bawdy-nan

Yes, I was thinking of Rocca, but its closed 'til further notice according to the website... I think the Florence will be fine - easy access to the station and we can escape to the park! Shame about the playroom though. I don't mind a bit of noise and its probably easier to be a loudish toddler in that context! Thanks for replying

Broadly, I'd agree with what's been said but would add that starting school can be tough, especially if your child isn't as 'ready' as some and schools handle this in different ways. You're right to identify the fact that for some children the regimentation of school is too much at 4. Some children would probably do better starting later. Other children seem to like it but show terrible signs of stress as posters have described. Whatever happens the experience in unlikely to be entirely perfect or entirely awful. They'll likely find something to like and the first few years are as much about learning to be in the school environment as learning how to identify and deploy a semi-colon or read. There's bound to be some bumps. But that's ok. Also, a more challenging start doesn't necessarily mean an ongoing school disaster zone. I speak from experience, having had 2 children with different temperaments have very different experiences of the school early years. Eventually the child that's "too young" gets older and better able to fit in and meet the demands of a school day. Both of mine are very happy now and thriving. My advice would be to roll with it a bit, be kind and not worry too much. I suppose one of the things that strikes me about your post is that you want to "prepare" your child for school. It's understandable, of course, but perhaps one of the most challenging things about a child starting school, as a parent, is that you are having to relinquish control a little. You have to let your child go into an environment without you and it feels scary. They have to do it without you. (I should say that this feeling keeps on coming at every push of your child towards independence and I feel it now my children are teens). Fortunately, as many posters have identified, the primary school early years are quite a sunny and kind place.

Now my smalls are not so small I've slightly lost touch with where is good locally to eat out for (a celebration) lunch with a couple of small children in tow... Ideally we'd be nearish some outdoors space for letting off some steam but the food should be nice enough to satisfy adults ... any thoughts? I wondered about The Florence in Herne Hill...

muslins at AJ Farmers usually ... re sterilising - dishwasher absolutely fine (very hot) if you're not sure about that then wash with soapy water and dry in a low oven (boil the lids in a pan); or boil the bottles in a large pan...

Really, that sounds very cheap. Having no tumble dryer we used to use that launderette in the winter but stopped a couple of years ago as we found the prices eye-watering: as I recall it was around ?17 for an admittedly large load service wash.

Congratulations! I had two planned home births. My first (and first baby) was in a very small one bedroom flat without a bath. I hired a birth pool and used that. I was with Brierley midwives and both were great experiences. It helped, certainly, that I completely trusted the midwives to tell me if I needed to transfer to hospital and also that Kings is so close by. For pain relief, I used a tens machine and then water. I had done a lot of yoga and breath training during pregnancy and found these techniques very calming and empowering. The best things for me about being at home were that I could be private and not distracted, so therefore, I think a lot more relaxed. It wasn't stressful at all. Both of my pregnancies were quite overdue - 41++6 and 42+3 and both babies quite big (8lbs 6oz and 10lbs) but both were relatively quick and easy. My first labour progressed almost unnoticed until about 6 hours before my daughter was born, when I noticed I was having regular contractions whilst I was on the bus coming back from a scan at Kings. The midwife came over to my house at about 8.30pm and my daughter was born, in the pool, at about 11.30pm. I was lucky, in that I never felt that it was really unmanageable until the last half an hour when it just felt mad and impossible but, I guess, that's birth. It was actually one of the most extraordinary and exciting and memorable and interesting experiences of my life and kind of felt like an extreme sport. My second was very quick indeed: about 3 hours from start to finish again using a pool and much more intense, because it was so quick, I think. I can't think of anything negative to say about the experience. I've had friends who have had similar experiences and those who have wanted to give birth at home but whose labour has been very difficult and have had to transfer to hospital. Which is to say, you can't guarantee anything, I suppose and it is hard to predict whether your experience will be "good" or "bad". That said, hospital is not necessarily a guarantee of a "good" experience although, obviously, if emergency care is required then in hospital its close at hand. If you're interested in finding out more you might look at Janet Balaskas website / books (Active Birth Centre). I did weekly yoga / antenatal classes with her for my first pregnancy and though she's the founder of the "active birth" movement she is absolutely not against hospitals and medical interventions when necessary and gives very good advice and ideas about how to use what's available to good effect. Its probably a bit far away to consider taking the classes but her books are very good. Good luck.

