redjam

There's a prospective parents' coffee morning at Heber on 21 November - not quite sure of the time/booking arrangements but just ring the school and they'll tell you. It's a lovely, busy community school, with loads of things going on, and we've been extremely happy with it - but as someone has said above, you really need to see the schools yourself to get a feel for them. Best of luck with the adoption - how exciting!

Quite agree, Saffron! And susyp, don't knock it till you've tried it - I was always a bit lukewarm about the idea of trick or treating as we never did it as a child, but I've done it the last few years with my kids and it's been really fun. Half the street is out, all dressed up, lots of little kids having fun, a real party atmosphere with neighbours talking to each other - and of course we only go to houses with lit pumpkins (as oimissus says above, it's basically an invitation that this house wants to join in so you're not knocking on random doors). Not so fond of great hulking teenagers in Scream masks knocking on our door at 9.30 when our pumpkin has been put away, but that's a different matter... (And even then, if I'm honest, they've always been polite!)

Well, that sounds like a result to me, SBot. As for my daughter, I figure if she's happy, I'm happy. Lots of people around the world sleep on the floor or very hard surfaces so I'm sure the human body can cope. But it does look odd, I admit. (The other thing my daughter does is sleep bolt upright on an old armchair in her room, in a sort of 'nest' of cushions and blankets. Like I say, weird...)

Meh, my five-year-old daughter still does this sometimes. She likes to curl up in the middle of the floor with lots of cushions and her duvet, and I find her still there in the morning. Don't ask me why - kids are weird. I just leave her to it!

I'm thinking of holding a disco party for my soon-to-be eight-year-old daughter. Has anyone used any good local companies who have their own sound system and lights and can organize some party games, teach dance routines etc (maybe even karaoke!)? I've tried Popstarz Parties and DNA Kids but they're quite expensive. Anyone used Melody's Music, who have advertised on this forum before? I've left messages but no one has got back to me... Or any other recommendations? Thanks in advance.

That does sound crazy and would drive me nuts. At my daughters' school the kids wait on the mat with their bags/coats on, then they're called out one by one as the parents arrive (while you wait outside). The teacher stands in the doorway and you get a chance to have a chat or at the least exchange a 'hello' while your child comes out. It's a good system (though I must admit I'd never really thought about it before - that's a sign of a good system I guess!) You should definitely raise it - it sounds very disorganized and I don't see how the teacher can keep an eye on which child is going off with which adult if everyone is milling around in the same room. Unless it's just something they're doing for the first few weeks until the kids are more settled in and able to find their stuff independently? (Though really there's no reason why they can't do that from day one.) Edited to add: in the morning they line up before going inside too. Quite military but it does work - though there's always the odd kid (sometimes mine) clinging to their mum's leg which disrupts it a bit...

Oh God, this brings back horrible memories of a couple of years ago, when we discovered we hadn't renewed our daughter's passport before our holiday and we were flying on the Monday (this was the Sunday)... I think my husband ended up having to go to the Peterborough office at the crack of dawn to get a same-day appointment, with our daughter tagging along, as there were no London appointments available. I have blocked out the memory as it was all so traumatic - I had to fly out with my other daughter while they were doing this, and they had to get a later flight. Needless to say, our daughter thought it was all a tremendous adventure, whereas my husband and I were gibbering wrecks and many hundreds of pounds lighter by the time we'd been reunited abroad. Sorry, not sure this is very useful for you! I did manage to speak to a very helpful guy at the passport office who talked me calmly through all the options as I wept down the phone. They might be able to advise you of the wisdom or otherwise of rocking up without an appointment. All I can say is GOOD LUCK!

They sell some nice ballet clothes in Push Studios on Blackwater Street.

Fuchsia, the letter home today said trousers OK for girls, ditto black tights (though mine wear navy!). Glad to hear cardis are OK. And Curmudgeon - yes, point taken about when your kids started. Mine were relatively recent (Yrs 1 and 3).

No, I actually checked my old 'Welcome to Reception' pack and it does say that they 'encourage you' to use the Heber logo polo shirts. So it's a tightening-up of the policy rather than anything new (it doesn't say anywhere that you can wear plain white ones, though clearly loads of kids did). Anyway, I can't believe for a minute that they're going to be ripping off children's outer layers to check whether they're wearing logo-ed polo shirts underneath, so my kids will continue to wear the plain ones under their logo jumpers or dresses. Hadn't noticed the lack of mention of cardis, so we'll see if we get hauled up in front of the uniform police for that. Doubt it somehow. As katgod and Joella said upthread, I'm sure this is more about bringing those kids who don't wear anything resembling the uniform into line, rather than making life difficult for those who turn up looking generally smart. Hope so anyway!

