Katy Tonbridge

Well, I made it through about one hour of this meeting and gave up. It was an hour dominated by two governor-executive types committing murder by Powerpoint as they read and re-read (just in case we missed it the first time) their slides listing their values and aspirations, while a patient audience of 200 sagged in a stuffy room. Dear Steering Committee, if there are any more of these meetings, please remind the speakers that most of us parents don't have two hours to kill, we have questions, and don't need a painstaking regurgitation of stuff that is either on the Haberdashers website or was in the leaflet that most of us read before the event started. 15 minutes of them summarising what they are about followed by structured questions would have been a far better way to organise this event. I hope somebody stayed to the end and can give a summary of the key points to emerge from this evening.

James: Some sort of compromise between geographical distance and lottery seems to be a good idea. But also, what about some acknowledgment of how long you have lived in an area? Here's a fictitious example based on a true story. * Family A live on Chesterfield Road. They've lived in East Dulwich for over ten years. Their eldest child is at Goose Green School. Children from their road have always gone to Charter. * Family B live near Peckham Rye. They have lived in East Dulwich for eight years. Their child goes to Goodrich. In October, the parents contrived a temporary 'separation'. They have arranged to rent a one bed flat near Red Post Hill. It's a 12 month rental. The mother now 'lives' there (ahem), the family home is still Peckham Rye. * Family C have been in Clapham since they came to London, but last year moved to a house in the Herne Hill Triangle. All three apply to get into Charter. Under the current rules, the child of B & C gets an automatic places at Charter. The child of Family A, demonstrably committed to SE22 and the local community long term, is on the waiting list but may well miss out. A criterion that said that the main address you live at must be one you have been at for at least, say, two years would rule out at least the most crass of the parental manipulation that goes on. To be fair to renters, who may have to shift address when it's not their choice, if you have lived in your current address for under two years, but your previous address was also in the catchment area, that would also qualify. No system is perfect, but the current one is massively skewed towards the wealthy (and to a small number who are morally bankrupt).

DulwichFox Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Katy Tonbridge Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > So it seems this is far from a freebie getting > > stuffed through every door. Apparently it only > > goes to people who are deemed to have "made > it", > > and clearly I haven't. What a relief. > > > I got a copy. ?? :) > > Foxy Hmm, what was it about the millionaire Foxy that first attracted me to him?

So it seems this is far from a freebie getting stuffed through every door. Apparently it only goes to people who are deemed to have "made it", and clearly I haven't. What a relief.

I've hear rumour that there's a new freebie magazine called Absolutely Dulwich. Has anybody seen it, or know where it's available? No sign of it in my bit of Melbourne Grove.

This makes great sense, I've thought that site should be restored as a primary school for a long time.

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A note on the door explaining what was happening with an apology for any inconvenience might have engendered a bit more sympathy for their cause.

Just to reassure people that milk delivery round here can be fine, I've used a milkman for years, never had a pint taken. I love the whole notion of milk delivery, and am OK paying more for my pints in return for that service.

I just saw a couple of trees with lots of dead leaves on Dog Kennel Hill (towards the top). A reminder that trees need water too - do water your local tree, especially if it's young.

bawdy-nan Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I'm going with the family for my 40th ...:) brilliant idea.

keane Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What age group would u say this is suitable for? I'd guess age 6-11 probably. Probably not so good for kids with lots of energy to expend or short attention spans.

jonbateson Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I have looked and often wondered what it was, > there doesn't seem to be much in the way of signs/ > info on the outside. Do you need to book? Yes, I assume so > How much does it cost? I think similar sort of cost to All Fired Up. >What can you create? Each child gets to create a piece of spin art - on a sheet of paper maybe 4ft x 2ft? They look pretty cool. >Do they do drinks etc? they serve hot chocolate and waffles, and there's a room towards the back with a good sized table to eat cake etc. There's a little kitchen. At the very back is a room that's a private cinema. Maybe you can ask to show your own choice of film there, I don't know. Very quirky and laid-back place

