Alec John Moore

This Guardian article by Lucy Mangan helped me a bit in thinking what new directions to guide our children in when it comes to reading to them. Here's the link to the lists onliine: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/12/best-childrens-books-ever The comments have closed now on the Guardian website but it would be interesting to read about others experiences of reading to their children. I find it more enjoyable and engaging with the kids when the story lends itself to be read out loud. I'm thinking Room on the broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler or His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman for the older ones. However, I have found the older "classics" like Swallows and Amazons or The Hound of the Baskervilles to be a bit of a chore. Alec

I agree that the demography of ED plays an important part. According to LA officers, there is an unexpected reduction in movement of families out of the area. They cited broader economic circumstances etc. I just wanted to say that it is about work/life balance, too. We moved to Ed from Camberwell a few years ago and kept our son at Lyndhurst because we like the school and did not want to disrupt his education - the move was disruptive enough. We now have quite complicated logistics at the beginning and end of the day - why aren't the buses going down Lordship Lane more frequent in the morning? - but our kids cope well with it. I now work at the Elephant & Castle so the school drop off is on the way and my employer is flexible about me starting later than my colleagues. We negotiate arrangements with our childminder quite easily and effectively and we found a "nanny" on this forum for the days the childminder doesn't work. I suppose, on reflection, one of my main points is that the kids cope with this aspect of their lives a bit better than I do. I'd love to be able to walk round the corner, drop them off at the school gate and then get in to "work mode" but life's too complicated for that.

page 24/25 of this year's admissions booklet (for places in 2010/2011 gives the stats for admissions for the year 2009/10. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/1162/introduction_and_how_to_apply

if you applied by post then they should respond that way. If you applied online then you may even get a text but definitley an email with the result or a link to the website.

http://www.findmyschool.co.uk/ looks quite good. You can search for the schools nearest your postcode, look at the Ofsted reports and ask others about the schools you are interested in on EDF. The local authority has the info on application procedures.

Thanks for that. I had a quick look and it seems like a very effective method, putting teachers' professional abilities and development at the centre of a scheme for improving pupils' attainment. That should work with pupils of all abilities and I get the impression from the discussion threads on EDF that the quality of education at Kingsdale is not at issue. My only experience of the school is as an applicant parent. I wonder if schools like Kingsdale relied only on methods for improving the learning environment as a way of achieving "most outstanding school" status would they have got there so soon.

Smiler: "Mrs Lotte, I haven't said and don't feel that a state school of our choice is any kind of right, but would not personally be keen on a school that was assessed as inadequate by the official regulator, as Goose Green is at present." However, it isn't helpful to label a school as inadequate when there is anecdotal and official evidence to the contrary. See the letter from Ofsted dated February 2010 - the last link in Fuschia's post - which shows how much the school is improving. GG PTA sounds really good.

BB100 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was reading an article in the newspaper recently > written by two 'super' heads who were sent to > transform failing schools. They suggested that the > only key way to improve a school is to change the > intake. I'd really like to see that article. I was just thinking today how that is the way that schools "raise their standards". I'm glad we've got really good schools like Kingsdale in Southwark but I'm not convinced they all follow the admission rules strictly to the letter. So, what happens to the schools that haven't been given the special treatment of a superhead and what about the children who don't get in to Kingsdale?

It is worth saying that all our children have a right to a place at a state school. We need to be calling for a system, and working to improve any system, that allocates places on a fair and transparent basis. The system must not make assumptions about the identity or status of the applicants. It's also worth saying that we can't always get our first choice and that if all the schools we lived near were "really good" then this would be less of an issue.

A pan London process has been used for a few years now for secondary school transfers. Sorry to raise that spectre at this stage in your child/family's life but such a system does address some of the problems you are facing. The supporters of this system say it does help a high percentage of applicants get their first choice place. It also helps iron out the anomalies between the different systems and timings of decisions by different boroughs. Obviously, this is a particular problem if you live in border territory. Our experience of the secondary transfer process is that you are automatically placed on the waiting lists of the schools you applied to but were not offered a place at. You can also ask for that to be done quite easily. There are problems with how some schools use the system but that's another thread. One thing that I cling to somewhat is that it is a long process and it isn't over when you get the initial offer of a school place, there is some movement in the summer and places do come up in your higher preference school, don't they? I don't know how much that would apply to primary school applications. I'm hoping sibling policy still applies for our youngest otherwise we'll be joining the ranks of the highly disgruntled of East Dulwich brigade.

our three -one for each child - are called Milly, Molly and Mandy. Perhaps the ED chicken fanciers should meet up over a joint omelet. Or we could just bring along our fave egg recipes. It would be good to have chicken owners to look after our brood when you are away, for peace of mind.

