chrism

I so totally agree with LizzynLondon on this one. I have friends with kids who have been mugged (not just in ED but elsewhere in often affluent areas), and what they learn from this dismal experience is 1) the police don't take these crimes seriously and offenders almost always get away with it 2) they don't feel safe on the streets in their own communities. I think this is a terribly harsh lesson to learn at a young and impressionable age. I do know children who just don't go out because they are worried about gangs and muggers. It does make me angry because I think it leads to an acceptance of a level of criminality that affects everyone's life.

It may well be true to some extent, but in the case of my child (who has some learning difficulties and has an ASD), close monitoring and feedback are crucial, and I found the lack of both frustrating and detrimental to my son's learning.

My son (now year 10) was a Kingsdale pupil and did experience some nasty behaviour from mainly older pupils when he started. It was dealt with very well by the school but unfortunately did leave him with lasting anxiety. I imagine by now the intake of the school has very much changed so probably this isn't a problem anymore. My other gripe with Kingsdale is communication and administration, which I found incredibly poor. It's great that they have the parents forum but if you can't attend they you cannot even receive a copy of the minutes. Emails and other communications are sporadic and are often sent a day before you need to reply. I found some teachers good, others less so. In years 8, I didn't get to see any work that my son did in several lessons because the teachers kept the books. I assumed, wrongly, we would be given their work at the end of the year but this didn't happen. In year 9 my son left as we moved house. I wrote several times to his tutor asking for his work so it would give us (and his new school) a sense of what he was achieving but again, only a couple of teachers bothered to send us material. I could go on for a long time about poor record keeping from the SEN department, TAs who themselves couldn't spell, plus other errors (we even got a report that had been 'cut and pasted' with comments about another child that we should never have seen. That said, many other parents seem to have nothing but good things to say, so maybe we were particularly unlucky. However, I felt obliged to pitch in to present a less rosy experience.

Hi - I had a 3rd degree tear with first baby - a whopping 10 and a half pounds, with ventouse (failed) then forceps delivery. Amazingly I never experienced any vaginal pain afterwards. I did religiously sit in a bowl of warm water with healing herbs that a hippy friends gave me - I have no idea whether this was any help. Second child I had at home, naturally, and tore again in the same place. That said, it was a fantastic birth with baby very calm, and the midwives I had were brilliant - totally reassuring (from Albany, which I don't think is independent any more). I did have to go hospital afterwards but my fab midwife stayed with me throughout and the overall experience was fine. Maybe I'm lucky, but I didn't have any pain, and no incontinence issues so far (I did do lots of pelvic floor exercises afterwards and still do when I remember). Second babe was also 10 and half pounds and I am 5 foot 3 in!!

Hi Village people - thanks for your insight. Unfortunately my child's experience has not been as good as your's - I'm not expecting (nor wanting) fancy trips abroad, but he's not had, since yr 7, a day out to a museum or art gallery, which I find really disappointing, especially as we have such fabulous resources on our doorstep. As for contacting individual teachers, of course I can do this, but would probably only do so if there was a specific problem. The point I'm trying to make is that I really have no idea what his education is like in several subjects. I have one rushed opportunity a year to talk to teachers at Parents Evening - and it's not enough to get around to all the tutors. Unlike Prickle, whose kids assessments are modular, Kingsdale does tests at the end of the year. If your child gets a poor grade, or has dropped a grade or two since a previous test, you've missed the boat in terms of raising it with the tutor, as you're already at the end of the year. Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack this thread about school places - I just feel that KD has not lived up to perhaps my unrealistic expections of what secondary school should offer all its pupils.

Thanks for your inpt BB100, Ann and Msgee. I'm sure you're right, Ann, about the best teachers going to particular year groups. What I found frustrating was, when Ofsted sought parents' opinions on how well their children were being taught, I found I couldn't answer meaningfully as I had no idea in a lot of cases. Unless you have a child that gives you full and accurate feed back how can you know without seeingtheir work books? I do know that my child's grades in, eg, Geography have varied enormously between years 7 and 9, and I can only guess that is down to having a good teacher. Unfortunately, by the time you get their grades, the year is over... I agree with Magee about the desk lashing. My child was so enthused by his year 7 experiences outside the clsssroom, eg, staying overnight at the Science museum, seeing a film of one of the books he studied in English and talking to the director. May be it's par for the course in year 9, but he just complains of how bored he is now!

