Coach Beth

Goose Green Primary School Carol Singing evening Friday 14th December 2012 at 6:15pm Goose Green (Opposite to the East Dulwich Tavern) Join us on our first evening of carolling lead by both our student and parent/staff choirs, supported and accompanied by members of the Nunhead Salvation Army Brass Band. Mulled wine, hot chocolate and mince pies will be avalible from members of the PTA throughout the event. To kick-start your Christmas join us on the green with a lantern or torch and wrap up warm!!

If you like twitter, you can follow the twitter feeds of the local schools to keep informed with what is happening - go here to see and follow Goose Green: Other schools that I am aware have twitter accounts are St.John's and Dulwich Hamlets.

Wildlife Garden Centre on Marsden Road - I used it as a venue for my little boy's third birthday party in February and it was great. Children can run around the gardens and adults can hang out in the information centre building where you can have party food, games, etc as well. You can only have parties there on Sunday's and don't have exclusive use of the gardens but it is fab.

I'll be there as well (son in year 3) to chat over tea/coffee and if any prospective parents are interested, I'm happy to show people our wildlife garden area which I'm very proud of. A new addition to the environmental education at the school is the partnership with the London Orchard Project (http://thelondonorchardproject.org/what-we-do) - next Friday they & our school gardener will facilitating the children to plant 12 apple/plum trees in huge planters on either side of the front entrance to the school. One of the trees that will be planted will be one of the new varietity for London that the Orchard Project have developed. The Orchard Project are looking for suggestions for a name for this new variety so if you have a great name, tweet it to us at @ggprimaryschool and we will pass it on to them!

If you do a search for primary schools you will probably find many threads and discussions about the different primary schools. Alternatively, put in the name of the schools you are considering in the search box and you should find plently of info about the school. As a looked after child, they should get top priority as all schools prioritise looked after children which now includes adopted children on the waiting lists. It is true that you might need to wait a while to get into a school of your choice as most schools are oversubscribed but hopefully it shouldn't be too long!

I don't know about wall planners but what really works in our house for music practice is having a set time - 8:15am is a good time every day when our 7 year son will do his 15 min instrument practice (alternating each day between drum kit & keyboards). I've been really pleased with the result as I don't have to nag and he just accepts this as practice time.

My son goes to Goose Green Primary School. We had about 10 spellings a week in year 1 and my son had to write them out 3 times and then use them in a sentence too which at the time I thought was abit much! In year 2, we were given words weekly to practice and then also we were given a big list of the 200 words that they should know by end of year two and encouraged to review ones he was shaky on. Now in Year Three, spelling homework is related to topics they are learning in other areas like science or maths. So this week, we had words related to the environment and included deforestation, carbon dioxide and recycle. As others have mentioned, school uses differentiation strategies (see this definition of differentiation http://www.geoffpetty.com/differentiation.html) to ensure children of different abilities get homework to suit their needs. * edited to correct a mispelling!

Agree with Jesse and GillandJoe. When I studied urban anthropology in university (many moons ago!), I wrote a paper on about region/local accents exploring how looking down on accents is a way of compensating for class insecurity. If you are secure in your class/status/self, people tend to feel less need to focus on differences in regional/localised accents and ways of speaking. Groups of people (tradionally the aspiring middle-classes) who are insecure about their status, people tend to seek ways of identifying themselves with what they perceive as a better class of people and put down others. I am from Canada, specifically Nova Scotia in the Maritime proviences ~ and there are many differences in local accents/ways of speaking. Maritimers have a specific way of speaking and have certain 'grammatically incorrect' expressions. Here is a quote from the Vice Guide to speaking like a Maritimer. 'Past, present, and future verb tenses are erratically interchanged .... Maritimers will say, ?I seen the Batman movie this day,? with all the intended meaning of the former. Any maritime native reading this knows that I?ve only gently scratched the surface of a polluted swamp of a lexicon. At the end of the day no matter what part of Canada you?re from, the world will always make fun of us for living in igloos, riding polar bears, and saying ?aboot? instead of ?about.? - From the Vice Guide to speaking like a Maritimer Anyway, I'm pleased my child (who goes to the aforementioned school with Jesse's son!) can fluidly move between different dialects & expressions in South East London, Canada and Geordie Land (his Dad is from Newcastle!). At seven, he already knows when it is appropriate to use slang and when it is appropriate not to. If he ever goes into acting, he will certaintly not need training in picking up dialects!