I honestly cannot see what the fuss is about. The uniform is not changing, they are merely trying to enforce the current uniform more strictly. I seem to remember a similar letter going out at the beginning of the year a couple of years ago. The rules on uniform are clearly stated on a letter you get when your child starts Reception and they're also on the website. Nothing has changed, guys! Re. the white polo shirts, I expect I'll keep my girls in the non-logo ones after Christmas as they are worn under dresses and cardis so no one will see them. But fair enough, if they were wearing a skirt so it was on show, I'd get a Heber one. I don't think ?6.50 is an outrageous sum. As for the packed lunches, if the only thing they'll eat is chocolate and crisps, then I'd be pretty pleased if the school were stepping in to help me with this problem. As it is, I don't think the little darlings will suffer too much if they have to wait till 3.20pm before they get their chocolate fix. I'm astonished anyone has a problem with it (and I speak as the mother of two chocaholic kids). Lighten up, everyone...

I agree this really is not worth getting hot under the collar about. And I do believe a letter is going to go out very soon with all this info on so I think it's jumping the gun to complain about lack of communication. I do feel rather sorry for the school sometimes - damned if they do, damned if they don't. I think healthy packed lunches is actually a very sensible policy (it helps us parents too as we should get less nagging for chocolate if it's not allowed), and I can see that the birthday cake thing is a pain for the teachers and potentially dangerous for those with nut allergies so I don't think it's the end of the world if this tradition dies out. Equally enforcing the school uniform code (which was already in place) doesn't seem unreasonable, though I agree it would have been helpful to say they were going to have a crackdown before we all bought the year's new uniform. But really, in the scheme of things, none of these rules seem remotely unreasonable to me.

I heard from my Yr 3 daughter that children needed to wear proper black school shoes (i.e. not trainers) and they won't be allowed to have chocolate in their packed lunches. Neither of which I have a problem with, tbh. I'll be a bit miffed about the polo shirts, if that's true, as this year - for the first time - I opted out of the logo ones and bought plain white ones, as my daughters wear them under dresses so you can't see the logo. Hey ho, that'll be a tenner wasted if they're going to be strict about that!

Dulwich Girl2: ' I would never leave my ch with a single person hotel babysitter in the uk or abroad. Never.' DG - can I ask why? As I've stated above, I've used hotel babysitters several times and found them to be a good (if expensive) way of ensuring you can have a grown-up meal after you've put the children to bed yourself and settled them to sleep. We only ever eat in the hotel itself, so we are no more than a few minutes away if we're needed (we leave our phone number). The babysitters tend to be middle-aged ladies who work regularly for the hotel and have CRB checks etc - most seem to work in the hotel creche during the day or have other formal childcare experience. Obviously if we didn't feel comfortable with the person on offer, we would cancel the booking and wouldn't leave our kids with them. I'm intrigued why you so emphatically imply this is a bad childcare choice?

If you can get two rooms do, so that you've got some flexibility if your toddler is tired and needs to go to bed early one night. But generally I'd say keep him/her up a little later than usual and try to be chilled out about it (and bear in mind useful time differences - 8pm here can be 10pm abroad in summer!). It helps if you're in a very child-friendly country like Greece or Italy where they make a big fuss of kids and don't mind if they make a noise when you eat out. Our first holiday away with a baby was a bit of a disaster as we went to a cottage in France, off-season so it was all very quiet. On the couple of nights we attempted to eat out, we sat in a virtually empty restaurant under the watchful eye of the patron, completely unable to relax in case our baby yelled or needed a breastfeed *shudders at memory*. So we ended up self-catering and staying in the cottage most nights and playing a lot of Scrabble! The next year we learned our lesson and went to a busy family resort in Greece where we ate outside every night in the bustling cafes overlooking the bay, and our one-year-old toddled happily about getting under everyone's feet and having a lovely fuss made of her by all the waiters. So I do think it all depends on how relaxed/busy the resort is. Also bear in mind that many resort hotels will provide babysitting services so you can enjoy one or two 'grown-up' meals safe in the knowledge that your child is tucked up in bed. It's a bit scary first time you try this as you are basically leaving your child with a virtual stranger, but we've tried this in many hotels over the years and we've never had a problem (obviously check the babysitter's experience and credentials carefully with the hotel and make sure they can speak good English if you're abroad). Good luck and bon voyage!

