Alec John Moore

thanks, tiddles. I'd heard about the primary school pick up. I suppose if that's still running this September he could trot up to Heber which is the nearest school to us and get it from there. I'm sure Kingsdale would be able to answer that question. I was just wondering if there was anyone else in the vicinity who he could tag along with.

If so, how are you intending they get there from East Dulwich? Would you be interested in a group of newbies at Kingsdale buddying up to go off together in the morning? Our son went to Lyndhurst in Camberwell so doesn't know any local kids.

Here's the link to Southwark's online form for reporting ASB: http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/98/antisocial_behaviour Would be interesting to know how you get on.

I agree, I was being cautious in my reservations about the idea posted earlier in the thread by WS. Alec

"'Fled the scene' is used about 4000 times a month in crime reporting round the world." This according to the business section of The Australian newspaper website: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/fled-the-scene-is-used-about-4000-times-a-month-in-crime-reporting-round-the-world/story-e6frg996-1225890454982 . The brief article points out that in India they use the term "decamp" to describe how alleged crims remove themselves from the scene. I didn't really think about it until I read Bob's post but I reckon it is a not uncommon stylistic use of mild or light irony that probably works better in face to face conversations where body language and tone of voice are apparent. Perhaps after I've been posting for a while longer such a foible may be appreciated for what it is, a mildly ironic reference to cliched language that suggests the writer's meaning. I also realised that, in my post, I may have provided advice on how to deal with the situation. I normally try to avoid that since it tends to lead to counter advice and can end up in a ding dong between opposing advisors. My preferred approach is to share any experience and let others make their mind up. I'll try to stick to that in future.

However, from the relative safety of your own home you could record the incident as evidence of anti social behaviour. Even if they had fled the scene before you found the presence of mind to get your camera out in time to record their behaviour, offensive language etc, you could record the effects of their response to a reasonable request with regards to your property strewn recycling etc. Witnesses always help, of course, and why not record their response to the incident, too? I'm not at all sure about a shaming section of the forum, much better to take the official route and share your experience here.

It's a question of perspective and risk assessment. From my pedestrian, literally, point of view, it is safest to cross the road when there are no vehicles around. That's what I tell my kids. It also sometimes happens that the pedestrian can't read the intentions of the driver, particularly at junctions like the crossroads by the Uplands. Sometimes the light reflects on the windscreen so that the driver's facial expression and even hand movements are obscured. Drivers don't always take into account the interests of pedestrians when they are negotiating junctions so don't always indicate their intentions. I don't see what benefit there is to stopping to let people cross the road when you are the only car around. W hen there are other cars on the road the driver who has stopped is acting irresponsibly since they have no control over the actions of the other driver/s.My attitude is also probably coloured by an experience when crossing a zebra crossing a few years ago with my oldest child who was in the buggy. A big white van had stopped to let us cross and when we were half way over the car behind overtook but stopped when it saw us on the crossing. The driver was apologetic and mouthed that she was in a hurry to get her kids. My perception of danger and my risk assessment is based on personal experience, prejudice and perhaps an over weening concern for the safety of my children that is only tempered to a certain degree by statistical analysis that shows we are less at risk nowadays.

Maybe this thread should go to the family room. It might help focus the minds of contributors but then again I've noticed a trend on most threads that they tend towards the personal, back biting at some stage in their progression. This is a shame since there has been lots of really valuable insight and balanced discussion amongst the mild hysteria, sorry, heightened emotional responses to a question which is a real, everyday concern for parents. I'm not prepared to judge the Schonrocks or the McCanns but these discussions help me reflect on my own parenting decisions. I will however point out that I found BB100's postings very useful in helping bring balance to the discussion. Having an objective assessment of risk should help us put our own concerns into perspective and make more rational decisions about how we behave but when it comes to the pressures and concerns for keeping our kids safe then the subjective perception of risk takes control. I bang on about safety first to my kids when doing the school run and I hope that it is working. The thing that gets me most is when motorists stop their car to let you cross the road in front of them when there are no other vehicles around and then get narked when you wave them on. Getting my kids across the road safely is my responsibility and it is obviously safer to cross when there are no vehicles on the road. Or am I missing some obscure aspect of road use etiquette here? I don't drive so perhaps it has passed me by.

