sillywoman

She'll survive said re DV Infant school: the rules for dv are "unless you live in/very near the village or are a st barnabas church regular, don't even bother applying". I'm not so sure. As I said initially we live in between LL & DV (opposite ED hospital), quite a way out of the village proper. Every year the kids on our street get in to DVI without having to be church goers, or (my experience this year) having siblings. We get in on the 1st round of places too. We are the same with the Hamlet which is purely distance based. There was one exceptional year, back in 05 or 06 I think when we didn't get into The Hamlet Juniors (age 7-11)on the first round but everyone got a place in the end and every year before or since we've all got in there too without problem. Also would have to disagree with Lizziedjango too - the Charter is excellent (witness: my 11 yr old son who hates school came through the door today beaming and when asked said he'd had a "brilliant" day. you could have knocked me down with a feather!)

Hi, We're in East Dulwich, on the west side of Lordship lane and have been lucky to have really good school experiences. We have 4 kids who are going through/have gone through Dulwich Village infants (admittedly the youngest only for the last 4 days), Dulwich Hamlet juniors and 2 now at The Charter comprehensive. As with all state schools there's probably a bit more need for parental input than there may be in the private system but they've been overwhelmingly good experiences for us. I feel that that these schools have pushed our quite academic eldest, responded with loads of extra help for our absolutely non academic 2nd and some help for our struggling to read 3rd. The teachers have been friendly and approachable and all 3 scored above average (in some cases well above) in their yr2 and yr6 SATS. They all have strong local friendship groups and feel very secure in their 'territory' of Dulwich/East Dulwich and surrounds. Obviously I'm biased as I send my kids there so need & want to support it but I would definitely describe the Charter as a 'very strong' secondary. It's in the good schools guide if you want to check it out. Loads of my childrens friends come from East Dulwich from schools such as Dog kennel hill & Heber both of which I would consider on a par with the Dulwich village schools from what I've heard. Of course it's all personal opinion but I think ED is really well served with primaries and you can't really go wrong wherever you send them. But if you're coming down here from far away & you might be wanting state education at secondary level then don't dismiss the Charter as being too far away from ED. Depending on where you choose to live it just isn't so.

No Roman Fort, no burial mound - Oh no, all my romantic illusions shattered! Macroban can you expand a little? I thought the fort was indisputable (hadn't heard of the burial mound TBH). Where d'you get your info? SW

Has anyone got any facts? Even one would be great. She's really desperate. Please reply. Thanks SW

Can anyone help? My daughter has to come up with a list of interesting facts about ED for her citizenship homework (The Charter). All I can remember is Enid Blyton and the Roman fort. There must be more . . . Any facts gratefully received. Thanks SW.

I think it's the other way around isn't it? "better" is lower down the scale of acceptable than "fair". This would tally with the little that I know. Whilst both Tommy's and Kings have similar issues on the labour ward it's post natally that Kings comes up trumps. Tommy's are really desparately short of PN midwives and you will be lucky to get one visit post baby. Kings - whilst not perfect - are better off and you should get at least 2 or 3 in the 10 day post birth period. Of course, as has been mentioned before, you're best off with a home birth. read any study you like, look at any statistics you like home birth comes out top for safety, satisfaction, speed etc etc every time. I do understand that most women with their first baby chose hospital as Homebirth has demonised by our society for so long that 'hospital is safer' has become part of our national psyche. It's not true though. For women and babies with normal, healthy pregnancies quite the opposite. Regarding things going wrong - it's extremely rare for things to go wrong in an instant. There are usyally signs and indications that a midwife (with you for the whole time at home, in and out for first stage in hospital, unless it's a quiet patch) will pick up on and of they're uneasy they'll be suggesting that you go in to hospital straight away. They go with you (they can even take you in their car if you want) and will stay with you until the baby's born so you still have one to one care. They have the same priorities as *Bob* except that they include Mum in their 'safety' aims. However if it's not your thing i'd opt for Kings. By the way did you know that Southwark now has the highest homebirth rate in the country? 7.9% I think. Well done to the Midwives whose hard work and committment to the care of women has achieved this.

Alan Dale Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Used to live in Cloudesley Road between 1998 and > 2000. Me too Alan Dale. Before your time though. I was there from 91 - 95. I loved it. Moved south of the river because of University access though and have never looked back. I've been in ED now for 12 years & am married to a Herne Hiller born & bred. Whenever I go 'up north' now it all seems so cramped and dingy. They don't have as many good parks as we do but they do have more garden squares so it probably evens out? I do agree though that an easy walk to the city and all it's history and culture is the only thing missing from ED. It's funny this thread should come up as just recently it's been striking me how like Upper Street LL is becomming. I don't see this as a bad thing at all - just natural demographics. SW

Chuff, I was anxious about Charter too but when I reviewed the 'mixed reviews' I'd got I quickly realised that the negative ones were all from people who sent/ were sending their kids to private schools i.e with a vested interest in kidding themselves that they weren't wasting their money. Our eldest started this september and so far so very, very good.