Check you can get your fold-up buggy in the boot! And bear in mind that even when they're older you'll be trying to cram a kid's bike, a scooter and several pairs of rollerblades in there too (sobs).

Good thread, Tanza! We have just been today to the inflatable Stonehenge in Greenwich, which was brilliant fun - a ginormous bouncy stone circle! The same size as the real Stonehenge, apparently. It's travelling around but will be in Clapham Common on 2 August, Burgess Park on 4 August and Crystal Palace on 9 August (www.sacrilege2012.co.uk). Other tips: we're hoping to go back to Bedgebury Forest in Kent again this summer - you can hire bikes and there are loads of little hidden playgrounds nestling amongst the trees. Cafe, lake, Go Ape centre for older kids etc. We're also hoping to go to Riverhill Himalayan Gardens in Kent this year - I remember it from that Country House Rescue programme and always wanted to give it a try. It looks very child-friendly but pleasingly low-tech (maze, gardens, some bloke dressed up as a yeti, kids' activities etc). Has anyone been and can report back? Finally - Pickle, thanks so much for the House of Fairy Tales recommendation - we will DEFINITELY go there. We practically lived in the House of Fairy Tales area at Camp Bestival last year - it was brilliantly bonkers and the whole family loved it. Mentioned it to the kids this morning and they were jumping up and down with excitement. I had no idea they were in Bexley this summer so thank you very much for the tip-off. Happy summer, people!

Getting back to the subject of the police station closure itself, can I ask (genuine question) why people feel they really need a police station in East Dulwich? I can't think of any situation where I would walk in to a police station, rather than phone the police on either 999 or 101 and wait for them to come to me. The only thing I could think of was if I'd found a purse and wanted to hand it in, but obviously that's not enough of a reason to keep it open. Maybe I'm missing something ... but I can't help but feel that the station is a bit of an eyesore and might be better sold off so that the site can be redeveloped? Surely having a police officer manning a front desk in a relatively quiet area is not the best use of resources? Very happy to be corrected/educated on this - as I say, it's a genuine question.

There have been threads about Cherry Tree before, see e.g. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,848430,850725#msg-850725

Okido have just launched their 'Body Book' which is perfect for that age-group. In fact, I think you can buy the Okido science magazines as back issues - they are like mini-books.

Big craze at my daughters' school - my girls are both (age 7 and 4) obsessed with it. They have their own monster online and I pay ?4.95 a month for them to be a Moshi Member, which means they can access better parts of the site. They send their friends messages through the site (normally exciting things like 'Hi, how are you?') and they can earn 'rox' (Moshi money) by doing vaguely educational games which are clearly a sop to parents - basic sums, word puzzles, naming national flags etc. Your monster can also collect Moshlings, which are little pet-like creatures, by typing in secret codes, and you can decorate your monster's room and change his appearance etc, and look at your friends' monsters too. I don't mind it at all - though I've had to give them the whole lecture about not sending messages to people they don't know in RL as I don't stand over them at every minute they play it (it's moderated, but I don't think you can 100% trust it). And of course you then get sucked into buying the monthly magazine as it contains more secret codes etc. We've not got into collecting plastic monsters though, thank God - I've got enough plastic crap! What's been interesting is that I've seen both kids start off playing on the computer then migrating into designing their own moshlings - with old-fashioned pen and paper - so it certainly stimulates their imagination. Like most things, I think it's fine in moderation and I'm rather proud of the fact it's British and not massively gender-stereotyped, unlike so many of these kiddie sites.

Really enjoyed this tonight - congrats! Fascinating mix of social history plus a chance to nosey in people's lovely homes. Great mix of interviewees. I'll be tuning in next week too for the Cally Road episode as I used to live just off there!

We had a ceremony in the vaults of the Royal Society of Arts, just off the Strand, upstairs to one of their beautiful high-ceilinged reception rooms for the posh meal then back down to the vaults for the evening party. I loved it there - just the right mix of formality and funkiness for us. No outside space though.

Great idea. Unfortunately I think our road would be tricky for it (too many other streets off it), but I'd love to hear of any other local residents taking up the idea. We went to a street party yesterday and it was a joy to see the kids running around freely together in the road (despite the weather!).

It really is the one glaring thing that ED lacks. I've often daydreamed about such a venture myself (if I had the funds to sink in it). Go for it - you'll get loads of local support and I think you could make a real commercial success of it.