It should be possible to "co-own" some chickens and share the maintenance responsibilities, as well as the delicious eggs and joy of chicken watching. We haven't been away since we got our chooks but I'm hoping our neighbours will be tempted to look after them this summer with the promise of fresh eggs every day. I also think that protecting the birds is partly about context - where you live, what existing deterrents there are etc. It seems that how much freedom you give your chooks is mainly down to your conscience.

If you don't mind being paid in eggs and the pure pleasure of watching the chooks strut their stuff then I may well take you up on that. Thanks for the link to the recent thread on ED chooks, I hadn't noticed that. I'm hoping that if we are diligent enough then we'll have our chooks for some time. The eggs are delicious!

mmmh, they have foxes in the country, too. I wonder what's worse, being preyed on by foxes or being cooped up, literally, in a run? At least they get fed well, adored by the kids and they're not in a "battery" cage. They're also performing an extremely valuable educational function - our kids know where their food comes from.

Hi We got an eglu from ebay which means that the chickens are safe and comfortable - the eglu is fox proof - but they are the most expensive eggs we've ever had. However, they are the freshest and tastiest you could imagine. It's quite special taking a still warm egg from the eglu. You don't need much space but we've got a big garden and let the chickens have more than the run that comes with the eglu. We only let them out of that when we are around, having nearly lost one to an ED fox. They are really like pets and the kids love them. We were advised to get one for each child which was sound advice. It has helped encourage our kids to eat eggs and they get to really know (see) where their food comes from. Have a look at www.omlet.co.uk for more about eglus and www.poultry.allotment.org.uk for a wider perspective. Alec

Well, we do. I was wondering if any other chicken fanciers in ED would like to share tips and tricks, buying feed and chicken sitting. Need to be careful with the spelling on that last one. Best wishes, Alec

Would be the fast-track appeals process that opened a couple of weeks ago? Has anyone heard the outcome of that yet? Alec

It's interesting to read the other thread on EDF comparing Kingsdale and Charter. They seem to be roughly equally successful and popular. My point is that you'd only put popular schools in your top three if you thought you had something of a chance of your child being offered a place. Being in the east of East Dulwich we're not close enough to feel comfortable about being in Charter's inclusion zone, but it's popular with us. So, for Kingsdale, being offered a scholarship would seem to be key to where you place it on the list of preferences. Interestingly a Harris academy for boys is opening its new building a few streets from us for a September 2010 intake. However, our son doesn't want to go to a boys' school and their criteria are quite exclusive anyway in that they can only admit boys from certain primary schools in Peckham if I remember correctly. I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts on this if you'd like to share your dilemma.

I'm fairly confident I understand the procedure. So, if, as a parent, you deem Kingsdale to be an appropriate school for your child and s/he was offered a scholarship before the deadline for the pan London admissions scheme, you might well put Kingsdale high on your list of preferred schools. This would make sense since, in most cases, the only other relevant over subscription criterion is random selection, which really is a lottery. That's when you need good luck.

As a foundation school they have some autonomy on the selection criteria. Kingsdale's two main oversubscription criteria as far as we were concerned are the scholarship and random selection ones. I have to say that they haven't been clear about how they apply the scholarship criterion. I think this is an issue for a smallish number of families but I don't know how many. The uncertainty has certainly increased the stress for us in what is a particularly stressful process. I understand that initial places have been allocated in the pan-London process and this week the files went out to other boroughs. Still, only three weeks and four days before we get our offer of a place, somewhere.

Hi, I think it has been sorted in a way but it's difficult to tell from Kingsdale's communications. Alec

Hi I've just been to our daughter's class assembly and it was delightful but, as usual, the little darlings tended to swallow their words. I will talk to the school and the PTA about this but I wondered if others had encountered this and knew of a solution that didn't involve obtrusive mike stands that would get in the way of little ones' physical self expression. It would be possible, I suppose, to suspend mikes from the ceiling but that may be a bit technical/expensive.

Hi Please get in touch if you are having problems with your application to Kingsdale for September 2010 entry.