What about the bit near EDH? I really hope we're sh*t, although there's a definite Clapham/ Battersea type creeping in. Is it really true that their sh*t smells sweeter?

Yes Vik that's exactly how I feel too, especailly when they're so young. the park isn't really a sensible option. Anyway we live a good 15/20 minute walk from the nearest and If thy're in the street there's always someones house / parents nearby for help should they need it. I love that our kids all play out and i believe that it encourages a strong sense of community in my kids. We have about 50 households in the street in and I can name the occupants of each one and I don't think I'm alone in this. All the other parents and some of the older people look out for the kids in a general sense. Our children learn about the other people on their street. The older kids keep an eye on (and play with sometimes)the younger kids, They admire the small babies when the parents bring them out for a chat. They see that other residents care for each other - helping older ones carry shopping etc. Surely this can only be a good thing? No I don't live in some Blytonesque El Dorado it's East Dulwich and of course the kids are given safety rules to follow. Whan an 'odd' man was on our street last year (several calls to the police resulted in nothing) the kids all came in quickly and some of the Dads dispatched him elsewhere sharpish. I feel sad that some of your kids won't have this. Maybe I would feel differently if we lived in road with a lot of traffic but we're lucky and our roads are relatively quiet. Regarding the garden thing Downsouth - round here our gardens are about 35ft square - realistically not a lot of playing can go on. Besides they would miss out on all the excitement of who's doing what on the street!

Ah, so Goodrich info not'utter rubbish' and actually quite helpful! Mine go/ have been to DV infants and juniors too (definitely non churchgoers - though do have a neighbour who'se attended St Barnabus once a fortnight for two years. They kept a list of dates they attended as proof and often only went into the creche as it's child attendance that counts toward school 'church place'. Little boy got a place this autumn. Feel odd about it but I guess it's a system and all systems can be exploited if you've a mind to?) Mine've mostly been happy though both schools let down son with dyslexic/dyspraxic special needs very badly. (Infants pushed him too hard against our wishes and have given him a mental block on reading that even 4 years later is proving hard to shift, Hamlet did nothing 'til we stamped our foot big time last year) Both have recently undergone a change in the special needs staff co-ordinator and seem to have improved. DKH sounds lovely and has a really good after school club (why none at DVI or DHJS - too many nannies so no need maybe?)and a nursery. Choose carefully because once your hooked into a school community it's hard to extract yourself/ child without upset.

Ah, our garden is tiny & too many kids to make it feasable. Agree wholeheartedly with Asset re the park thing. It's not a possibility for kids where we are. nearest park is a good 20 minutes walk (though they do meet their friend there at the weekend). Also we're lucky in our road - under 50 houses and I take pride in the fact that both I and the kids can name the occupants of each & every one (yes, i know - how sad is that!) so can many others in the street. I guess if we lived on a busy road i'd feel differently but our road is quiet. I also think that it's good for my kids to 'own their territory' and they seem to gain a huge amount of confidence and street smarts from having their own space to hang out in. They know the people on their street, they look out for the younger kids (as do the other parents whose kids are out there) admire the babes in arms whose parents bring them out to chat and see that older people sometimes need a bit of help with their shopping. They've also started to run short errands for neighbours. I know it's horses for courses, but I feel sad for the kids that don't get this and do think that they do miss out. With rose coloured glasses firmly on I can only see playing out as a 'good thing'for my kids.

Yeah Asset - your way is my way (if you see what I mean?). Just wondering whether kids played out elsewhere in ED & whether we had any hard core, 'over my dead body - it's much too dangerous' types out there?

In our road all the kids play out every evening. The girls all giggle together and the boys play football or chase. It's really good to see and has helped foster a very strong community sense. Some of the kids are quite young (approx 4,5 or 6) but they all have a great time and the age groups mix well. Does anyone else have this in their street? Personally I find it very refreshing in these times of gated 'safe' communities and isolated kids on computers, but anecdotally I hear that some people don't want to let their kids out until they're in their teens? What's it like round you - are we alone in this in East Dulwich?

I heard that Glengarry, Trossachs, Tarbert & Thornecombe were all built on by a builder originally from Scotland unexciting, but there you go . . .

You might like to try Springers wine bar in East Dulwich Grove (opposite what's left of the E.D.hospital), Friendly, good food, and relatively child free.