Not sure if this belongs in Family or 'Recommended' but here goes.... If you're looking for a novel and creative idea for a kids party, I can highly recommend a place called Colour Makes People Happy (it's an anonymous looking shop next to Kwik Fit, bottom of Elsie Road). My daughter went to a party there not long ago and a friend reminded me about it today. They have a big rotating drum where you can create 'spin art'. The kids clearly loved it and produced some great artworks. And the place itself is like a tardis, it just keeps going with room after room, one of those quirky East Dulwich spaces that reminds me of Blue Mountain Cafe in its early days.

hpsaucey Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Whiteboard - maybe its my age but just reminds me > of school esp with those marker pens lol... whereas blackboards wouldn't remind anyone of school, would they? :-) There are glass magnetic 'whiteboards', maybe called glassboards, which look cooool in the kitchen, I've seen them in action. And with bright whiteboard pens they look really colourful too.

Instead of a chalkboard, think about a magnetic whiteboard. They're quite expensive, but stylish and much easier to clean as you just use magnetic markers. Use them for shopping lists, games and - perhaps most useful of all - doing homework together, since both you and child can have a pen and sketch ideas together, much more collaborative than pen and paper.

I just spotted on Twitter that Sarah Ebner of The Times is looking for somebody to tell their story about admissions to primary school. East Dulwich seems to be full of such stories - if you fancy telling it and having your picture taken for Saturday's paper get in touch with her (I guess easiest way of contacting her is via Twitter, she's @schoolgate)

Thanks everyone, really helpful.

We've been invited by Australian friends to join them for a short four day break next summer during half term, and they've asked if we'd prefer to go somewhere in Switzerland or Austria. Unusually, I have never been to either country. I have two young children (4 and 8). Does anybody have any suggestions for where would be a good place to go for a short break in one of those countries? Because of the kids I guess the emphasis would be on scenery/activities rather than culture. Here are my first thoughts: What about Salzburg for the Sound of Music tour etc. ? (my 8 year old likes the film) Vienna - historic city, but is it not really a place to take young kids? Switzerland - great mountains but really expensive? If anyone has any tips, especially for a rental place, that would be great. (p.s. there's also the question of transport - a city break means we don't need a car, a countryside rental means car rental, which adds a lot to the cost)

If you didn't hear Lynn Truss' verdict on the Today programme this morning (at about 7:45am) take a listen, it summed up the closing ceremony perfectly. http://bbc.in/MVowcr My favourite bit was when she said that the reason she'd loved the Olympics was for all the surprises from people who were unexpectedly talented. The closing ceremony, in stark contrast, was full of utterly familiar material from people who were there mainly for being famous.

How nice to see a thread that talks about "houses" rather than "properties". Somewhere in the last 15 years the British population got brainwashed into thinking the main purpose of a house was to make money.

There are about 50 primary schools within two miles of Eliot Bank (I just checked). Each school presumably made a judgment about whether to notify parents. Had they all decided to do so, that would be at least 15,000 parents being notified urgently that a child had been offered a lift by a stranger and had said no. I know it's a very tough thing to make a judgment call in these situations, I'm glad I don't have to do so. But still.

Alternatively: "This morning, a man offered a lift to a child on his way to school, as the buses were on strike. The child said no, which was very sensible as you should NEVER accept a lift from strangers. The incident took place in another part of south London." Put this way, I hardly think it was necessary to send texts to every parent of the school.

In which case, I would say labelling it as an "Attempted Abduction" was unnecessary scaremongering (however dodgy the person offering the lift might have been). I would suggest that it is just as safe to let your Year 6 child walk to school in East Dulwich next Monday as it was yesterday, or ten years ago. In fact, it's probably safer. And remember children, if a stranger offers you a lift, always say no - just like my mother told me.

Please let's not speculate about a reported incident where we have no detail. What is an attempted "abduction"? That word conjures up violent images, but I wouldn't be surprised if the actual incident was nothing like that at all. Who reported the incident? Who witnessed it? I'm not saying that the incident was acceptable, but as it stands the community might be getting whipped up into a panic when there is no way of knowing if there is anything for your own child to worry about or not.