redjam

The Blue Brick Cafe is a lovely little local business who have been busy distributing free veggie meals to frontline workers at Kings during lockdown. Like all independent cafes they have suffered enormously over the last 12 months. Personally I'm just happy to see them open again and making a bit of money. Have a heart, people.

Hmm, according to the link you provide, Alleyn's offer 66 full bursary places. Out of 1,250 kids. There are many valid reasons to defend private schools (and I'm not rabidly anti-private, however I may come across on here!) but I don't think their accessibility to low-income students is the one I'd pick.

motorbird83 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- The local Dulwich > senior schools all offer generous bursaries and > various scholarships so an able child can attend > even if their parents can't afford to pay the > fees. Though this from The Times, day before yesterday: 'The study found that out of 176,000 pupils who received bursaries of some kind [of 142 private schools studied], only 6,118 received full scholarships. The average scholarship amounted to only ?1,000 a year, the researchers claimed. ?Given the levels of fees, the overwhelming majority of scholarship students still require very substantial family contributions,? [Dr Malcolm] James said. ?Many scholarships may, in practice, be awarded to middle or upper-class families. Scholarships may therefore do little to make schools genuinely more socially inclusive.?' So I'm happy to be corrected if the local schools are doing something substantially different, but I don't think it's generally the case that it's easy to gain entry to the private system if you're an able child from a poor family.

Yeah, we went there and ended up paying. In retrospect I wish I'd fought it or got a second opinion as I think our daughter should have qualified for NHS treatment. If I'd known they had a reputation for steering people down the private route then I definitely would have done! But other than that (though obviously that's quite a big 'but' as it cost a bleeding fortune!) I was pretty happy with the treatment there. ETA: I don't think King's do standard braces - it's more for dental emergencies, as I understand it.

I think it?s also a little simple to assume that state schools don?t offer the things you mention. My daughter has had (free) one-to-one music tuition throughout her whole time at her state secondary, ample opportunity to do competitive sport (do you really think they don?t do ?actual competitive sport? at state schools?!), and three of her subjects at GCSE level have fewer than 20 kids in her class. Extra-curricular activities on offer range from Debate/Model UN Club to Japanese to Engineering to Journalism. There are countless sports and clubs on offer ? my daughter even did a term of horseriding arranged by the school (again free). I?m not saying all this means all state schools are brilliant ? some clearly aren?t, the OP?s particular dilemma relates round the fact she?s not in the catchment area of a good one ? but it?s ignorant to suggest that no state schools offer good extra-curricular activities on-site. My point stands: I can see that private schools do offer more than state in terms of facilities and generally smaller class sizes. Is that worth forking out ?20k a year per child, even if you?re lucky enough to be able to scrape that kind of money together? Not personally convinced, sorry. Somerset Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I think is is a little simple - it?s not about > fancy buildings. How can you compare class sizes > of 20 vs 30, endless facilities including early > teaching of languages, music and actual > competitive sport with a state school? And given > the majority of parents are working, ferrying kids > to extra curricular activities during the week is > impossible - a private school offers all the on > site. You can only cram so many clubs in on the > weekend... > >

Have you tried selling it/giving it away on the East Dulwich Forum? I think that's what we did with ours - sold it as a job-lot with the cot. I believe there's some very small higher risk of SIDS with a second-hand cot mattress but not if it's in good condition, and still firm and flat. Certainly many mattresses do get passed on to siblings/other family members so it's no different to that. Not sure charity shops would take them though but worth asking. Or a women's refuge, perhaps? (One on Barry Road, I believe.)

We looked round all the private schools when we were choosing secondaries. I was a bit baffled as to what you were paying for, to be honest, other than the fancy buildings. If you have a really sporty kid or one who's into drama or music your child can always pursue those interests out of school if they're not catered for in school (though Kingsdale - where my older daughter goes - is actually very good in those areas anyway). Yes, smaller class sizes would be nice and my kids have occasionally suffered dodgy teachers in their state schools but I don't believe that the private system is completely devoid of bad teaching either. I've never had a problem contacting teachers. I honestly believe that if you are engaged parents and you have a kid who's happy to learn then chances are they will be just fine within the state system, and the huge sums of money you save could be spent on extra-curricular activities if needed and even a tutor if you have bad luck with a particular subject. You really have to look around all the options and get a 'feel' for what seems right for your child. No school is perfect and I've got friends whose kids have had problems with bullying at private schools as well as another friend who moved her child from state to private because they weren't making progress with a particular learning disability. So it's horses for courses. My husband and I also went through the state system ourselves with mixed results (!). But I do think that London comprehensives have come on a long way since then. Definitely not perfect but both my kids have been really happy at their schools and are doing well. Plus I do think that ability to mix with everyone from all backgrounds is a really important thing to learn early on in life. Good luck with your decision!

