Renata Hamvas

A public meeting about the Thameslin Train Service is scheduled for next Thursday 17th March 2016. This will be held at the Rye Baptist Church Hall at 59a Rye Lane Peckham London SE15 5EX next door to Clarks at 7pm (the hall is booked from 6.30pm). This venue is 2 minutes walk from Peckham Rye Station. The proposed closure of Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill Ticket Offices is on the agenda. Govia Thameslink have confirmed attendance TFL and Network Rail are invited. Please spread the word via word of mouth, twitter etc. Please come along. Renata

Hi all, we can try to do something! Due to the ongoing problems with the lack of capacity and poor service on the Govia Thameslink line service that comes via Catford/Crofton Park and serves Nunhead/Peckham Rye/Denmark Hill and Elephant and Castle and through London I have decided to organise a public meeting for next Thursday 17th March 2016. This will be held at the Rye Baptist Church Hall at 59a Rye Lane Peckham London SE15 5EX next door to Clarks at 7pm (the hall is booked from 6.30pm). This venue is 2 minutes walk from Peckham Rye Station. Govia Thameslink have confirmed attendance TFL and Network Rail are invited. Other items on the agenda include proposed closure of Ticket Offices at Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye. Ticket Machines. Potential new station to serve Camberwell. Interchanges. Poor disability access at Peckham Rye, Nunhead and Elephant and Castle. Access to Nunhead Station from Evelina Road. Station skipping (have you ended up miles from your destination due to this?). I spoke last month at the well attended meeting organised by the Crofton Park Users Group at the Rivoli Ballroom. We need a joined up approach across the two Boroughs. Users of the service from Bellingham/Catford/Crofton Park are very welcome too as you suffer the same problems as users of this service from the Southwark Stations. Govia Thameslink need to hear from customers about their experiences of this services. Please spread the word via word of mouth, twitter etc. Please come along. Renata

Travel bed guard? You could post in the for sale/wanted section to see if someone local has one they no longer use. Renata

Sorry,silly me,I meant Police station site. It will be Charter ED moving to the Hospital Site! Renata

Hi Fleur, the school has been on the Harris Girls's site since September 2014. When it moves to the hospital site, there will be children from reception, year 1 and year 2 ie infant classes. It will fill up on a year by year basis. Renata

It's good that you reported it contented sow, Renata

Hi Nunheadmum, the decisions on bulges can be made at any time. Southwark tends to have its primary bulges organised well inn advance of application deadlines (most of the Borough's primaries are under LA control) If I hear of any secondaries bulging for 2017, I will post this. Once all the distances are known for this year, it may give you a better idea of which of your preferred schools you could drop as the chances of you getting they would be minimal. I'm happy to help you if you need assistance via pm or email. Renata

Hi Mama79, have you looked at St Mary's Pre-school in Nunhead? (It's on St Mary's Road) This is open from 9-12 Monday to Friday, it's a mainstream pre-school but the staff have special needs training eg I don't know if they still all do, but the staff were proficient in sign language. Renata

Hi Cora, I do know from previous years that Lewisham tend not to give out waiting list positions or add people onto waiting lists by request until after the initial shake up, usually close to Easter. So you may need to wait for a while. It's hard to know what will happen to the CharterED last place distance once it is integrated into the Londonwide system. Nunheadmum, as LondonMix states, all the secondaries in Southwark are outside LA control, and therefore set their own admissions policies and numbers. The only thing know of admissions wise for the Nunhead area is that I think Haberdasher's Aske's admissions policy is changing for 2017 entry. There have been changes to the sibling policy, taking siblings of sixth formers out of the equation and also admissions will be purely on distance with no banding involved. There will no longer be the pot luck of how far a particular band stretches. Deptford Green is a popular school with Nunhead Residents, and if you have a boy, there is the outstanding St Thomas the Apostle and the Harris schools if you are near the Peckham Rye side of Nunhead. Some girls from the area go to Sydenham Girl's and there is the Kingsdale Lottery. Renata

Hi Clux, you only remain on the waiting list of higher placed schools (ie the first choice school in your case). You could contact Southwark admissions and ask if it would be possible to be added to the waiting list of your lower placed school. Have you changed your mind on your preferences? Renata

Hi Belle, as email addresses and correspondence on the ED forum doesn't give addresses, I don't have any idea where applicants live. I only find this out when I'm contacted where people didn't get any of the schools they expected to and are unhappy with the place they have been offered. No-one has contacted me so far this year! (usually the first requests for assistance come in on the evening of the 1st March). I can only speculate (and hope) that outcomes this year have been positive for many. Renata

Thanks for letting me know, Gilatab. Mattresses are definitely fine. Renata

St Thomas the Apostle is a single sex Catholic school. Half the population are immediately ruled out from applying! Non-Catholics have been going to the school for many years. Many parents, wish for their children to attend a mixed school (eg if next sibling is a girl) or they don't want a faith school and hence they have a lower applicant to place ratio. There is also another single sex boys' school in the area too, Renata

Hi all, this has been an exceptionally quiet day for me in relation to Secondary school applications. So far not one unhappy parent has contacted me, so I think that outcomes on the whole have been OK for people in the ED/PR/Nunhead area. I'm glad to read that so many of you are happy with your allocated school. In terms of Kingsdale, they are an academy so they administer their own admissions. Yes, they are effectively bulging by 4 forms this year (they did so by 2 last year). This is likely to greatly increase sibling numbers in future years, probably to a similar level after a primary bulge (usually 2 form goes to a 3 form entry so 50% over pan). Renata

