redjam

Heber have a good Parentmail system that allows you to place ads for childcare to other parents/childminders who serve the school (email: [email protected]). It's often word of mouth that finds good people and your best bet is to find a childminder who already does wraparound care at the school so it's easy logistically for her to take one more. There are several such childminders who do that at Heber - you often see them arriving in the morning with about four or five kids! Then if you are lucky that same childminder might be able to take your child over the holidays. If not you can do what the rest of us do - which is scrabble around, stagger your holiday dates with your partner, call on favours from friends and family or ship them off to holiday club (though I personally found my kids were only happy going to clubs when they got older - they now love them but they can be expensive). So it's not ideal but you just muddle through. Good luck - hope your child enjoys Reception.

There will be some lucky children who live between the two schools who will have a choice of either of them, yes. But they can still only take up one space in one of the schools. So overall the catchment area (of both schools) will be bigger. To moan that they have 'the same catchment area' is kind of missing the point. I think most people would prefer to send their child to a good local school in an ideal world so the distance rule also seems sensible to me. Kingsdale has indeed flourished with a lottery system but I wouldn't say the lottery process itself is particularly popular with parents - it's horrible feeling that your child's future rests on whether their name is pulled out of a hat or not. Of course people can continue to put it down as an option if they want to but I for one am thrilled that there are going to be 180 new school places that will go to local children, many of whom are currently in a secondary school black hole. And of course it'll take the pressure off the heavily oversubscribed Kingsdale thus increasing the chance of people (local and otherwise) getting in there too. So good news all round, surely? Edited to add I completely agree with Soulking's post!

Hmmm, a restaurant that doesn't only serve liver, raw shellfish and undercooked meat. That narrows it down.

But we don't know yet how big the catchment area will be, do we? It will fluctuate each year according to demand, and it won't be an exact circle as the housing is more concentrated to the east of the site. So I don't know how people can say unequivocally that their child will or won't get in yet. The point is that any admissions system will have winners and losers if the school is over-subscribed. If they have a banding system they might end up with the problem that Sydenham Girls and FH Boys have had this year where their A1 band was almost four times more over-subscribed than their level 3 band, meaning those children had much lower odds of getting in. If they use a nodal point system then they'll get complaints in a couple of years' time from people who live ten minutes' walk away and didn't get in, whereas someone who lives 15 minutes away on the other side did get in. No system is perfect. By all means let's have a measured discussion of the fairest system and respond to Charter's consultation when we get to that point. But to cry 'fiasco' and 'shambles' just 24 hours after the announcement has been made sounds hysterical to me.

I think to be fair Charter always said their admissions policy was likely to be done on straightforward distance criteria (I attended one of their meetings about it and I seem to remember this was stated) - though in Simon's post earlier he did say there will be a consultation on this. So again I don't think anyone can claim that anything underhand has occurred. As for moving the nodal point to the east, I'm just not sure how much real difference it would make. If you look at a map it's much less densely populated to the north and west - the bulk of the housing lies to the east anyway so that's where most of the kids will come from. I guess you could argue that that's even more of a reason to stick a nodal point there (I wouldn't argue with that - it would benefit me!) but I stand by my statement that I'd have thought the majority of ED kids would be within the catchment even if they leave the central point at Melbourne Grove. Or at least, I haven't seen any evidence that they WOULDN'T be, even if the catchment was only 1km in diameter, i.e. as small as Charter 1's. So I still don't really understand why everyone is getting so upset, sorry.

Wow, that's great news, a victory for common sense! I was worried that wrangling over this issue would delay the opening of the secondary school but it sounds like the way is really now clear? V. exciting. Well done to everyone who campaigned over this and made our voices heard.

I don't understand the hostility either. Simon's post earlier explained their current thinking re. catchment and it seemed pretty clear and reasonable to me - certainly looks like most SE22 families would be within the catchment area using the Melbourne Grove side as the nodal point. As someone mentioned earlier, they're not going to be able to please everyone but clearly most people benefiting from that catchment policy would be from East Dulwich, and the 'as the crow flies' policy makes sense to me as the site is within SE22. I also don't understand the conspiracy allegation from confusedbyitall. Whether or not you prefer Habs or Charter personally, no one can argue that Charter aren't an excellent provider with a great track record and I can see nothing that makes me think they behaved in a dodgy way in the bidding process. To those who allege they were canvassing signatures from people who were already in the Charter 1 catchment area, I can state that they were actively canvassing at my kids' school (Heber), where most of us live well outside that catchment. I just keep coming back to the fact that this is really good news for the area as a whole. We should be pleased, right?