It is very complicated and if you are not in the sector then it can come as a bit of a shock. I would recommend starting your research when your oldest child is in year 5. The schools run open days in the autumn and these can be quite revealing and informative. The stats on recruitment - furthest distance from school etc - and exam grades as well as Ofsted reports are all readily available online. Of course, this forum can add some personal experiences to flesh out your understanding. Oh, if you can persuade your child to take up and excel at a musical instrument or a sport then that will improve his/her chances of getting in to the school of your/their choice. Of course, the new academies add a new dimension to the complexity. Watch this space.

I think we might be heading for agreement on this but I'm not sure yet. As far as I can see, I'm a parent not a teacher or an admissions administrator, the banding system is not used as a selection criterion. The over subscription criteria are applied across the bands. I haven't done a detailed analysis but it seemed to be case in the Lewisham and Southwark schools we looked at for our son when we started this last year. I also got a strong impression from our experience that schools work the system to their advantage. So, will new academy status mean that those schools who achieve that will be able to ditch balanced intake and we will get a "best and the rest" set of schools available to the children in East Dulwich who want to go to secondary school within a reasonable travelling distance?

I was thinking of the banding system that some schools seem to use in different forms and to differing degrees. My son sat a non-verbal reasoning test to set him in a band. This seemed to be a fairly objective, if unpopular with the applicants, way of assessing ability. As I understand it, some schools have to allocate places across the ability bands, thus attempting to establish a mixed ability intake. So, perhaps saying all schools was a bit misleading. Kingsdale, one of the schools in question regarding this thread uses scholarships and random selection as its main means of selecting candidates. The process is much more complex than your response seems to allow. I think that leadership and teaching are key components of the mix that takes schools like Kingsdale and Charter towards Ofsted's outstanding status but you also need committed, motivated, capable students and they can come from any type of housing stock. I speak as someone who was born in a council house and went to an Academy. OK, it was Scotland and many decades ago but I hope you get my point.

P68, I'm not sure if you are referring to my post, specifically. However, I think we might agree about the limited value of targets in the way they are used currently. The secondary transfer system tries to ensure that all schools recruit cohorts of students who are of a mixed ability. What I've seen in our experience is that the system can be worked, through the award of scholarships before the deadline for applications for instance, to help ensure that the school has some greater say in the recruitment process. The schools know that to achieve outstanding status in their ofsted reports they need to have a number of factors in place. A key one would be capable students who are motivated to learn and succeed in their education. This in turn will attract teachers who are similarly motivated and will have confidence that they are being employed to do what they were trained to do rather than crowd control. I'd like to see a system that values the personal and educational development of children and measures the effectiveness of schools in achieving that. I'm not convinced that a system that would allow the strong to succeed and the weak or uninterested to "go to the wall" would deliver that

I am really keen on transparency and would hope that posters on this forum would be clear about their interest in an issue. My interest is firstly in the education of my children but I also want a public education system that is good for the community and the country. What I don't like is being a political pawn in an ideological tussle between Kingsdale and Southwark. That would certainly be one way of characterising our experience of the secondary school transfer process we have been through over the last 6 months or so. I'm confident from what I've seen and heard about secondary schools in this part of London that my children will have a positive, fulfilling experience that will really help them develop educationally and as individuals. I am concerned that enabling a free - er market for schools to attract the children who will help them achieve their outstanding status will leave some schools struggling to survive.

It seems that Southwark has bowed to headteachers' pressure and are not allowing Kingsdale to have a bulge class this September. So, where will all those children go if their appeals fail and they are not left wandering the corridors of Kingsdale, I wonder?

