sillywoman

srisky Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > I can genuinely say that we have not > for one moment thought that we were sacrificing > anything by having a child. YOu will srisky, you will . . .

Just seen this if anyone is interested; http://www.kch.nhs.uk/about/be-a-part-of-kings/get-involved/in-your-shoes Sorry - don't know how to do clever link/word thing. Anyway, thought some of you might be interested in giving some feedback to Kings about how they can improve?

. . . but you also have to be living there when you accept - we had to show council tax bill, (letter from child benefit with same name on it as council tax bill) and childs birth certificate when we went to accept a school place each time.

Happy to swap some cooking apples for, well pretty much anything. We've a bumper crop this year & there's only so many apple tarts/crumbles/cakes & traybakes that one family can take! Alec - might pm you about your courgettes, also beekeeper's jar of honey is tempting - I can use it in my apple cake!!

radhabee I read your post with great interest. I wonder if you could tell me which awards Tommies have for "excellence in care" as I was unaware of these? Great that you have such a positive experience of them to report.

Thanks everyone, & for the PM's too - all very interesting & food for thought.

If you don't mind me asking - how long until baby outgrew/ you stopped using it mammamia? And what did you do then i.e. straight into a big cot or into a crib?

. . . and if so are they any good, or (as I suspect) just another 'give us your money new parent' gimmick?

Me. worked in the Theatre (costume) for years & loved it. Had to stop when baby number 1 arrived. Retrained to do .. .well Ruth you know what I do? Am now applying to University for sept 2012 to retrain again, this time as my long standing dream job - a midwife. Had to wait many years because of children. Fingers crossed for acceptance in Sept next year.

Mustard seed, Herne Hill Baptist Church. Lovely, free.

I am new mother.No irony at all. please place a cushion before your fall.

...but not the children living in its immediate community. thanks James, as I clearly do feel strongly I'll check out the humanist society.

Otta said "I think I am happy for someone to say "don't do that darling" to my daughter, but if they feel she needs a telling off, I'd want them to speak to me, so I could so it my way." Given that, with variation in the words used, this is what Fuschia did, then my understanding is that you're now saying you think she acted appropriately. I which case I agree. Sorry you don't like my tone. Takes all sorts.

tomk Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > But to bring it back on topic, I welcome James > Barber's reasoned response to and support for the > issue facing the local school and our local > children. That's the problem though isn't it - because of the entrance criteria a disproportionate number of them aren't local at all? So by supporting Southwark in paying for these improvements we're really being asked to pay for improvement to the education of a lot of kids who don't even live in Southwark whilst ours are left struggling to get into the few, non-faith 'local' schools the we have left. Money better spent on our own kids elsewhere I think.

I completely agree with new mother. F you were absolutely in the right. Dorothy & Otta are completely away with fairies on this. As new mother says, dorothy's 'oh dear, that wasn't very nice to a tiny defenceless child now was it' attitude is just rubbish & has led us as a nation to this parlous state. Have some backbone woman/man. Stand up for what is right & respectful. Otta- you're overthinking the whole thing. This isn't a 'how would you react if you had time to consider an 'appropriate' and acceptable to all response' scenario. This is a real life, 'how would you react if someone else's old-enough-to-know-what-they're-doing child purposely did something to hurt your baby. A glare was completely appropriate in the initial instance; a polite word, very restrained under the following onslaught. The girls father was an a*%e and is clearly equipping her well for a life of disrespect for others. Grrrr, fence sitters.

Moos - Ruskin is Lambeth.

Yeah-yeah tinyrabbit, whatever. I have no interest in taking what is essentially a localised debate and trying to fit it into a disparate and global picture that bears little or no relevance to our education system here in the UK in order to point score. My interest is purely in children in ED (and anywhere in the UK, come to that) being able to attend the school that they live closest to without fear of exclusion because, as someone so succinctly phrased it earlier in the debate, they have a different 'imaginary friend' to someone else. Exclusion because of house prices? Well that's another thread I think, and a whole other can of worms. But, should a school who discriminates against children living close to it in favour of those whose who live some distance away because of said imaginary friend be extended and improved at cost to those many can't use it because their invisible friend is wrong, or their channel of communication to him/it is different? No. Simples. As I said in my previous post. This school is of no benefit to the ED community, it doesn't matter how well it's doing (and I think it's true that the non-exclusive Hamlet is doing miles better), or how many countries its intake comes from (all our schools can do that, we live in multicultural city doh). It isn't serving those on its doorstep, & charity begins at home.

curmudgeon - I could reply to your defensiveness with an "I said this in reply to you saying that" type post, but I can't be bothered. suffice to say I stand by my post. I make no comment on who you are & what child experience you have - only how you present yourself in your post. FWIW I sorely doubt you have more experience of children than me though. F - as the Mum of a 7 year old (among others) I'd have been glad for you to be calling him if he's soaked you/ your baby & I hadn't seen him. You did the right thing - it takes a village and all that, I guess some other people may feel differently though. I would have done the same in your position.

living up to your name curmudgeon? I do wonder if you have/ ever had children? If you have, then I have to wonder whether you've ever been anywhere at all with them - by yourself? It certainly doesn't sound like you have much knowledge of 'life with children' from your post.

Tony Rabbit Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This school is a real asset to the area and is > doing better than most. OFSTED Good (grade 2) and > very nearly a grade 1 > http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/download/(i > d)/74021/(as)/100852_276405.pdf it is overdue for > a 'makeover' and if the outcome of that means an > increased intake then more to the benefit of ED. I disagree TonyR, this exclusive & excluding school is an asset only to the small Catholic community in the area - and if what silverfox says, only 30% or so of them - not at all to the Ed community in all it's multi-cultural glory. But then, Im completely against faith schools in all their forms. It's makeover will be of no benefit, and may possibly be to the detriment of ED if the parking issues caused by 'out of area' parents aren't properly addressed.

. . . ski-ing, is listening to neighbours tales of their annual ski=ing holiday whilst watching youngest son on his rip-stik. Envy is a sin, no?!

Try the NHS?!

1 child in yellow, & 1 in green; so far so good. Both able to have an excellent mix of subjects of interest, & appropriate to them including languages, arts, sciences & humanities. Am very happy with the way the pathways are structured and delivered. Haven't yet had any subject clashes at all (& don't know of anyone in childrens' friendship group who has either). All good so far for us. :)

dollydaydream Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Barrybarry, why don't you find out your facts > first, Dulwich Hamelt is, and always has been, a community school. Catchment firmly based on distance from the school. No church input at all. Pot-Kettle eh Dolly?

I think there's a nice baby club at the Magdala on Friday afternoons, instigated by the lovely Sophie Jacobs the midwife & antenatal teacher. It was started for the Mums & Dads who attended her classes, but I'm pretty sure that anyone would be welcome? Anyone got more information?