Wow, I'm truly shocked by this story and sending you huge sympathies for your situation and best wishes for your child. It's to your great credit that you don't name and shame the nursery on here but I'd have that up your sleeve if they refuse to budge on this. I would avoid like the plague any nursery that acted in such a heartless, inflexible way, so I'm sure they wouldn't want this to get out publicly. I'm afraid I don't have any practical advice on the legal/contractual front but really wish you all the best with this horrid situation.

Remember it's not just the start and end of the day that you'll need to go into school. When my kids were at primary I was forever going back and forth for parents meetings, concerts, sports day, or just because they'd forgotten their PE kit or were ill and needed picking up early. I was lucky; I lived five minutes' walk away and worked at home most days so it was easy for me to pop over to the school when needed. As a result I felt part of the school community and I know the kids appreciated having friends who lived locally. It also meant that on those days when I had a work/home crisis and needed someone to pick up my kids as an emergency, I had a ready pool of local friends who I could rely on. Don't underestimate all that; having to spend hours in a car every day would get old very quickly - and that's before you even consider the pollution aspect (which would be enough alone to put me off). I'm going to stick my neck out and say there's absolutely no way you can get from Greenwich to East Dulwich in 20 minutes once traffic is back to its pre-Covid levels. I reckon it would be more like an hour each way. And then you'd have to find a parking space... Honestly, sounds like you are making life hard for yourself! Surely there must be other good schools that are local to you?

Sorry to hear about your experience, Jan42. Really horrid. I think the murder of that poor girl in Clapham has stirred up a lot of anger from all those of us who have ever been harassed in public spaces (i.e. pretty much every woman or teenage girl). Even just a mild harassment adds to the fear that is hardwired into us from a young age from media reports to endless TV dramas in which the victim is inevitably young and female. It's not OK.

Re. headteacher leaving Charter ED - he is going to become the head of the London Academy of Excellence in Stratford (such a daft name I can't even type it with a straight face, though it is a hugely successful school). He will be 'expanding LAE substantially and developing a network of like-minded schools', apparently. Re. the earlier question about staggered lunch breaks, yes, even Kingsdale do it for their 2,000+ pupils! My daughter in Year 11 is currently having her 'lunch' at 10.45am - she's not best pleased. Hopefully it won't continue like this once Covid restrictions are removed.

Jellybeanz - I've just posted on the School Places thread about this - new Charter ED and ND heads have just been announced. Agree with you about the size of the Tessa Jowell GP surgery car park - such a shame some of this couldn't have been used by the school. Seems quite retro to build a big car park these days, especially when it's so near a train station/bus routes etc. Though I believe there is a lot more outside space to be freed up for the school once the old 'chateau' has been converted - there will be space for outdoor tennis courts etc.

Re. head of Charter ED. We had a communication from the school about this yesterday, as follows: Dear parents/carers We are delighted to announce the appointment of two new Heads of School for The Charter School East Dulwich and The Charter School North Dulwich. Alison Harbottle will take up the position of Head of School at The Charter School East Dulwich, and Mark Pain will take up the role at The Charter School North Dulwich, both from September. The new appointees will report to Christian Hicks, current Headteacher at North Dulwich, who becomes Executive Headteacher from September across the two secondaries. Alison Harbottle will be joining the team at East Dulwich from the Aldridge Education Trust, where she is the Senior Trust Lead working with eleven schools and colleges across the country, supporting the CEO and Senior Leaders to develop and implement Trust-wide school improvement strategies. Alison was previously an Assistant Headteacher at The Charter School North Dulwich and went on to become Deputy Headteacher at the Prendergast Ladywell School. Alison will take up her role as Head of School for The Charter School East Dulwich as the new 6th Form welcomes its first intake of students, and as the school moves into its next phase of growth as a 11-18 school offering an inclusive and excellent education for up to 1700 pupils in our part of South East London. Mark Pain will step up into the position of Head of School at North Dulwich from his current role as Deputy Headteacher in charge of Curriculum and Assessment. Mark has been part of the Senior Leadership team at North Dulwich since joining as an Assistant Headteacher in 2014. He was previously a Director of Learning at Pegasus College, part of the Riddlesdown Collegiate. Mark will be responsible for ensuring The Charter School North Dulwich not only maintains its outstanding record of academic excellence but also continues to develop and improve for all our pupils. Both will also be focussed on ensuring that all pupils continue to access the education, support and interventions that they need as schools return to normality after the disruption caused by the pandemic. These are two excellent appointments. Both Alison and Mark are highly talented and experienced senior leaders who have the commitment and drive we need as we work together to improve our secondary schools still further. The new leadership structure marks an exciting step forward as we seek to continue to develop our schools as beacons of educational excellence both locally and nationally, providing greater opportunity for collaboration and co-operation that will enable us to offer an even more fantastic academic education for all our pupils alongside the wide-ranging cultural, artistic and sporting opportunities that we know are so important for their wider learning and development.