I have a child at Kingsdale and I think it is an ok school - but I don't buy into to the gushing praise that some others have for it. I have major issues with the lack of communication between school and parents, and a particular issue with the SEN dept. Yes, there is a great parents forum, but for those of us who cannot attend, we have almost no feedback on what goes on at the school. I have issues with the level of marking in books, I also have issues with the fact that I do not get to see much of what my child has done over the year because they do not bring books home. At the end of last year I saw my child's art, maths and english books but had no idea what he had done in any other subject, or how it was marked. My other bugbear is that my child has not had one out-of-class educational trip since year 7 (he's now in year 9). I have mentioned this at Parents evening but so far it has not had any results. His peers in other schools have, for example, visited Ypres for their topic on WW1. When I raised the topic of trips with my child's history teacher she showed a distinct lack of interest. I'm sure Kingsdale is typical of many secondary schools but to be honest I feel a little let down by the hype. S

Hi Jeremy Agree with you that they're not great, nor the worst, just bland. My problem is also with density: a block with six flats is being replaced by one with 19. The proposed block is four storeys high at the front, whereas the original one is three. If you're interested in signing a petition asking Southwark for further consultation (most people in Bromar seem not to have been aware of the proposals), will you pm me your address. Thanks Chris

Jeremy - I have the same problem as Plimsoul - ie, no time to research this, at least not till Xmas is out of the way! One example of where they could improve it, though, is to have a pitched roof, rather than flat. Plimsoul - the original block may have been larger but when the estate was built ED was very different - no Sainsbury's, no new builds shoehorned into scraps of land, nowhere near the amount of cars on the road, etc. Where it once felt suburban, it is now more urban and congested. There is more pressure on car parking, local services, etc, so these issues should be taken into account when rebuilding.

Hi Plimsoul sorry - didn't mean to sound so grumpy! I take your point completely about the difficulties of trying to complement different eras and styles of architectures. The existing (now derelict) block isn't great either, but the garden at the back was a buffer between it and the Vic. houses, so the contrast wasn't so grating. I think the fact that the Council / developers are trying to squeeze a lot of building on to what is now quite an open site makes the design issues more crucial. Not sure what the answers are (not being an architect), but I think it's important to find out if there are other options.

Hi plimsoul I'm not against modern buildings or design at all, but an ugly flat-roofed three story dark brick building replacing a much smaller block which faces Pytchley Road with a large garden on the Bromar Road side, slap bang to a pitched roofed terrace, is not what I'd call sensitive design. The block on Pytchley is simply oppressive. I've shown plans to a couple of neighbours and they are equally concerned. The response to our questions from Southwark, over parking, drainage, where exactly the play facilities will go, have not been addressed properly and there has not been proper consultation. I will be knocking on doors this week to guage the response of the rest of the road, and see if we can start a petition against the existing plans. If anyone wants to get involved please PM me. Thanks

Hi Jeremy I don't agree with you about aesthetics - I get fed with walking past / looking at poor buildings going up in areas in which I live and work. Southwark in particular seem to be cramming in more huge buildings into tighter spaces. Of course the plans are better than a derelict building, but I think architects and planners show a lack of vision in terms of aesthetics and sustainibility. In this case the buildings are taking up a considerable footprint so they have a big impact. Regarding trees, there are some shown along the Pytchley Road side, but none on the Bromar Road frontage.

Yes, got the email - not had time to absorb all the detail of the plans, but my gut reaction to the block on Bromar is that it is a horrible juxtaposition of a bland, uninspiring block, plonked next to an attractive Victorian terrace with no effort made to blend the two. I'll distribute the plans to my neighbours (two of which are architects) and try to feed back.

Ruth - yes, it does make a lot of sense. I gave up on maths at school once we started logarithms (still don't know what they were all about). I took my GCSE as an adult - and passed - not because of the tutor (who wasn't v. good), but because I had the confidence to keep going and working it out for myself until I got it. I do think a good tutor makes all the difference, but whether you get one in your school is pot luck!

Duchess - what worked for you? Or did you just get through school and blossom afterwards?