HenryB - no one has suggested that 25% are privately educated, as approx 17% leave the area, using James's numbers. There are around 9% left who are not accounted for in state schools, by his own figures - 500-odd kids across the whole of Southwark. Which actually doesn't seem that impossible to me. Certainly not enough to make me question the accuracy of the council's data. James - I don't understand why you are implying that Southwark Council are deliberately massaging the figures to make it look like we don't need another primary school? Are they 'evil'? Or perhaps, you know, they're right and you're wrong?

Wow, congratulations Charter! How exciting. Though I'm sad for all the people who put in so much work for the Habs bid - thanks for all you did; your efforts are hugely appreciated. I was one of those people who were happily on the fence with either bid - just absolutely thrilled it's happening (drums fingers impatiently waiting for them to lay the first brick). I see Harris Nunhead has also got the green light though...

Ah, I see, hadn't realised it was a new job offer. Sounds like you should take it - as you say, you might not get another opportunity - but could the family go without you anyway (could you even just join them out there for the weekend)? Not ideal, obviously, poor you...

Sorry I'm a bit confused. Are you cross that your work is making you cancel the holiday (i.e. wanting to 'throw an epic tantrum') or do you really want to stay behind and do the work ('it is a fantastic opportunity and I don't want to jeopardise it')? Either way, is there any way the rest of the family could still go on holiday and you stay behind or join them later? Will you get your money back if you did have to cancel the whole thing now? I've never done this myself, incidentally, though I've certainly taken a bit of work on holiday with me on occasions. But family holidays are pretty sacrosanct in my book.

That might well be the case, but the consultation questionnaire is clearly only aimed at people with children due to start primary, so it was impossible for me to answer most of the questions as my kids are past that point. I just wanted to register my views nonetheless - the post from parentsteeringgroup above says that they need to show support from the 'wider community' - in the hope that local voices will be heard, especially if the regional schools commissioner, prospective MPs etc are copied in. Surely the more noise is made about this - whether via petitions, emails or questionnaire responses - the better? But yes, I agree that if you have pre-school-age children it would be better to fill in the formal consultation form.

Thanks for all the pointers above - I have just emailed Mr McFarland, copying in Mr Herrington and Helen Hayes. Really, that Harris 'consultation' is beyond parody. I have just stated my concerns as a letter - didn't bother cutting and pasting the questions as I just thought they were too ridiculous to bother with - though I made it clear that I DON'T think the Secretary of State for education should sign a funding agreement to allow the academy to open (and explained why). This is obviously the key point. Hopefully the more people do this, the more chance someone might actually listen.

Do also consider doing a nannyshare - half the cost, plus interaction with another child or children.

That is deeply weird; I'd take a very dim view of that. What on earth are they going to do for a whole week? And yes, it's a film that generally appeals more to girls than boys so I'd be doubly annoyed if I were the mother of a boy. If I were you, I'd have a chat with the nursery staff and ask what they're going to do with the kids who haven't seen it/aren't interested. I don't think you're being a killjoy.

I am very grumpy about these proposed changes: a) that they're being proposed in the first place, for all the reasons mentioned above; b) that the consultation has been so badly publicised by Harris (I'd never have heard about it were it not for the EDF, despite living nearby and being bombarded by Harris marketing material normally); and c) that the form is so sodding difficult to send back - as others have mentioned, I had to print it out, then scan it, save it and email it. Which is fine if you are tech literate and have a decent printer/scanner at home, not so much if you don't. Ten days till the 'consultation' closes - I would urge others to fill in the form, despite them not making it easy for us.