I can't go to the meeting next week, I'm afraid but I'd support demands for the authorities to improve that junction to make it safer for road users and pedestrians and effective at managing traffic flow. It sounds that a better solution is needed urgently so I'm reluctant to suggest some kind of review/analysis of the options for improvement since that would delay making improvements. However, it's probably better to get it right for the long term. Alec

Yep, we regularly see and hear them over our garden. I've even photographed them a few years ago eating the fruit on the old apple tree in our garden.

Interesting thought, does the language "hold" the values of the nation? If that is the case then perhaps there is an argument for a "mongrel" language like English to be the global lingua franca. Of course it isn't that simple, fortunately. I read a few years ago about Hinglish, a combining of English and Hindi that young people in India speak and is used in the commercial (non state sponsored) TV channel aimed at a young audience. However, I feel for all those people in the world who have to learn English as a 2nd language. Observing my children learn to read and write is salutary. Very little in English seems to make sense compared to the predictability of Spanish, say. Alec

I nearly bumped into Jarvis Cocker on the Northern line tube platform at Kings X the other day. He seemed a bit lost but then again the signage at Kings X is rubbish at the moment.

I think your prediction about the role of the LEA in school management is accurate and worrying. However, it's not clear yet who will be the winners in this. It seems that the Harris Academies are suffering form the success of Kingsdale Foundation School. Kingsdale is so oversubscribed this year that they want to create a "bulge" class and several heads of other secondary schools in Southwark have complained, delaying the decision to go ahead. It seems that Kingsdale's success is attracting pupils away from other schools, including the Harris Academies. There is a good chance that Kingsdale will get Academy status for September and that may lead to increased "success" that will further affect other Southwark secondary schools negatively. My concern is that we will get a distorted, increasingly market-led system with everyone trying to get in to the "best" schools with reduced support for the schools that need it.

Spotted this on another thread somewehere: I got on the same bus as John Sessions (Stella Street) a while ago. Admittedly we were passing through East Dulwich so probably doesn't count for so much. Alec

I got on the same bus as John Sessions (Stella Street) a while ago. Admittedly we were passing through East Dulwich so probably doesn't count for so much. Alec

Hi, we were very, very lucky in getting a climbing frame/swings/slide thing from Freecycle a few years ago which our three really like. However, if you can only get one thing, get a trampoline. They use up so much energy on that thing and it is a delight to hear the squeals of laughter from our lot on theirs competing with the neighbour's kids on theirs. We got ours from Argos for about ?100. Alec

Ah yes, Lynley Dodd and Slinky Malinki. That is one of my favourites to read out loud but our youngest isn't so keen on that. Thanks for the suggestions, really helpful to think about what next. Alec

bedtime does take a long time in our house when only one of us is available to read to all three. Still, I agree with Fuschia that it really helps to instill the love of books. Our youngest (aged 3 1/2) is usually very clear about which one he wants to be read. We both like The Pencil by Alan Ahlberg, very imaginative, funny and a little bit scary but with a happy ending. I remember reading the Alex Rider series a few years ago to my older son who is now 11 and that was a good experience. There's another series by the very prolific Mr Horowitz (he also writes Foyles War or ITV amongst other TV stuff) called the Power of Five which older son has been introduced to by a friend. I've been reading Milly Molly Mandy to our daughter who is 6 1/2 and I found that a surprisingly pleasant experience. I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for "classics" I could try to introduce our 11 year old to. The Guardian list suggested Tom Sawyer which might be a good start. While it occurs to me, I also found reading the Just William stories a good experience. A good writer is so much easier to read, particularly when you are reading out loud. Alec

Interesting to hear about the use of audiobooks in the home rather than just in the car. Ours value/demand the parental involvement of reading aloud - the parents value it too. Even our 11 yr old son who has read every Harry Potter book, watched all of the DVDs, achieved all levels of the PS games and used his pocket money to buy the Lego sets on ebay quietly insists that I read to him as well as to the others - we're ploughing our way through Swallowdale at the moment. I may try to introduce him to Big Toe Books on the Beeb.