to the underprivileged and I have > no self interest but I do believe in a fair > process for all. I'm sure some if not many may > have a personal agenda but please don't tar > everyone with the same brush. Totally agree with you FJ that fairness for all is what we are after. I think the socio-economic background or precise address of the excluded families are a just a distraction, one that the press (eg the Guardian headline) is only to glad to use. All families are after only one thing - the best for their children. It somehow makes it more acceptable when the children concerned are seen as being more needy. Think the solution to all this is to use the crow-flies distance.

> I guess the moral of this story is that hell hath > no fury like a group of scorned but determined > parents! The campaign was lead by a group of assertive, middle-class parents. Don't forget that the Wanley decision will make Charter more accessibe to the middle-class enclave that is Champion Hill and Grove Hill. It is great that this has been resolved but to show it as some kind of socialist campaign to give access to Charter to the underpriveliged is naive. It is pure self interest.

The the 'safest walking distance' is an interesting concept. I assume that by 'safest' we mean safe from traffic. By allowing the walk from the top of DKH to Charter through Wanley, you will be walking through the top of Greendale. This is fine in daylight but definitely would not like my children to do this in the dark in winter.

BB100 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The Evening Standard did a two page spread > yesterday with results for every London Borough. > > It was surprising to see that some schools in > Lewisham had the lowest value added score than any > other borough in London. Even Aske's had a > negative VAM. But Harris Crystal Palace had a > better GCSE pass rate that Dulwich College. This shows how quickly these school improve/deteriorate. When we were looking at schools just 4 years ago, Lewisham schools were considered much better than Southwark's and you wouldn't touch Harris Girls with a barge pole. Goes to show that you need to do your homework and not necessarily go by the reputation of the school.

You are right that they score 60% for GCSE and equivalent but their pure GCSE score is 45%.

Interesting reading the official league tables for Southwark table for southwark Well done to Harris Girls, particularly the fantastic value added score. It looks as if Kingsdale's GCSE score has been revised downwards (Rentata mentions 66% getting 5 gcse including english and maths above but the table says only 45%. Is this the outcome following the investigation last summer? Does anyone know what happened in the end or is the topic still off limits?

DKH has a fantastic full time music teacher and the music provision is first class, one of the best things about the school. He runs guitar clubs, choir etc etc but the music teaching is v. inclusive so every child gets to perform regardless of their ability. The best thing is that at KS2, every child gets to play in a steel pan group and perform at the summer fair. Kids love it and the parents too.

There is another thread about the redevelopment of the house on the corner of Elsie with East Dulwich Grove. The proposal is to knock it down and build a block of 5 flats in its place with ONLY 2 off road parking spaces provided. If planning approves this scheme then on Elsie (as the new block will front Elsie) could have an additional 3 residents cars (and poss more) adding to the parking pressure. ETA :( :( (6)

But this is not true! If you look at the consultation results only Derwent and Tintagel want CPZ (question 5) and only East Dulwich Road and Zenoria want CPZ if a neighbouring street has CPZ (question 6). It is also a bit cheeky to say that people outside of those streets are against CPZ as clearly a large number IN those streets are also against. James pls get your facts right - see attached sections from the Consultation results for the actual numbers.

The proposed options are: 1. Do nothing. 2. Do a little remarking of local roads. 3. Introduce 1hr Mon-Fri controlled parking to Derwent Grove 4. Introduce 1 hr Mon-Fri controlled parking to Derwent Grove, Elsie Road, Melbourne Grove (Grove Vale to East Dulwich Grove), Oxonaina Street, Tintagel Crescent, Tintagel Gardens and Zenoria Street. 5. Introduce 1 hr Mon-Fri controlled parking to Derwent Grove, Elsie Road and Tintagel Crescent. ============= Can someone clarify where we go from here? What will happen re: new options as outlined in the report? Will there be another consultation to see which option will be selected? As a resident of Elsie who voted 'no', I would feel very hard done by if option 4 or 5 was adopted without further consultation with me. Surely not v. democratic?

Thank you for posting this - poignant and relevant today. Says it all really. Don't delay, get your children immunised! edited to say, can't type today!

When my kids were at the MMR age, the debate over links to autism was still rife. I delayed and prevaricated and as a result nearly 'forgot' to have them immunised. What brought me to my senses was a trip abroad and I got them done with haste before departure. With hindsight, I think I was mad to think that I knew better than the mainstream medical advice. I think we should trust the NHS and follow the advised vacination schedule.

Have left a comment with NHS Choices. The other comments are a shocking indictment to the inadequacy of this surgery. Please can other discontented patients leave comments - we need to do something!

So why won't they get permanent GP's?

nylonmeals Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Prickle, being a new parent so new to all this - > it sounds like you and Ofsted were in agreement > about DKH that it needs to be better about > challenging more academically able pupils? This > shouldn't be something that you should have to > fight for surely. But it may be that I am way out > of touch, I left my (state) school many many years > ago. Yes, they had an ofsted a few years back that criticised their lack of support for more academically able and I felt that it was valid. They had another ofsted at beginning of autumn where they appeared to make some progress (was a better report all round) but I'm still not fully convinced that they have addressed all the issues. Having said that the school has a large number of SEN children and the socio-economic backgrounds of the children are very mixed. They have a lot of children with English as second language too. It is a very challenging mix and by and large the school is successful in meeting most needs. The school community is also warm and nurturing. So it probably comes down to priorities and challenging able children comes quite low down. Perhaps the school expects the family to step up and fill in the gaps - something that we have done ? but not all families want/able to do. The school will feel vindicated by the good score, but not the entire picture, so treat stats with caution!

tomk Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > A major indicator for some ED parents will be the > 'Higher Level Pupils %' - ie what % of pupils > achieved top-level (level 5) in Eng AND Maths. > Very interesting bit of data. Click on it at the > top of website to order list by it. What do you think this indicates though? Does a good score indicate that the school supports academic children well? Does it mean that it has more 'able' children on its rolls? Does it mean that the intake is more middle class? My child goes to Dog Kennel Hill which has a goodish score (28% I think). I know that it has been criticised by ofsted for not supporting able children that well. I have had on-going battles with them to give my child more challenging reading books and tasks that challenge the more academic. I am inclined to think that the high score there is due not to the efforts of the school but of the nature of the intake and the efforts of the parents.

hmmmm? I don't think you need to sit your child down and tell them the bad news. My 10 yr old 'knew' it was all a big fat story a good few years ago (via older sibling and others). An unexpected side to this is that she has given me a v. hard time about us 'lying' to her for so many years and she has a point, perhaps not a good example to set? Incidentally she still firmly believes in the tooth fairy as the fairy is rather generous and writes witty notes. ie kids believe what they like and what works to their advantage!

When I mentioned this to my daughter who walk with friends along East Dulwich Grove to Charter, she said that a couple of friends were approached a while ago by a man in a car who slowed down and asked them if they wanted to get in. They sensibly ran away. Not sure if this incident was reported but may be these things happen more often than we think?

Do you know why she is leaving?

Thanks for this

the-e-dealer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Didnt know about crushing. How does one do this? Take the lid off and press down from top until it concertinas into a flat blob then put the lid back on. Don't have to be superman to do it ;-) Obviously you can't crush shampoo bottles and such-like but you can also crush drink cans too.