Good for Dillan - have donated.

It absolutely does not encourage people to loiter (in fact there are signs asking you not to) and I have seen no evidence of people 'meeting up for social light bites' at the market, certainly not since lockdown. There are no tables/chairs out on the streets or spaces where you're encouraged to linger. You might have to wait for some food to be prepared so maybe that adds to the impression of busyness but it's no worse than people waiting in a queue outside M&S. Agree with the earlier point that the more places are open where we can buy food, the more the risk is spread. If only supermarkets are open then we really will have a problem.

Blimey, from the way everyone's reacting it's as if North Cross Road Market is a heaving mass of bodies. It's not. It's no more than a dozen stalls that were well spaced last time I was there, with marshalls at either end asking people to wear masks. In recent weeks it hasn't been that busy and it's EXTREMELY easy to avoid if you don't want to go through it - either by taking a slightly different route to bypass that short stretch of road or, y'know, avoiding going through it between 11am and 3pm on a Saturday. Do you really think it's safer to go to M&S or Co-op to get your lunch ingredients rather than buying something in the open air? And I'd far rather support a local business through these hard times.

The whole of Peckham Rye seems really waterlogged at the moment, as are parts of Dulwich Park. Don't really understand why - I know it's been a bit rainy recently but not THAT rainy! Maybe I don't normally go to the parks so much in the depths of winter so I just haven't noticed it before. Makes it hard to keep your distance when everyone is crammed onto the path trying to navigate huge puddles. Quite nice to see the Peck free-flowing though - it's normally such a dispiriting little trickle. Wonder what the rationale is for clearing out all the vegetation. Hopefully it will discourage the rat problem round there!

Eh? What decade have you travelled in from, PP?! Stamps are 66 or 85p these days. It?s ?1.29 to send a large letter! For those of us who don?t have our post kindly put to one side by our mates, we?d quite like it to arrive in a timeframe of days rather than weeks after it was sent. Patrick DiPosta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > let?s remember a stamp only costs 27p, what do you > have to complain about. You couldnt even by a > tomato from Franklin?s for that

Received 7 Christmas cards today! Just in time for twelfth night, nice.

Thanks legalalien. I knew you couldn't go east/west through the village with the blocking of Calton Avenue - didn't realise you couldn't go north/south either! Wow.

I got a warning in the post this morning - not a fine this time but saying I'd be charged ?130/?65 if I do it again. Trouble is, I don't understand what I did wrong. I was driving through the centre of Dulwich Village (from Gallery Road heading towards East Dulwich Grove). I didn't go up Pickwick Road. Are we not even allowed to drive through the village at all now? Where is the sign? I totally missed it.

Do report back and let us know what you did! I'd be tempted to print out a photo of the milk snatcher and leave it in the usual spot, along with a nice friendly handwritten note saying that you'll introduce yourself next time you meet in the street, now you know what he looks like.

Yes it does seem a bit OTT that Dulwich Library is STILL running such a limited service, given you can walk into any shop and pick things up and put them back on the shelves without the world ending. I don't know why they think books are higher risk than, say, a tin of beans? That said, I've found the online ordering system has worked fine - the trick is to order several books at once as some of them take ages to come in, so that way you get a steady trickle of new titles. Though when I went in to drop off a returned book the other day, I did think it was a bit nuts that I had to sign in for Track & Trace - I had to spend longer filling in the form (using a shared pen, hmmm) than I did just returning the book itself, which took all of ten seconds. There were heaps of staff; God knows what they were all doing given there were no customers.

Some great ideas here - thank you so much everyone (and for the private messages). I will follow up.

I have a load of brand-new kids' books (age 9+) I'd like to donate to a hospital, refuge or charity. I've just done some googling and it looks like the Maudsley is doing a Christmas gift appeal but just wanted to check there wasn't anywhere even more local?