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Totally agree with Cora and everybody else. I have a fairly robust 4 year old about to start school today and I'd be very upset if he hurt himself, told a teacher and was told to go and clean it up himself. It would totally knock his confidence and trust that he would be happy and looked after at school. Definitely think you should mention it to the teacher.

Hi Tatianadis, I'd check the Southwark council statistics (all published on their website) about the furthest distance from the school for first round offers. I don't think you'd have got into Heber or Dulwich Village Infants if you lived on Melbourne Grove this year - even from a waiting list place. Dulwich Village Infants (age 4-7) is a Church of England school so has half church places and half "open" places - children who live the nearest as the crow flies, get offered a place. Dulwich Hamlet (age 7-11) is a non faith school so all places offered are on the basis of who lives the closest. The big exception you need to remember for ALL (I think?) schools is that siblings of children already at the school get priority. So, if there is an extra class one year (a "bulge" class) the effective catchment area, for children without a sibling already at the school, often shrinks in the next couple of years (particularly as the "bulge" class is a one off normally). Heber first round offers this year were to children who lived under 200m from the school gates. I think Dulwich Village Infants was around 450m for the non-church places. So you definitely wouldn't have got a first round offer from either this year if you applied to Heber or Dulwich Village Infants and lived in Melbourne Grove. You can always go on the waiting list if you don't get a first round offer from the school of your choice. The list operates on the same admissions criteria so, again, children living closest will be higher up the waiting list. But talk to the people in the Education Dept at Southwark council before you move anywhere! Good luck!

Hello! I found this as it was the only place I could find an actual list (other than the guidance in the New Parents' Information booklet): http://www.yourschooluniform.com/schools/Dulwich_Village_C_E_Infant_School_SE21_7AL/ I have a son about to start and have gone for only one logo-ed polo shirt and two logo-ed sweatshirts and everything else non-logo M&S/Tesco. I prefered the non-logo-ed tops as they were 100% cotton and cheaper. They only need to wear the logo-ed clothes when they go on outings so I hope that's ok. I've got 6 non-logo polo shirts (well, they were only ?2 for 2!) and 4 non-logo (thin...) sweatshirts. I think you're assumptions are safe Sanne Panne on socks/tights. And I reckon any "sensible" coat should be fine if they don't specify. Re dresses - yes, I think any red/white gingham dress should be fine. My son asks every day if he's going to go to school.... The concept of 4 weeks time is difficult to get across!!

Hi Ellie, How's it going? Are things getting any better?? I wouldn't normally post on something like this as people have such different ideas of how to deal (or not) with tiny babies who don't sleep well and I think you need to do whatever works for you and your baby. But.... I just wanted to say that things will feel so much easier if you get just one decent night's sleep. Long term serious sleep deprivation is torture that shouldn't be a trial that new mothers feel they have to endure without any help. It doesn't matter whether your DH/mum/friend or a night nanny takes the night shift - as long as you are comfortable with whoever is doing it and trust them. A night nanny might be easiest - it's their job so there is less guilt about asking favours (although, really, most people who offer do mean it and you should take any offers up!!). If you can get a couple of blocks of 3 hours' sleep a night, for a few nights in a row, things will feel better. And if they don't - and you've had significantly more sleep - then think about going to the GP or Health Visitor to ask about PND. (Had that and it's horrid - but easily remedied in my case thanks to my brilliant GP.) My first baby had tongue tie (diagnosed late, despite my asking three doctors in the hospital when he was born to double check he didn't because I do...grrr...) and reflux and that was very tough. He didn't sleep well until he was 3 and I think it's because he had such a tough first year and didn't get used to sleeping properly. Second baby was a dream though and slept through from 4 weeks.... (No reflux or tongue tie.) Yes - what's weight gain like? Does he curl up and cry a lot immediately after feeding? Is he restless and uncomfortable when he is feeding? An experienced maternity nurse/night nanny might be able to help "diagnose" any issues if there are any - if you do get one, maybe go for one who is qualified as a midwife (seem to remember there are a few of those around). Good luck Ellie! Really hope things are getting a little bit easier. I found things improved at 6 weeks and then again at about 3 months. But I think it just depends on you/your baby! xx

Oh yes - the one on Melbourne Grove, definitely. She's lovely and v good with children. She's only cut my son's hair but I'm sure she'd trim a little girl's hair too if you asked.

Yes, my daughter is, but in Blue Class (she's 3 in August).... So probably not much help as they won't see each other much at all during the day. However, wanted to let you know that we are very happy with Half Moon Montessori. Our son's just finished there. I'm sure your son will love it! Hope a Red Class parent sees your message!!

