furley-yap

Sorry yes, I was talking about the Judith Kerr school, do you have any more insights into this?

James- I am confused about the admissions criteria as my son has already been offered a place in the reception room, so I thought that admissions policy must have been decided by now for them to offer places? We only got offered a place after the May deadline for accepting the local council school places, so we got lucky 2nd time round by being in the catchment area even though as it stands, we live at least a mile and a half away from the site. So it looks like the catchment area is quite big, probably because its a new start-up. Very excited about seeing the plans on the open day (which I thought was 29th June?). In the surveys leading up to the annoincemnet of the site, one of the questions was to do with admissions criteria, and I said that I was happy for the following:- 1) for the children of the founding parents to be given priority 2) for distance to be the criteria for a portion of places 3) for the remaining places to be allocated on lottery basis Reason being is that I was sick and tired of being penalised for my postcode and distance. Better it be luck of the draw than to fall outside of catchment areas by 0.1 metres or to lose out to people who rent properties on a short term basis in order to fall in catchment areas. And the founding parents put in all the hard slog, so they should see some perks! Why won't lottery system work when I thought schools like Kingsdale secondary school operate it already?

My son has been offered a place at the school, and the school administration has confirmed that 62-68 Half Moon Lane will be the site of the new Judith Kerr school. Is anyone else going for the open day?

Bravo, minder, my point exactly

An update from COuncillor Robinson:- " I have now had a meeting with education officers at the Town Hall, which has been productive to some degree and I should be able to discuss the following with parents; 1. Primary school places for applicants next year in Dulwich 2. Primary school provision for future years In Dulwich 3. Choice of primary schools in the local area 4. What the local authority is doing and what I will be doing. " Reminder, meeting this Saturday 29th September, St Stephen's church, College Road, 10am till noon

Carbonara, to go through your questions - the stats do not state whether all 6 choices were put down, but I know for a fact that some only put down the schools that they wanted but didn't get any of them. They didn't want to get fobbed off with a sixth choice when they honestly didn't feel that there were more than 2-3 schools that they would consider. I tend to agree with that because really, sixth place hardly feels worth figthing for.... - they listed closest community school but not necessarily in their own borough and we all know that only your borough is statutorily obliged to offer a place. - the problem is basically one of being in a black hole, see the attached map, and we are basically the area that is only served by Langbourne, at the southernmost tip of Southwark, hence bordering on Lambeth and Lewisham - i have only one realistic Southwark school choice, Langbourne, whcih I am not too hot and happy about even though it improved to "good" as it has a patchy and unproven track record - and you have hit the nail on the head, its as you quote "the distribution does not match the residential density of the borough" because of the particular area we are in which belongs to the Dulwich Estate whihc is private corporation. If anyone is in the same situation, I do hope you will come and attend the meeting this Saturday, I just got an update fro Councillor Robinson and he said the following:- "I have now had a meeting with education officers at the Town Hall, which has been productive to some degree and I should be able to discuss the following with parents; 1. Primary school places for applicants next year in Dulwich 2. Primary school provision for future years In Dulwich 3. Choice of primary schools in the local area 4. What the local authority is doing and what I will be doing. "

PollyD, etta166, If you are in Southwark bordering another borough, then I strongly urge you to come this Saturday to a meeting with our local Dulwich councillor, Lewis Robinson, to discuss the problems those of us on the borders face. Its this SATURDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER, from 10AM TILL NOON, at ST STEPHEN'S CHURCH on College Road. This is the second year that Lewis is working with parents to get the council to make more lasting and effective changes in this part of the borough. You can read more of the full post I made titled "Primary Schools- choice or lack thereof" Hope to see you on Saturday. One thought to leave you with- out of 198 applicants in the whole of Southwark who received NO offer of a preference of their choice, 60 came from the Dulwich area. This represents nearly A THIRD of all unsuccessful applicants

I know parents who pay their own parents (ie the child's grandparents) the going rate for a nanny/childminder because they feel taht its best all round that there is some sort of formal relationship between them so the grandparents feels like they are not being taken advantage of and the parents feel they can instruct on certain things without causing offence (e.g. no indulgent treats normally given by grandparents). So how would that fit in with the scheme of things? Are they nannies? Or are they more than nannies because they are blood relations? My outreach worker often points out that actually, the parents who use the services more are not those that they were "targeted at", for lack of a better phrase. In fact, its hard to get these parents to come at all which is where the outreach worker comes in. The parents who attend are those who are more aware of child development activities and take a view to get actively involved. In fact, many services would have been shut down due to lack of interest if it wasn't for more "enlightened" parents keeping these services alive. Dulwich Wood CC has never made it a point to distinguish between more "deserving" parents and "less deserving" parents. A good mix of social backgrounds is what keeps things interesting and the children really don't seem to care who they play with. If a childrens centre is a victim of its own success (which is great, because its fulfilling its mandate), it must still come out with a more considered way of doing things. For example, each CC should already have a monthly parents forum where different issues are discussed, and this would be a perfect arena to debate this. Not to hand down a dictat by issuing leaflets to nannies.