I'm quite shocked that your daughter has to do PE and citizenship, Mrs TP - I wouldn't be thrilled about that either. Really limits their options. I gather from what whirly says it's not the same for all schools. My kids aren't at secondary stage yet but this would definitely affect my decision of which schools to opt for next year (not that it'll be much of a choice, realistically). Mrs TP - can I ask which school your daughter goes to? (PM if you don't want to say) Very glad you highlighted this as it wouldn't have occurred to me to ask about it - seems mad to me that you have to do PE even if you are non-sporty. If I'd had to do it as a child it would have been an utter waste of a GCSE.

Oh my god, that looks amazing! Well done kids.

If you do a search on Blossoms on this forum you will see it has come up before - I've certainly posted in the past saying how much I and my daughters loved it, though it was a while ago now so you're probably better speaking to someone with more recent experience. But Julie who runs it is wonderful and we have very happy memories of the place.

Congratulations, Heber's budding artists!

Both my kids are at Heber and I'm extremely happy with it and so are they. It's a busy, welcoming place with a thriving school community - always loads of stuff going on. But I would echo Belle's post in that you really do need to go around both to get a feel for the places yourself - you could ask the opinion of 100 different parents from either school and you will get 100 different answers! Do also look at Heber's website to give you an idea of what goes on there - they have a blog and post the odd video on it.

James - I'd love to know when there were long queues outside the Darrell Road polling station. There's never been more than one or two other people in there whenever I've voted (at different times of day). If it does get that busy, surely the solution is to merge the two polling districts and just deploy both sets of polling officers in the Darrell Road centre, so that the queue can move more quickly? Heber School and the Darrell Road Community Centre are so geographically close - not five minutes' walk apart - that it seems absurd to have two separate stations. And the community centre has plenty of space for more booths. Alternatively, merge it with the one on Barry Road, as SE22mum suggests. And Cactus, I absolutely agree that voting is important - never suggested otherwise - but school and work for c. 500 kids and their families is also important. As a freelancer, I lose a day's income every time the school closes; other people have to use up a day's holiday; kids miss out on lessons. Even with six months' notice, that doesn't change.

I don't know if people are aware but there is currently a consultation going on re. the location of local polling stations, ahead of the general election next year. It's long been a bugbear of mine that Heber School gets closed every time there's an election, so that the 489 children there lose a day's schooling and some 250-odd parents have to make alternative childcare arrangements. It seems particularly ridiculous when it's so near the polling station in Darrell Road, which never seems very busy whenever I've voted there. The church on the corner of Goodrich Road and Lordship Lane has been suggested as an alternative, if one were needed, which would seem much less disruptive. Anyway, if you have views on the subject, can I suggest you email the head of electoral services, Frances Biggs? The address is [email protected]. They are doing the consultation now so the more parents who put forward an opinion the better.

Agreed - v powerful and sobering report. But I couldn't let the dig at PTAs pass by. I don't know what it's like at other schools but our PTA raises money (yes, sometimes via cake sales!) to help subsidise school trips and pay for many resources which specifically benefit poorer students. We're currently raising money to develop a garden area because we know many of our pupils do not have an outside space in which to grow things at home. Last year we raised money to refurbish a school kitchen which is to be used to provide breakfasts for children who don't get them at home. I could go on. Suffice to say that as a working mum who volunteers much of what little free time I have to help on the school PTA, I rather bristle at the characterisation that we're all just bored housewives 'flogging overpriced tea towels' for the sheer joy of it. Sorry, rant over - you hit a nerve...

I live very close to the old police station and near where the new cinema will be, and I honestly can't see what the fuss is about. Yes, it's a bit tricky to park near my house on a Saturday but not impossible, and I think the benefits to the community of a new primary school and cinema far outweigh any potential minor parking inconvenience. My kids are at Heber, incidentally, and it's true that relatively few parents drive - the vast majority walk. Not sure what the teachers do but I've seen several on local buses/trains and if they do drive then their cars get absorbed into the quiet side streets round there quite easily. If the teachers find it tricky to park nearby, they'll take public transport, simple as that. People will do whatever's easiest and parking is a part of that decision. Just doesn't seem a huge problem to me, and I think we're losing sight of the fact that both things are potentially very good for the local area. In the case of the school, it would be madness to lose any more playground just to provide parking spaces, so I don't really see what the alternative is anyway.