Bessemer Grange is the one I was thinking of actually etta166... It's supposed to be really good now. And at least you wouldn't have to worry about going through it all again at 7!

Hi Goocha, Yes... Sorry, they had a couple last week. It was all very informal - just a 30 minute charge around the playground (with all the Reception teachers around). There's a new parents' evening this week. So I think it's very unlikely they'll be much movement now. But, on the positive side, I'm not sure what school you've been offered but a couple of nearby ones that weren't doing so well are now supposed to be really good? Hope it all goes well.

Ha - yes, that's me!! It was very nice to meet you. Hope A is ok!

Hello - how are you getting on Goocha?! We went to a look round DVI with my son yesterday and I met a nice mum whose child was offered a place yesterday (from 20-something on the waiting list). Maybe it was you...!

Think you'll need to ask the school as it's an academy now.

My son's at Half Moon Montessori and daughter will be from September. Actually, it was recommendations from here that persuaded me to look round it. I also love it! The family that runs it are lovely. Not sure what nurseries you've looked at but it's not mega-smart - it's in a church hall and they bring packed lunches if they stay all day (well, 8.40 - 3.15). The staff are great and my son has been begging me for ages to send him there "every day".... It's very reasonable though. (Although, to put it in context, we moved from Islington last summer and all the nurseries there were very expensive!)

My 2 3/4 year old has just started at Dulwich Ballet School on Village Way and loves it. They were great with her - they don't let parents into the class which actually makes sense as she would have clung onto me if I'd been in there. A few tears first time (even though she asked to go!) and she held the teacher's hand most of the lesson (and was mostly quite happy), a tiny cry the second time (just going in) but she came out beaming the third time and has been showing us her new dance moves. Soooo sweet! The teacher, Miss Jo, is really lovely and great with little ones.

Magic circle law firms are very similar to the big 4 accountancy firms. (Although some make you pay some back if you don't stay for 6 months/1 year after you return from maternity leave) Mid-sized law firms are typically much less generous although some are better than others. The one I just left had a sliding scale, depending on how long you had worked there. The best was 6 weeks at 90% and then 6 weeks at 75% (then statutory). I agree - transparency would be very helpful....

I know about law firms in the city... Feel free to PM me if you like. Afraid I don't know any (female...) bankers at all (!). Statutory sounds awful for a mid-size bank but I'm not that surprised to be honest.... Good luck!

Definitely Chantelle. Good luck. Pandd - that's amazing... We got our first choice but live well within the last few years "catchment" distances for non-siblings so something very freaky would have had to have happened for us not to get in. I suspect people might have to live within site of the school we got into next year to get a non-sibling place then as it has a bulge class this academic year.

What's the betting Southwark website crashes at 5? Yup - good luck everybody!! My husband will kill me if our son doesn't get a place - given that we moved from North London specifically to make sure he could go to a decent primary school... (And a few other reasons.... ;-) )

Sparkle - we got the ferry both times. Overnight to St Malo when we went to the Vendee - then drove straight to the campsite. (Ok, quite fun, but got minimal sleep overnight in our cabin....) When we went to the Dordogne we just stopped somewhere near Orleans. Just used a cheap travelodge type hotel - if you want to do the same, I recommend Campanille. Cheap and quite nice breakfast. Or you can stay overnight in some of the Eurocamp sites on the way down if there is a handy one to break your journey. The websites should say how much shade the sites have - you can call them up and quiz them about details if it's not clear. I think it's a really good holiday. However, I'm not convinced it's a particularly "cheap" option - unless you book with the French campsites directly but then you probably won't be directly surrounded by English toddlers. Not necessarily a bad thing...?

Hello - have been with both Keycamp (when children were nearly 1 and 2) to the Vendee and Eurocamp to the Dordogne (when children were nearly 2 and 3). We went out of season both times and had lovely holidays. Although, we didn't really like the Vendee itself that much - the campsite itself was great. Highly recommend this site in the Dordogne St Avit Loisir Totally agree with Nunhead mum though - I've heard from lots of people that you get better accomodation if you book directly with a French operator. Also, we went in September last year so it was very very quiet. We wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if we went on our own but we went with 4 of my uni friends (plus their husbands and children!) so we had a quite a large party.... That made it lots of fun. But all the sites are set up for children under 10 - they all seem to love it. The Dordogne is particularly lovely though. In fact, so lovely, we are going to the same sort of area again this year. (Sharing two houses this year though as it works out cheaper - Eurocamp etc. are not cheap!) Brittany is great too and will probably be warm enough if you are going in the school summer holidays - and don't want too much of a drive.