Just checked with my nearest CC which is Dulwich Wood, so also a Southwark CC. They do not differentiate between nannies and parents, their only stipulation is that only Southwark registered childminders can access their childminders session. When I mentioned re Bessemer Grange to my outreach worker she was very surprised to hear it and would bring it up in meeting with her colleagues in other CC, so will keep you posted on that. Personally, I feel that not allowing nannies into sessions where really they stand in instead of parents who cannot be there themselves for whatever reasons (though its usually economic ones where both parents return to work), is a underhanded way of means-testing. BG is sending a message- if you can afford a nanny, it means that you are wealthy therefore please don't come to children centres, take them to Whippersnappers or Gymboree. Now that is fundamentally wrong because it makes a moral judgment on what parents choose to do with their resources. If like the OP, you and your partner choose to go back to work, to earn money to make a better future for your children because you want to, hence you need to hire a nanny because it makes most economic sense, then only certain community services are available to you. But if you don't choose to go back to work because you are comfortably off or because you just don't want to, and you turn up with your kid, how can you feel that you have the moral high ground to demand admission over a nanny with her charges?! I am not saying that the CC should not prioritise people who are more in need for these services, for example young parents with little economic power, but to target nannies is wrong. If there is strain on resources or too much demand for services, then put in a first come first served basis or limit ALL users to two sessions per week. Or as many centres already do, create sessions which allow only parents with defined parameters (e.g. young single mothers) to attend. How on earth is being a nanny or having a nanny supposed to be some measure of worth of whether children can or cannot attend sessions? While we have been mostly harping on about nannies, caregivers etc, we have all forgotten that its the kids that lose out. PS- I don't have a nanny so its not like I have a vested interest!

Dear parents, 1) Is your child/ren due to start primary school in September 2013? 2) Do you live in the SE19, SE21 and SE26 areas (near Sydenham Hill station), where there is basically a "black hole" in terms of primary school provision- there is only one Southwark primary school, Langbourne (30 places)? 3) Would you really like for your child/ren to be accepted in these well-regarded schools but know that your chances are practically zero- Kingswood, Paxton Primary, Elm Wood, Dulwich Village Infants, Eliot Bank? 4) Does any of the above cause you some real concern? If you answer yes to the above, then please read on. Earlier this year, I filled in a survey form issued by Southwark Council about various local issues. One of the comments I made was my concern and dissatisfaction with the choice and availability of good primary schools in Southwark. I received the following response from Councillor Lewis Robinson (councillor of the College Ward in Southwark and Leader of the Conservative group) on 29th May:- "You raised the important issue of local choice of primary school places in your local area. I strongly agree with this and the problem is likely to get worse over the next few years unless Southwark acts to address this problem. Early this year, I met with a group of local parents who had concerns about this issue and pressure on local places, and I raised the matter with the Council. Not surprisingly, the Council had to put extra "bulge" classes on at Langbourne Primary School to provide places for local children, who otherwise would have had to travel up to three miles to get to school. This is not a long term solution to the problem, which I believe will involve creating permanent extra classes at local schools in Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham primary schools in a co-ordinated manner to ensure sufficient places and choice for parents who live in the Dulwich area. I will be continuing to campaign to address this problem in the autumn and I would be more than happy to meet with you and any other parents concerned about this to discuss the matter further" Since then we have met twice including a meeting with five other mums on 18th August. We agreed a follow-up meeting which has now been set on SATURDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER, from 10AM TILL NOON, at ST STEPHEN'S CHURCH on College Road. This is the second year that Lewis is working with parents to get the council to make more lasting and effective changes in this part of the borough. As a parent with a child who is to start school next September, I will work with anyone who wants to help solve this problem, whether Tory, LD or Labour, so that I can fight to ensure that Matthew gets the education that we believe he deserves. A choice of one school is not a choice at all. If we can all lend our collective voice, we can be the force for change. After all, we are all taxpayers and/or "paid-up" members of society so we should be listened to by local authorities and councils who are democratically elected. The voice of ordinary people like you and me can make a difference, so if you want to lend your voice to the cause or indeed share your own problems/insights, please do come along to the meeting, and please pass this on to anyone who you think will be interested. One thought to leave you with- out of 198 applicants in the whole of Southwark who received NO offer of a preference of their choice, 60 came from the Dulwich area. This represents nearly A THIRD of all unsuccessful applicants, and it is strongly suspected that these 60 come overwhelmingly from College ward. Even if your child is not due to start school till 2014 and later, if nothing is done to address the problem the lack of viable primary school choice will persist. Any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on [email protected] on this message thread, or on 07788-273129, spread the word! And please do let me know if you can attend on 29th Sept so I can gauge numbers. Hope to meet you all soon! Regards Jackie

Dear pregnant parents, Your local NCT branch is running, for the first time, a tea group for expectant parents. Anyone from the following postcodes are invited to come, and you don't have to be an NCT member- SW2, SW16, SE5, SE15, SE19, SE21, SE22, SE24, SE27 Details as follows:- Date: Saturday 18 February 2012 Time: 11am till 12.30pm Place: The Rosendale pub, 65 Rosendale Road (free on street parking, station is West Dulwich, or no. 3 bus) Please can you email [email protected] if you are able to make it.

Dear pregnant parents, Your local NCT branch is running, for the first time, a tea group for expectant parents. Anyone from the following postcodes are invited to come, and you don't have to be an NCT member- SW2, SW16, SE5, SE15, SE19, SE21, SE22, SE24, SE27 Details as follows:- Date: Saturday 18 February 2012 Time: 11am till 12.30pm Place: The Rosendale pub, 65 Rosendale Road (free on street parking, station is West Dulwich, or no. 3 bus) Please can you email [email protected] if you are able to make it.

Dear pregnant parents, Your local NCT branch is running, for the first time, a tea group for expectant parents. Anyone from the following postcodes are invited to come, and you don't have to be an NCT member- SW2, SW16, SE5, SE15, SE19, SE21, SE22, SE24, SE27 Details as follows:- Date: Saturday 18 February 2012 Time: 11am till 12.30pm Place: The Rosendale pub, 65 Rosendale Road (free on street parking, station is West Dulwich, or no. 3 bus) Please can you email [email protected] if you are able to make it. If you are interested in tea groups for parents with babies, please email [email protected]