I suggest you contact Relate and get some couples counselling. It sounds like you and your husband need to work out together how to break up in the best and most positive way for both of you. Having a third person facilitate you to do this can be invaluable. There may be a waiting list for Relate and if that is the case, you might try a local couples therapist/counsellor. Roz Pendlebury is a well respected therapist who works with couples. http://rozpendlebury.com/home.html With support, I'm sure you can work out a way to move on and be happy again.

The thing is, it might be better to put one that is less over-subscribed and hard to get to but is still at least vaguely in the area because what can happen is that if you don't put that school down as a choice (even your 6th choice), you could be allocated a school very, very far away. i.e. John Donne near Queen's Road Peckham as happened to a number of people in East Dulwich in the last couple of years. Try and put at the bottom of your list two realistic choices that you feel would be a better option than being given a school which is really, really far away.

Look slightly further afield. For instance, Stillness (Lewisham) has a good reputation but not as popular (yet) as Fairlawn. St. Antony's is always over-subscribed I believe and without being a Catholic, it might be a wasted choice for you. In addition, Hornimann has a single form entry making it more difficult to get into.

I just bought a friend of mine one of these lovely breastfeeding cushions/bags from the localmum who runs Thrupennybits. New mums never quite realise the hundreds of hours they will spend nursing so I thought it would be a nice treat for her. http://www.thrupennybits.co.uk/

It's confusing but it's because the government gives every school ?600 pupil premimum for each student who is from a family which is on state benefits. They work this out by giving each school the money based on the number of pupils who receive the means tested free lunch. An unintended consquence of Southwarks free school meals policy for all is that parents who receive benefits are not filling in the forms for their child to receive a free school lunch since they don't need to any more. On that form, parents needed to put their N1 number which would show that the family was eligble for school meals and the school would also be eligble to claim the ?600 pupil premimum. The result of parents who previously would have filled in the form to claim free school lunchs not doing so in Southwark has meant that many schools are seeing a drastic reduction in the amount of money they get receive which goes towards educational interventions to help disadvantaged children. For instance, in a school of 400 pupils, if 10% of those children used to receive the means tested school lunches the school should get a pupil premium grant of ?24,000 for the year. Which is the salary for a TA for the year for example. Schools are now having to find other ways to collect the information they need to provide the government with proof that they do have right to claim the pupil premium. It's a bit of a nightmare for Headteachers and Governing bodies, that is for sure as in these tough times schools can't afford to lose out on such a substative sum of money. This year it is more noticable than last year as the scheme was expanded to all children from reception to year 4 - it will become worse when it expands to all year groups.

Or pay (alot) more and get an emergency passport appointment - we did this last year when I overlooked that my son's passport would expire while on holiday and only realised a couple of days before we were about to leave! Got an appointment for 11am on Saturday morning before our departure on the Monday. I was expecting to have to hang around all day - instead I walked in to the emergency passport centre at Victoria with an empty waiting room (!). Woman went through the passport application, stamped it and said his passport would be ready by 3pm that day! Went back at 3pm and volia - we had his passport!!!!

Hi there, In Wembley, you can bring one bag but it must just 'one soft-sided bag of 25 litre capacity or less (you must be able to fit your bag under your seat)' Unfortunately, they say you can't bring in push chairs or prams. You can also bring in baby food they say. Check these guidelines. http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/25/83/91/WembleyStadiumprohibitedandrestricteditems_Neutral.pdf I went to Coventry Stidum yesterday with my seven year old to see Canada vs South Africa & Sweden vs Japan in the women's football. There were lots of families with young children - it was a great atmosphere! So don't be put off going but just read the guidelines carefully. I had my handbag and a soft canvas carrier bag, if I had just bought the handbag, I could have bypassed the massive security line-up but it was handy to have it for bits and pieces and the line moved fairly quickly.

A big thank you to the hard working PTA - particularly to the officers - for over-seeing the whole event and making sure the day went smoothly!

Yes, looking forward to the carnival procession this year as always! Setting off from the school around 11:30am, down Oglander Road and then up Adys Road to arrive at Goose Green at 12pm. Hopefully the rain will hold off for all the activities and performances on the stage. Lots of great local stall holders and food stalls as well. Plenty of fun for the whole family.

What a lovely idea! I would love something like this on my street!!

