Ossa

Well yes, it seems clear they think parents are untrustworthy and must be checked up on - it clearly doesn't come from a place of concern for sick children. My question is more about whether it is entirely the school's idea or whether this is an initiative prompted or suggested by the LEA? The letter mentions the educational welfare officer, whom I thought was an LEA provision.

Hi James,

Have just had a letter from my school (Goodrich) about taking any sick child to the GP or a walk in clinic so the school have "proof" the child is ill.

Is this a school thing or due to pressure from the LEA? It seems like a terrible waste of overstretched resources. Not to mention a poor way to treat most sick children, a good way to spread viruses unecessarily at clinic waiting rooms and an indication the school now consider parents to be liars as a matter of course. I'm pretty fed up about it but don't want to have a go at the school if their hands are tied.

Thanks

I've bought from a fishmonger who comes around door-to-door. I don't think the Monday thing matters much anymore - pretty much all fish is deep frozen at sea nowadays isn't it? Even most of the stuff at Moxen's will have been frozen before it ends up on their counter.

I can't remember who it was who came round, but it was a firm, not just a one man shop. They only sold bulk frozen pieces though. We tried fishfingers which were fine but no better than decent supermarket ones. Doesn't mean you saw the same people, but I had no concerns about the ones that came round to me.

We have dual British/US citizenship. I don't know about Dutch provision, but for my children citizenship of either the UK or the USA isn't acquired by getting a passport. They are either citizens or they aren't. If they're citizens they are entitled to apply for passports, but they do not have to. It won't effect their citizenship.

Maybe rachel. Or maybe Bleu are loaning atmospheric furniture to help set the stage and letting Whippersnappers keep all the profit. Or something in between.

Hi tadpole,

Thanks for responding to this thread. Can you tell us, is the Santa's Groto a program for local children, a fundraising event you organize yourselves or an event by an outside company who pay Whippersnappers to be able to use the lodge?

I think the Gardens is just a bit rubbish. I've been in without any kids for a coffee and cake a few times and they are no good at making you feel welcome (e.g. I was asked to move tables even though the place was practically empty, the table I vacated was not used while I was there). And the service was (as described up thread) really slow and not that friendly. So it might not be a matter of discriminating - they may just not be suited to the service industry.

Second the advice to contact Dulwich and District Twins Club - http://ddtwinsclub.org/

There are talks every few months for expectant parents of multiples at Kings. Contact head midwife of ante-natal - [email protected]

And congratulations! Some of the info they give you seems scary, but there's never been a better time to be pregnant with twins and they are a real joy.

Hi Polly. I got a letter this morning that said nursery starts are staggered from Monday September 10th.

Does anyone have a contact number for the Sunday classes at Alleyn's?

Are the thin nylon bags no good then? I've been using them for years, probably get 300ish uses out of one before it gets a hole too big to ignore. I have thick cotton bags (from various green giveaways!) but find them too bulky to carry around with me, so rarely use them instead of one use plastic from the shop.

(sorry to hi-jack your thread James, and thank you for your response).

Hi James

I have a somewhat minor complaint to make but I'm not sure who to, so I'm hoping you can forward this to the appropriate person.

We had someone knock on our door last week on behalf of the council offering a free consultation on saving energy. We've just moved into our house and it sounded like a good idea so I booked an appointment for this morning. No one turned up. Then I got a call this afternoon from Climate Energy (who are doing this for the council) to say I had booked an appointment for next Wednesday but they didn't know if it was morning or afternoon. I *know* that the woman I spoke with wrote down today's date because we had a discussion about it whether it was the 23rd or 22nd and I watched her write it, along with specifying morning, next to my contact details. So someone somewhere must have made the decision that it wasn't important to stick to these commiments or inform me that they wouldn't be.

I'm currently looking after toddlers and not in paid employment, so staying in for the morning was not the biggest inconvenience, but I did turn down more attractive opportunities. I'm a bit annoyed to have been messed around like this and wonder if there are others who were disappointed for whom the inconvenience was more serious. It seems quite contemptuous of the public to treat them in this way and it really isn't the level of service I want to have offered in my name (as a Southwark resident, voter or tax payer).

I don't know if the fault lies with Climate Energy (and so, I suppose, whoever contracted with them) or directly with someone at the council, but I do think it is a shoddy and inefficient way to treat people.