Coach Beth

Looking forward to singing Christmas Carols round a proper Christmas Tree this year!

Yes, the tree does look really lovely all lit up! I'm really looking forward to singing round a proper Christmas Tree this year!

I just noticed that there is a great deal of information on the thread on the main discussion board about the idea of having temporary site.

Join the Goose Green School children's choir and Goose Green Community Choir for Christmas carol singing, mulled wine and mince pies! This family friendly event is open to all - you'll find us in the gathered around the Christmas Tree, at 6:15pm on Thursday 18th December. This year, the event is being sponsored through the generous support of local estate agent No Flies. Find out about No Flies here http://no-flies.co.uk/ Rob Parton, school music teacher and director of the East Dulwich Academy of Music and Performing Arts will be leading the festivities. The carol singing will take place around the living Christmas Tree which has just been planted. This was organised by the Goose Green Primary School PTA through Southwark Council's Adopt a Tree scheme. It has been decorated by Goose Green School children and it will be maintained by children of the school. If you have walked past the green at night, may have noticed the lights on the tree which are timed to go on every day from 3 to 9pm.

Join the Goose Green School children's choir and Goose Green Community Choir for Christmas carol singing, mulled wine and mince pies! This family friendly event is open to all - you'll find us in the gathered around the Christmas Tree, at 6:15pm on Thursday 18th December. This year, the event is being sponsored through the generous support of local estate agent No Flies. Find out about No Flies here http://no-flies.co.uk/ Rob Parton, school music teacher and director of the East Dulwich Academy of Music and Performing Arts will be leading the festivities. The carol singing will take place around the living Christmas Tree which has just been planted. This was organised by the Goose Green Primary School PTA through Southwark Council's Adopt a Tree scheme. It has been decorated by Goose Green School children and it will be maintained by children of the school. And the Christmas Lights have been timed to go on every day from 3 - 9pm.

And here are the photos of the tree where we will be congregating!

Air bnb is a website where private individuals can list rooms or even whole flats they have to rent for short term, holiday lets There are plenty of people in East Dulwich on the site listing their rooms. I have used Air BNB in Paris and in Kracow and have always had good experiences. https://www.airbnb.co.uk/s/East-Dulwich--United-Kingdom?checkin=&checkout=&guests=1&ss_id=okcsbjhf#

You won't be able to miss it! This year, we are planting a living Christmas tree (with Southwarks blessing) on Goose Green. It's to be at least 6foot I believe. The planting is due to take place tomorrow on the green - in the long term goose green primary school will take responsiblity for long term upkeep of the tree. The children of the school will decorate it before Carols on the Green. I will take a photo and post it here so there is no doubt where will will meeting!

Sorry for the confusion - it's Thursday the 18th December! Here is the information on the page: Join the Goose Green School children's choir and Goose Green Community for Christmas carol singing, mulled wine and minced pies! This family friendly event is open to all - you'll find us in the gathered around the Christmas Tree, at 6pm on Thursday 18th December. This year, the event is being sponsored through the generous support of local estate agent No Flies. Find out about No Flies here http://no-flies.co.uk/ Rob Parton, school music teacher and director of the East Dulwich Academy of Music and Performing Arts will be leading the festivities. The Goose Green Adult Community Choir (led by choir director Dan Maitland local music teacher http://eazypeazymusic.com/) is open to all members of the local community - we meet on Tuesday evenings, 6:30 - 7:55pm New members welcome! Go to our website at http://www.goosegreenchoir.com/ for more info or email us at [email protected]

Carols on the Green Event on Thursday 18th December 6pm, is very child friendly - organised by Goose Green Primary School PTA, it's led by the school music teacher. Mulled wine, minced pies, carol song sheets and a brass band to accompany the carol singing round the Christmas Tree. More info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1410373955919401

Just heard they are due to appear at 9pm on the show!

One of the teachers is doing some live tweeting - go to @ggprimaryschool

Remember to tune in!

If you are watching the Children in Need show tomorrow night on TV, keep your eyes peeled for Goose Green School! The School rang a unique challenge for students as an event for Children in Need week. Pupils were invited to develop, write and then present a persuasive argument to a panel of teachers on what changes they would make if they were to be Headteacher for a week. The winner was granted the prize of being student Headteacher for this week! This came to the attention of Children in Need who invited the young winner and the teachers supporting her to appear on the Live show tomorrow! It's all very exciting!