Hi Spells. We moved into the area last year and only looked at houses near what we thought were good primary schools! Totally agree with Carbonara that you have to find a primary school, or schools, you are happy with and try to buy near there. There are lots of good nurseries around and you should be ok getting a 2 1/2 year old into one without being on a waiting list for years... (I think it's the baby places that you have to sign up for as soon as you're pregnant...!) You don't have to be religious to get into most of the C of E schools. I think you do for the Catholic ones. You definitely don't have to be C of E to get into Dulwich Village Infants C of E Infant School for example (known as "DVI"!). Half the places are "open" and half are church places. But, you would have to live very close to the school to get an open place. It is very good ("outstanding", in fact) but only goes up to 7. Most people then go to Dulwich Hamlet (ages 7-11) I think - and some go into the private system at 7. Those are the primary schools in Dulwich Village. In relation to West(er) Dulwich, Rosendale is the primary school that gets the "outstanding" rating and has very impressive SATs results. East Dulwich has quite a few good primaries. I'm not familiar with all of them but pretty sure Heber is very good/popular (due to it's tiny "catchment" area) and I've heard Bessemer Grange is very good now (and getting better all the time) - there are quite a few other ones too. You can find tables of primary school SAT results on the Guardian website. (Probably look at Southwark and Lambeth - West Dulwich is Lambeth I think.) And then there is obviously the Ofsted website for reports on the schools, although some will be out of date. But the best way of getting a feel for a school is to have a look round. Just give them a ring - they should all give you a short tour. I'm sure you know how the "catchment" thing works - i.e. there isn't one, it depends on the numbers of children applying each year, but you can find out from the councils how far away children (without siblings already at the school) lived from the various schools in the last 3 years who got offers in the first round. With academies or church schools, you'll have to ask the school itself. Also, "bulge" classes can skew the catchments - as siblings of children always get priority. Re nurseries - no experience of year round ones but Nelly's is supposed to be excellent and is full time childcare too. It has 3 sites I think. (Definitely 2 anyway.) Good luck! We found it v stressful moving but are very pleased we're here now!

Hello, Just a quickie but I thought I'd add that you will need to be very careful if you are moving specifically to get into a particular school. I think you wouldn't have got in to DVI from Milo road last year, for example, unless you were going for a faith place or a sibling place? Well, if the statistics are right anyway! Distances do change a lot when there are bulge classes too (and recessions...). For example, as Sept 2011 had a bulge class at DVI, it's likely that the "catchment area" for offers to non-siblings for non-faith places will shrink in Sept 2013 and Sept 2014 because there will be more siblings applying for reception places and probably no bulge class. Good luck with the move! Or decision whether to move...

I think Dulwich Hospital sounds like a good position for a new school - if it is possible (and it sounds like it may not be). Can you look into where there are "black holes" maybe? i.e. Where families can't send their children to their nearest primary school (or even the second/third nearest) because the "catchment areas" are so small. I appreciate the distances for first round offers to non-siblings change every year but are there pockets in the area where families consistently fail to get into a "local" school and have to send their children to school a few miles away from their home. Personally, we're fortunate as we're close to a v good primary but I know it's a really frustrating issue for some families. [20-25 per class sounds great but I agree that's extremely unlikely in the current environment, especially given that it's never been that low for state schools, even with strong economies - well, not since the mid 70s at least...]

Hello - we just moved to the area at the end of the summer. After very helpful advice on here (thank you everybody!), I had a look round Half Moon Montessori - my son has been there a term now and absolutely loves it. They are really lovely there. It's in a church hall and they have to clear away all the tables etc. everyday, so it doesn't look as "smart" as some of the more expensive nurseries but the staff are really warm and energetic and there's lots of room for them to play in. Depends on where you live though - bit of a schlep from some parts of East Dulwich.

This site does it: http://www.walkjogrun.net/

Hello Jules20 - I got the distances from the school itself. If it's not a church school, you can get them from Southwark council. (The last year's distances are in the "starting primary school in Southwark" leaflet although not sure this excludes siblings so probably best to ask the council the precise question over email and then telephone to hassle for a reply if necessary...) Yup Curmudgeon - totally agree. Likely to be a smaller catchment for Sept 2013. But I know lots of families with siblings only one academic year apart. We have a 16 month gap (eldest is end of March and youngest is August). And yes, there are lots of good schools in ED, which is great. (Unlike where we moved from!) Sept 2010/Jan 2011 was as the crow flies. Sept 2009/Jan 2010 was safest walking distance.