Carbonara

Soul Immigrants http://www.thesoulimmigrants.com/about-us are an E Dulwich band and are fab.

Or to put it another way: Once all the applications are in the PAN London computer sends each school a list of every single applicant who listed that school. The school ranks every single applicant according to how they meet the criteria for that school, irrespective of how high in the list the applicant placed them.(the school does not even know how whether they were the first or last choice). The school then tells the LA which are the 180 (e.g) applicants they can offer a place to. The LA computer then puts a big tick or a cross against all the schools the applicant has listed: MilesAwayGrammar - No (didn't get high enough 11+ score) Charter - No - lives too far away A.N.other school- yes, can offer a place based on distance Yet A.N Other Yes - can offer a place from lottery St Holiness - yes can offer a place based on faith criteria and distance. The applicant would be offered A.N Other, and the places at YetA.N.Other school and St Holiness will be put back in the computer and offered to the next person down the list and so on, until every child has a place. The next person down the list may be a child who already has a tick against another school - but if the new offer is from a higher preference school then the new offer will take precedence. When the computer has stopped whirring the place that each child is offered is the one that could be offered and is highest up the list. Some people refuse to put less popular (but closer) schools as fall back preferences in 5th and 6th position because they believe that the LA will 'decide' to allocate them that school because they want to fill it up and will choose not to offer them their first choice. This is not legal, and doesn't happen. The so-called 'equal preference system', where schools do not know who put them first etc, is law.

Stateeducation Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > jimthebuilder Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Nothing sinister! I think you will find the > new > > head is behind why so many are leaving > > > I would completely agree with this view. He is a > joke. Completely ineffectual Then that does sound sinister! Natural churn is one thing, people voting with their feet is another! But 10 staff leaving a large comp at the end of the school year doesn't sound excessive to me.

One thing to bear in mind is that the published last distances refer to the offers made on National Offer Day, not the many people who get into a school between March and September on the waiting lists.

Curmudgeon Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > It also matters which position you put the schools > on your list > > Similar issues at Sydenham Girls ...I think those > who expected it to be a fallback school when they > didn't put it first were mightily surprised to > realise that others did it put it first and so got > in whereas thy were wait-listed > > At least that's what I assume happened Nope! That was the old system. the Equal Preference System has been law for at least the last 5 years, and is as others have described. You list your schools in order of preference, the schools that can offer you a place according to their published criteria (wherever you have placed them on the list) tell the LA, and the LA offers you the school that can offer you a place and is highest up your list. This means that people can put 'wild cards' and 'hoped for' schools higher up the list and if they don't get them, still have the school that they will almost certainly get a place in last on the list and as a fall back. List your schools in genuine order of preference, and include at least one school that you should realistically get a place in. No 'game plan' works - no putting down one school only , no listing your favourite school 6 times. If you do not list a school you will realistically get into, you will be allocated a school anywhere in the borough that has a place once all the other parents' preferences have been allocated!

Abbotstone Wood WoWo (Wasbourne)

There are 2 people on the secondary admissions thread who said they would have got in on last years distance but have not been allocated Charter this year. A lot can happen as the waiting lists move, accept the place offered and stay on the list for Charter etc.

That sounds very positive. You may well still get offered your first or higher choices if you stay on the waiting lists. Many people get waiting list places as the year progresses.

LOL. My child is classified as having EAL....so I guess I need to re-assure you that the school is great, that my child's achievements and classroom performance as an EAL student can be nothing but a form of peer-support and his results and awards bring credit to his school. I really hope things work out for you, 3rdRock - it is a scary transition.

In addition to the great education the local primaries have given, the top band for FHB will be heavily oversubscribed because once a school gets a good reputation / high achieving results parents with high achieving children from miles around will put the school down as a 'long shot'. Some parents put down up to 5 'long shot' preferences with the local school as the fall-back. This accounts for some of the parents getting a lower preference choice. Schools do their best to manufacture this sort of interest - often by providing scholarships for music etc, or a semi selective stream (like Graveney or Burntwood in Wandsworth) or like HarrisCP, and which do not depend on distance.

See this Blog http://yellowfieldscamping.co.uk/campsites/ Or Search UKCampsite http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/ through the campfire filter. Forgewood and Welsummer are 2 within 2 hours of London that allow fires, but I am not sure that Welsummer takes vans. Look at Palace Farm.

Bessemer Grange? Judith Kerr? Do go and look at all these schools before you put any down, won't you?

You could buy in advance with cash at libraries and places. And it was free to U16s so even at a tenner not bad value for 4 people, given the extra events, the bonfire and the other displays.

We also used swimmming teachers at the JAGS pool - my oldest child swam independently on the very first lesson, having been messing about with us trying to teach him for about 2 years, and with him not liking his head in the water etc. They had a leaflet of all the instructors, giving the ages and standards they teach. Asdk via the JAGS sports centre. Really good tuition.

At 3.5 I would buy a small bike from which you can remove the pedals.(e.g Puky) Allow your daughter to use it as a balance bike until she can cruise along and go round corners with panache, and then put the pedals back on. She will zoom away! This is how my children learned, and it made it very easy indeed. Stabilisers mean that a child has to use their weight in a way which is actually counter-productive to learning to balance and go round corners.

The new City Heights school on the South Circular has a certain number of places (within the mainstream setting) for children on the autistic spectrum. Might be worth a look. I know someone with a child with AS at Forest Hill - doing very well.

It is a lovely place. There are certain times when they take scout groups only, but at other times you can hire a field or indoor space at very reasonable rates, for a day, or overnight. It backs on to Dulwich Woods, and is the one and only camp site in the area.

Well done all students! Is the list above 5 A*-C or 5A8-C incl maths and English?

"A friend of mine who visited recently was told by a staff member that she should take her children to the Horniman! " Talk about patronising! And Jake Chapman should be more open minded - my child spent ages really deeply gazing at the Rothkos in the Tate. He didn't have anything pretentious and / or intellectual to say afterwards - but then I don't know many adults who can articulate exactly why they like Rothko. But there is no doubt that at 6 he really enjoyed something about looking at them. I do have a wry smile at some of the loud parenting that goes on at Tate modern, though, as parents strive to let us all know how art-aware their talented and cultured children are ;)

Brockwell Lido wasn't remotely cold yesterday! Do children not swim and paddle in the sea anymore?

Thank you!

And still in stock?

Dunraven in Streatham has a brilliant orchestra and takes its music department very seriously. Might be too far for you though?

Yes, I have had a baby in my 40s, but not after a C section or other complications. Pregnancy and birth were extremely straightforward - no problems due to age at all.

Yay! Franca Manca. Are the 'chain' branches as good as Brixton Market when they started though?