Rob Parton teaches trumpet locally East Dulwich. In addition to having private music students, he is also the full time music teacher at Goose Green Primary school and he is also head of the East Dulwich Academy for Music and Performing Arts where he also supervises the individual brass lessons. Very patient and experienced with working with children. His bio is here: http://www.eastdulwichacademy.org/about/ and you can contact him at: [email protected]

Sounds like you've got some great skills and ideas and contributions that you are bringing to your school bawdy-nan! Volunteering to affect change through the PTA or as school governor is a great way to have an impact although it can be frustrating and often feels like a thankless task. The other point is that schools need to show how they are distributing the pupil premium effectively to benefit students in need. This info should be availble on school websites. Governing bodies have a responsibility to ensure this done. If there is a particular issue affecting students such as prohibitive uniform costs it should be brought to the attention of the governors.

It is a very powerful report - thank you for sharing. I think PTA groups at inner city state schools do an amazing job. I know that PTA at my son's school works hard to raise money for a range of things which support students from a range of backgrounds. Thanks to our PTA at Goose Green School, students have been able to go to trips to the theatre, have access to Ipads in all classrooms, have a wild-life garden and mini orchard, have external speakers/workshops including workshops for Black History Month. And just as important (if not more) than the fundraising work the PTA does, the schools annual summer fair and carnival (which involves all students and parents) just could not happen without the hours that the PTA give to organising the event and the volunteer hours that parents put in. Every year, when I go to the summer carnival at Goose Green and see each child perform in their class, and then perform in the music and dance groups and I see the total diversity and cross-section of society that comes together at the school, it reminds me how important it is to have events like this. Those events only happen because PTA's have volunteers who are spending alot of time and volunteering effort - and often on top of jobs as well. As a school governor, I want to say how much governing bodies and school leadership value the work of PTA's! In terms of lobbying and campaigning work, I have been very involved in the NGO sector and political lobbying work (mainly in the women's sector). However, PTA groups are separately constituted charities and as such, are governed by their constitution. Often, this restricts their ability to take part in campaigning or political lobbying. It may be worthwhile however approaching the National Association of PTA groups - as an infrastructure body. they would be well placed to lead on campaigns and perhaps they could advice/support local PTA's who want to support much needed work on poverty and schools.

Then join us on Tuesday nights from now till just before Christmas! Goose Green Community Choir is a fun and friendly community choir and we are welcoming new members! We're the Goose Green Choir and meet from 6:30 - 8pm on Tuesday evenings at Goose Green Primary School. We are very friendly and informal and you don't need to read music or have much musical experience. We sing a range of songs including pop, gospel and world music. BUT, it's all about Christmas music from this Tuesday! Cost is ?30 for each 6 week half-term (or ?15 if you are unwaged). You can come along to your first rehearsal to check us out before committing to pay for the half term.

I would expect to pay at least ?150 - probably nearer ?200.

Yes, I applied for my son a couple of years ago - it didn't take that long but I honestly can't remember how long it took. I remember being pleasantly surprised that it was quicker than they said on the website. But you don't know - it could be there is a backlog or something. I did find Canada House pretty helpful - I emailed them a few times and they got back to me promptly so do email them.

The Overground from Peckham Rye or Denmark Hill is a very useful alternative too. Thameslink service from Peckham Rye up to Blackfriars/Farringdon/King's Cross doesn't seem as bad as the London Bridge services.

My brother on Canada is a teacher and he said that textbooks fell out of favour over a decade ago. Basically was thought teachers could get away with not teaching but just getting students to work through chapters in a textbook.

If you are looking for a good, all-round instrumental music education for your child, I think the new East Dulwich Academy for Performing Arts is pretty good - my son is going there and basically, you get 3 hours of music tuition a week for ?25 per 3 hour session. The 3 hours includes: 30 minutes on your primary instrument (in his case drums/percussion), 30 minutes music theory, 30 minutes keyboards and 45 minutes wind band. As mentioned above, you can also book individual music lessons. For more information http://www.eastdulwichacademy.org/ My partner is a professional musician and I do think that we completely undervalue musicians and the hard work they have put into all their years of study to get to where they are. It's fairly specialist knowledge and experience someone needs to be able to teach a child a musical instrument. Personally, I think it's not feasible for someone on a self-employed basis to charge less than ?30 an hour - particularly if they are having to travel and go to pupils houses. What is good is that if you can afford individual music lessons at home, you can access subsidised music lessons at schools - at Goose Green students can have individual music lessons in a range of instruments including piano, drum kit, flute, clarinet, brass instruments for ?6/$7 a lesson. If your child's school doesn't offer this, I would put pressure on them to do so.

We love il giardino in Peckham - not fancy and very kitch but we like it!

Hello - I can recommend PippaD, who posts on the forum. She's a local childminder with loads of experience - really great with kids and a lovely person as well!