Thanks for posting that, Renata

Below are the details of drop in sessions to assist parents who may have been disappointed with the outcome of their application. Cambridge House, 1 Addington Square, London SE5 0HF Commencing: Wednesday 2nd March to Thursday 3rd March 2016 Time: 10am ? 12:00pm and 1:00pm ? 3:00pm ● 20 minute slots will be available on a first come first served basis. ● Please note this is a parent only event; There are no childcare facilities. ● Parents are asked to sign in on arrival before the discussion begins. Alternatively you can contact Southwark School Admissions Team Tel: 0207 525 5337 Email: [email protected]

Below is the letter sent to Councillors by Cllr Victoria Mills Dear Councillors I am emailing with details of the Secondary School offers being made today. This year we have received a total of 2,857 on time secondary applications, a significant increase of 220 applications more than last year and the highest number received since our records began in 2009. Despite this increase in applications, the LA has once again been able to offer a secondary school place to every on time Southwark applicant for September 2016. 2,639 (92.4%) Southwark families have received a secondary school place of their preference through the coordinated admissions process, the remaining 218 families have been allocated an alternative school place. Letters confirming these offers have been posted out to families today and all online applicants that have received a preference, will be able to view their offers online from 5pm this evening. The Charter School East Dulwich is a new secondary Free School in Southwark that will open for the first time in September 2016. Families were able to apply directly to the school and these applications were in addition to the admission applications coordinated by the local authority. Families with an offer from The Charter School East Dulwich will also have an offer from the local authority so each family will be contacted by one of our admissions officers over the next few days and asked to confirm which offer they would like to accept. The second offer will then be made available to other children on waiting lists and will have a positive impact on the headline figures below. Kingsdale have also expanded their PAN for September 2016. Transition to secondary school is an exciting time for families however, we recognise families that did not receive a school of their preference and have been allocated an alternative school, often have additional queries and/or support needs to help them through the change of school process. A personalised email from the admissions team with details of the alternative school allocated has been sent today to each of these families. This also informs them that our phone lines will be open up until 9pm this evening should they wish to contact us to raise any queries or discuss their options directly with an admissions officer. Key data for Southwark residents - ? All Southwark secondary school applicants have been offered a school place for September 2016. ? 2,639 (92.4%) applicants have received a place at a secondary school of their first to sixth preference ? 2,443 (85.5%) applicants have received a place at a secondary school of their first to third preference . ? 1,689 (59.1% ) families received a first preference school. ? 218 (7.6%) families without a preference and offered an alternative school. ? 2,846 (99.6%) of Southwark applicants applied online this year Please also note that our school admissions officers will be holding drop in admission surgeries for families that want to meet to discuss their secondary admission options face to face. The surgeries will take place at Cambridge House on a first come, first served basis from 2 March ? 3 March 2016, further details are attached. Best wishes, Vikki. Cllr Victoria Mills Cabinet Member for Children and Schools Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye Ward

Belle, I'm waiting to see what happens this year, there is an embargo until 5pm so Councillors don't have any information yet either. Good Luck everybody, remember there will be movement on waiting lists after offer day. Renata

To add to this, tickets will be available on the door. Renata

I contacted the management company earlier today and they are organising for the latest pile to be removed and are also writing to their residents about this Renata

There were consultation days at Camberwell Old Cemetery, Camberwell New Cemetery and at Tooley Street. The survey was also on the Southwark website and in Southwark life. I do remember that the local consultation events were well attended (I don't know about the Tooley Street one). local people were consulted! Councillor Mills and I represented residents from Ryedale at the Cabinet meeting that discussed the plans. We as local Councillors have engaged with the parties involved eg been on site visits with them to Camberwell Old and Camberwell New Cemetery. It is a situation where we can't make everyone happy. The works at area Z have been reduced in size to protect more trees. There is the issue at this site that we don't know what exactly was dumped in the many truckloads of rubble that were deposited here. This site would have needed to be sorted out anyway (hence why it has been condoned off for years). The sampling trees are growing with their roots in dumped waste and have a limited lifespan. The council is not being mysterious about not giving exact costings for sorting out this site. Until we know what is there (eg how much asbestos etc) the clean up cost can't be determined! Regulars on the ED Forum will know, where residents have raised with me concerns about trees being under threat, I have worked with them and officers to try and preserve them. I do believe the cemeteries can be managed to be functional cemeteries and havens for nature too. Renata

Hi Sunglasses, thanks for letting me know about this. The problem with this site is that it's not owned by the Council. The nearby properties are owned by L & Q Housing Association, but this grot spot is owned by someone else and under control of a private management company. I will contact the company and ask them (once more) to clear up the rubbish. Renata

I can't be 100% sure (I heard this on the grapevine last night), but it appears the coffee shop part of Bambuni is remaining in the current Bambuni premises, so it's an expansion of the business! Renata

I may be wrong but it appears all the ticket offices that are on the list for closure are those with barriers. Renata

Hi EMC, you won't find any London ones as the London results as Cora says above come out after 5pm by email. I think some LAs elsewhere do release them earlier in the day, but I don't know who. Renata