Now that the report from the latest Ofsted has gone out to all Goose Green parents, I've been given the Ok by the amazing, wonderful Headteacher, Sharron Marland, of Goose Green School to spread the word about the result of our latest inspection. The school scored good (the second highest score) in three of the four areas and outstanding (the top highest score)in terms of leadership & management. As the report says: 'Senior leaders, including governors, are talented and provide excellent role models. Morale is high and there is strong corporate responsibility and accountability with every member of staff clear about their responsibility for ensuring pupils have the best chances possible. Senior leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of the school exceptionally well because of regular monitoring which is sharply focused on pupils? specific needs.' The report makes for wonderful reading - I am chuffed to bits about how beautifully the children and their behaviour was reported. My favorite quote is this one 'Pupils are polite and friendly while at the same time being sparky, confident and full of beans....Pupils take responsibility for each other?s well-being and understand that they make a valuable contribution to the ethos of the school. Older pupils know that they have played an important role in the improvement of the school.' Of course, there are still areas for improvement which the report points to. I'm confident the school will not be resting on it's laurels but will be working to make the school outstanding in all areas. As a governor, I am proud to be associated with this school and excited that I will be able to take part in the next stage of development/growth over the next several years. I've attached a copy of the report here.

There are two holiday clubs I know of - Rainbow club which meets in the church all on Ammott Road and Gumboots Holiday scheme on Darrell Road. Both take children from 8 - 6pm I think every day in school holidays. My son did Rainbow a few times for 3 days a week during summer holidays when he was reception age and it was ok. He enjoyed it more when he went with a friend. He is now in year 2 and loves the JAGS sports centre football academy. It suits us as we are self employed and the hours are 9 - 3:30pm. And what is great is he really wants to go because he loves sport. They also do a multi-sports programme. Dulwich Hamlets do something similiar.

Ditto to all of the above! I've said lots under previous posts so do a search to find out my views on this creative, go-getting school with a creative, holistic approach to education and a dynamic staff & leadership team. As soon as the report from the recent (i.e. almost two weeks ago) Ofsted inspection been officially published, one of us (or several of us!) will be posting a link to the report from the recent Ofsted inspection. We anticipate that this report will confirm much of what we Goose Green fans have been saying for quite a while now!

I've been self-employed for 7 years and could never again work for an organisation. I am also an extrovert and very sociable and yes, the only downside for me has been that I really do enjoy the team experience. I think that when you are self-employed you have to make more effort to create opportunities to get out and socialise whereas at work you have a ready made social experience. What I do is: - schedule in daytime lunch/coffee sessions with other people who are also self-employed/free in the daytime. I now know alot of people who are self-employed and we all welcome the chance to socialise with each other. - go out for coffee with mums who are free just after the school drop off. I have two mum friends who work from home on particular days and I try to make sure every week I go for a coffee with one of them just after drop off. - do some regular volunteering at my son's school for an hour or two a week (when I have time that is) plus I'm involved in my local Quaker meeting and am part of a couple of committee's. - when I need to do admin or writing work, I take my laptop and work in a local cafe. It is nice to be out of the house and I tend to often get more done away from distractions.

Even though the Bellenden Big lunch was cancelled, the traders on Bellenden Road are still doing stuff. There is a marquee outside Review Books I know so you could wander down there.

On Thursday after-school, the public are welcome to come to a highly imaginative exhibition at Goose Green Primary School! The children chose the theme of nature for art week so we have all the children from nursery to year 6 using various art forms to create something splendid for the school art exhibition which will take place in the lower hall of the school from 3:30-6pm. Admission is free so please drop by, see what wonderful things the children have created and chat to students and the the school art teacher, Ms. Katrin Lamb (a practicing artist in addition to being the full-time art teacher at the school)

Freelance work. Becoming self-employed was the best decision I made. If you are able to put up with the initial low income as you build your client base, you can find that in a couple of years you could be earning as much or more as working for an employer (of course, you will also have to sort out sick pay, holiday pay, tax etc yourself!). I use a 'virtual assistant' who does all my diary management and some other admin for me. You may find that in East Dulwich there are alot of self-employed people and small business owners who don't want to employ a part-time PA but who would love a couple of hours help. The woman I use as my virtual assistant works out of her own home and has a number of clients like me. I pay her ?25 an hour and use her on average between 6 - 8 hours a month. She is a mother and she can work around the school hours. Anyway, best of luck!