Curmudgeon

Nobody said it looked horrible. Everybody said it was overpriced I walked past with my children on Sunday and an elf shouted at us to come inside. Like many I avoided it because of the price point and the lack of clarity over where the profits are going Delighted to hear the Shoe Box appeal benefited though

Gosh but faith schools ... Bites tongue

This is a good blog http://www.theskintfoodie.com/about.html And fairly local too

Are there any strategic plans for boosting secondary school places?

Do you have a slow cooker?

I would be extremely uncomfortable about having a child go through the stress of assessment at the tender age of 7 particularly if a formalised one with a pass / fail element that dictates where they next go to school.

Don't know anything about it but if you're talking about computer coding there's a great website (free) called scratch http://scratch.mit.edu/ Perfect and fun introduction to coding at any age

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I just walk away hoping they won't catch up. arf

I try not to judge. It's not my place. It's not yours either I know people who are medically advised to get calories into small children no matter how - cream, oils, chocolate etc. I have a friend with a severely autistic child who has a severely restricted diet who would also throw violent tantrums in public that makes her look like a bad parent and onlookers judge That's beside the point though. It's not my job to judge

If you will need childcare to go back to work you should look at nurseries earlier rather than later, although you may prefer a childminder or nanny As for schools no, unless you're interested in private, no point looking at state schools until you're closer to needing one and its all on catchment anyway

I'm sorry what is the FANTASTIC IDEAL of which you speak do all the profits go to charity? do any of the profits go to help those less fortunate? Is any of it in the spirit of anything other than making a quick profit?

L4love Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm an events manager so I'm aware of the amount > of work and effort needed to put on a project of > this scale. I'm also a mother of two children who > still believes in the magic of christmas. With the > amount of activities included, I think, it's well > worth the price tag.I've just booked so I'm > putting my money where my mouth is.... > I'll keep you posted. My children still believe in the magic of Christmas too. Doesn't mean I'd pay ?23 for them to see Santa and decorate a gingerbread man when they can do it for free or a couple of pounds at any of the school fetes. As a new poster you should keep an eye out for the dates And I think we're all aware of the amount of work that goes into planning this type of event. But the cost is a bunting cupcake too far

?18 a child Plus ?5 an adult. Or ?42 for a family of four. That's OUTRAGEOUS! Real reindeer are very disappointing in RL, smelly and quite small ... And not the magical creature one might expect. Apart from the grotto all the other benefits, wonderful location and free parking are intrinsic to dulwich park really "This is a local Christmas Grotto it would be good to support it. ". So, how will the local community benefit from this? If you can't specify then I hope people stay away in droves The majority of primary schools create wonderful santa grottos for a pound or two per child

susyp Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Have to say I am a convert - went out with a v > cute group of 2-4 year olds witches/monster/black > cat/ pumpkins tonight at about 5pm and had a > lovely time. Some very imaginatively decorated > houses. It's still quite a random idea but I > can't deny it was fun! > Not so sure about the older kids doing it I have > to say. Without meaning to pick one poster I find it very sad that people believe older kids shouldn't do halloween. At what age a you too old? I think people with small children seem to forget that they remain children a lot longer than they toddle. I know it's difficult to look at a much larger child and not see the child in them. An 11 or 12 year old can be as entranced with halloween and trick or treating as they ever were. What should parents do? Tell them they're too old to enjoy fun? I know that we have a lot of young lovely children in ED, but you know what we have a lot of lovely pre-teens and teens too. They deserve to retain their childhood as long as they want to.

Congratulations All the primaries round here are good but it will depend on who has space and where you live in terms of your place on waiting list, although priority should be given to those with no school place at all

Yes write a letter requesting permission and outlining why Fully expect a standard response confirming that they won't approve the absence so it would go down as unapproved family holiday Go anyway and have a lovely time I assume attendance dis normally excellent Under 85% would be deemed persistent absence and you might get EWO involvement etc

I found the original thread http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,889362,897130#msg-897130

There was a similar thread a while ago - I was really confused by this concept as children on our road play out in the street (admittedly it's a quiet road). Initially with supervision and then gradually as they grow in independence, and common sense, unsupervised. It's a wonderful throw-back to the way it used to be (remember the good old days when all around was green fields and you could go out for tuppence ha'penny yadda yadda) But is intensely different from 'closing a road' which personally I have issues with as surely the point is to grow in independence and safety - probably preparing them for secondary which comes round so quickly. If the road is so busy it needs closing then it shouldn't be used IMO and the open spaces of Goose Green, Peckham Rye, Dulwich Park etc should be used. Otherwise parents in the street can keep an eye out / supervise as required and gradually you get children with road safety experience, neighbourhood communities and a lovely childhood well that's my take anyway

I've never had an issue with getting an appointment at dmc I'm shocked so many people have ...the nlyproblem I've found is the phone system I insist on appointments when necessary and they've always managed to see any member of my family. Maybe it's making clear that its vital to see someone and no I have no intention of telling a receptionist the details of my issue

Yes without a doubt

Nor is everything on school websites

Lol at intexas ... Here chair of governors - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingsdale_School. Google is your friend

I agree with townleygreen in this instance as an exams officer is employed by the school to administrate the examination process in secondary education In this situation of course, where the only published commentary from those involved, has been that no institutional malpractice has been uncovered by the investigation is it any wonder that they remain in post? Employment law and anybody's moral compass would dictate that they should I don't actually see what is left to discuss or what is left in a grey area ...although I am beginning to see why the head has been so reticent to comment and actually now agree with this approach

You are right Prickle things in the public commentary media are certainly not going right for Kingsdale at the moment. I found the Section 8 inspection completely confirmed the parental experience stated here (happy children getting a good education in a safe environment). I would like to hear the head confirm that the concerns of the significant minority of staff were being addressed but the next OFSTED inspection will certainly inspect on this point so no management would ignore this, surely? The exam whistleblowing is worrying but puts them under the spotlight. We should remember that all exams were issued in that year and are in the league tables and that existing and future students will benefit from the certainty that exams at Kingsdale be whiter than white - if only the same could be said for all other educational institutions. I for one am looking forward to the results of OFQUALs 18 month investigation into issues with the integrity of UK exams from the exam boards and in schools (rusty memory but think this was requested by govt in December 2011 As Debster99 says, and in my own experience it seems like teachers are leaving secondary academy education in droves

I have seen the Channel 4 piece too. I think Kingsdale is unfortunate to be the perfect scapegoat for everything that is wrong with the 'Academy programme' - I think they are high profile and a great journalistic 'case study' because Cameron visited and called them 'brilliant' and because of inappropriate public whistleblowing. I think interviewing a student and staff member made for good TV but wouldn't hold up in court or any appropriate official investigation as one should hear both sides and view evidence - however I believe that the PUBLIC ARENA (newspapers / fora) is not the place for these discussions I think of the over 100 schools against whom complaints were made to the UK exam authorities in the same academic year it is horrendous to realise that only our local school's case is in the public arena I don't see how the school can win - but more importantly I can only see how local families and children can lose out