Our landlord has this cover for our boiler and appliances and, over the last 12 years, we've used it loads: boiler call outs and repairs, washing machine, dishwasher and cooker all fixed several times

That's good to hear.

A very good alterntive is to go for an x-box kinnect which you control by moving your body around. You can also play the ordinary games but there are many (very good fun) get up and move about games (dancing, sport, old fashioned arcade, surfing, be a monster, move and play in a cartoon world, wield a light sabre / Harry Potter wand). I think Kinnect is slightly sneered at by proper games people and the games are generally geared towards kids but that's no bad thing. Xbox use in our house tends to be limited because its hooked up to the family TV in the sitting room and can't, therefore, be used without the consent of everyone. I find ipod/pad use more insidious because it can be always on and can be used in bedrooms etc. . I have to be much more strict and aware of that. Plus, you have to be much more vigilant about social media use etc

As I have mentioned before, I support a vaccination programme. But it is also interesting to consider the response and public attitude to risk and statistics. The news this week that 40,000 deaths (and many, many more people affected by ill health) are caused by air pollution is shocking but not, it seems, as big a worry for parents as the 180 potential deaths from meningitis. I think it's probably because with the vaccination it's felt you can have a direct and positive impact on the risk your child faces whereas with air pollution (and the biggest cause is cars) the ability to limit the risk is more nebulous despite the fact that our children are much more at risk from this threat to their health. I wonder also whether it's to do with the complex and challenging nature of the solution to air pollution and how many of us are part of the problem insisting we "must" be allowed to drive our cars wherever we please.

Of course. I'm not trying to say otherwise but there seems to be a real and genuinely held fear and panic that private vaccinations can't be got hold of. The reality is that this remains a very rare disease and your baby not being vaccinated doesn't mean that s/he's very likely to get the disease. That's not at all to say that I don't support a vaccination programme. I just worry that there is an unnecessary panic. Saffron Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > > But there isn't any kind of epidemic and the > risk > > remains low. > > Risk of contracting infection in relative terms is > low. This risk of serious complications once > infected is significant.

I just found this news item from last year about an increase (slight, but worrying ) in Men W cases. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-31869055 The Men B vaccine protects against Men W too. The focus in the article is on teens (as was the focus of the expert on the Today programme earlier in the week) because they tend to spread and harbour the disease. http://www.meningitis.org/menw - has good information. It must be very worrying to read about this disease and to know there is a vaccine that could protect your baby but not to be able to access it. But there isn't any kind of epidemic and the risk remains low.

What has happened to this child is awful. But, as far as I know, there isn't an epidemic of meningitis is there? Which is to say I'm hugely in favour of vaccination programmes for public health but I don't think people should be very worried if their child hasn't been vaccinated or if they can't find a private clinic to do it. I'm pleased that parental opinion seems to have swung in favour of vaccination. When my teen/near teens were babies there was a swing of public opinion (especially in London) away from vaccinating children because of the utterly irresponsible and discredited work of Andrew Wakefield.

er pupil numbers on page 7 1664 ... LondonMix Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I found the information on page 7 here which > doesn't exactly match > http://www.dulwich.org.uk/docs/default-source/annu > al-report-and-accounts/dulwich-college-financial-s > tatements-for-the-year-ended-31-july-2014.pdf?sfvr > sn=10 > > > Dulwich College has 1,339 pupils. > > The college provided 158 pupils with bursaries in > 2014-- so 11.8% of the school's intake is on some > form of needs tested bursary. > > 19 are on 100% bursary-- 1.4% of the total school > population > 68 are on 75%-100% bursary- and additional 5.1% of > the schools total population > > So 87 kids are on near full scholarship, more than > half of the total bursaries the school provides.

I took the information from the published official accounts on their website. I'm not clear whether the 75-100% figure is additional to the 100% figure.

Of course - the total figure of boys on bursaries of 75-100% of fees is 68 out of 1664 pupils. 19 out of 1664 are on 100% bursaries. The figures are provided in the accounts which you can see here: http://www.dulwich.org.uk/college/about/annual-report-and-accounts

According to the Dulwich College accounts (2014). 1% of boys have a full scholarship. (4% of boys have 75% -100% scholarship). Whatever it is its not what I'd call extravagant.

hmmmm - that sounds a bit odd. We were referred to the Dental Hospital for orthodontic treatment with our 11 year old son and got astonishingly good care. It took a little while (a few months) to get the initial appointment. We're waiting for treatment to start until later in the year, not because the NHS is offering a "less effective" treatment but because our son still doesn't have a full set of adult teeth and it would be wrong to start treatment before that. I'm absolutely happy to take their advice. It's a world class research and teaching facility, not needing to flog treatment to generate profit. I wonder why they cant do the treatment on the NHS? Perhaps you could ask them to spell it out because, according to the guidelines issued by the General Dental Council: "1.7.4 If you work in a mixed practice, you must not pressurise patients into having private treatment if it is available to them under the NHS (or equivalent health service) and they would prefer to have it under the NHS (or equivalent health service)" On their website they suggest that some situations may not warrant nhs treatment ....but this seems to be where teeth are pretty ok already. I suppose that if you think the teeth really need attention you could ask from a referral to the hospital.

Don't assume tax credit linked to SA and also, because SA is "behind" (ie requirement to file returns for year end April not until following Jan) you can get into a terrible mess if you follow SA deadlines. Generally its best to report estimated incomes as accurately as you can at whatever point you can or you may end up being overpaid a huge amount of money. If you give estimates as soon as you know (near the year end if you can, or earlier if you detect a likely big change in your annual income)and then confirm once you file SA you should be ok. They seem to be able work very well with this method. New Universal Credit (tax credits, housing benefit and any other "working" benefits) rules will mean the self employed will have to file monthly returns. There's also a proposal that self employed people, irrespective of their benefits status will have to file quarterly returns.

Robin Hood's Bay is lovely though you can't guarantee the weather ...pretty much car free, beach with donkeys and an ice cream van, fossils and sand castles...a little tricky to get there but once you're there its great. Train to York, change for Scarborough then bus to RHB.. We did St Ives car free and with a one year old and it was fab and you can get all the way by train (though its quite long)...

would love any Rome with kids tips...we're going in the summer for a week with 11 and 13 year old - planning to take a trip to the seaside for sure and have a flat that's pretty central ,,...

The CQC investigation report came out last week and concludes that in all areas but "care" the practice "requires improvement". The main problem highlighted over and over in the report is the difficulty in obtaining an appointment... http://www.cqc.org.uk/location/1-565650623#accordion-1 Though still not displaying its rating on the website as required by the CQC despite the penalty for not doing so being a fine. Wonder if they've got the posters up in the surgery ....?

Waterloo netball is great and open to a wide range of ages (my daughter is yr 8 but there are little ones and years in between). They also organize the Southeark team entry to the London Youth Games. Very friendly, cheap too. They train on Saturday mornings at the Geraldine Mary Harmsworth sports ground at the Elephant. http://waterloonetball.com

My son didn't learn until he was 8, despite many fruitless attempts. He managed to do it on holiday. We were on a campsite in France on an island with hardly any cars that was very flat. We hired bikes and my son was on a tag along because he couldn't ride independently. When we got back to the campsite he was inspired to learn so we hired a small bike (ludicrously small but such that if he fell off there was no harm) and he just got on with it all by himself. It was a sandy tracked area with no cars and it was all very relaxed - he had as long as he wanted. He'd mastered it in about an hour or so and when we got back home we bought him a bike and he was able to ride it easily straight away. The tag-along bike experience had really helped him, I think, "feel" what cycling was like (which is very different to stabiliser cycling). Good luck! damzel Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thanks Goldilocks, you read my mind! I had looked > at the Velodrome site and thought exactly that. > However, my daughter is nearly 8 and is tall for > her age so the Frog session won't work I don't > think. I might give them a call and see what they > say. She's extremely nervous about this type of > thing so I need to tread carefully else she'll > never do it.

I think the point is about whether it is allowed or not ... if it is allowed (and the signage is good) then pedestrians can anticipate two-way traffic but if cyclists disobey the rule then it can be very dangerous for pedestrians who expect the traffic to be one way only, especially when bikes can be quick and quiet. Nigello Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This is also allowed on Etherow St, on which a > busy primary school is situated, so don't think > that using that as a reason for it to be better > policed will help, I am afraid.