Bouncy

http://www.atl.org.uk/publications-and-resources/report/2012/2012-september-cover-story-ofsted.asp

Congratulations - exciting time! Do you want to go to the classes for information or to meet people? If the former, in my experience the NCT classes basically duplicated the hospital ones, but with rather a biased push towards anti-intervention and home birth. So not worth the time and money from that point of view. If you want to meet people, however, may be worth going even without your partner, if you'll be the one off on maternity leave and looking for things to do / people to meet up with in the local area...?

fapl - was about to say exactly the same thing. Haven't given birth at Kings but at St Thomas'; similar experience to many on here - excellent midwife / doctor person-centred medical care when things went contrary to plans and finally got assigned a slot and admitted, but highly stressful and unpleasant pre-admittance and on post-natal ward. Again, due to them just being way past capacity. Given that South London maternity services are already clearly utterly overstretched, I'm very tempted to have another baby in good time before Lewisham closes!

http://www.edinborocastlepub.co.uk/ - great garden, good drinks (but grumpy staff to be tolerated!)

I re-read and enjoyed Whit recently; would also recommend (as someone already has) Walking on Glass, and of course The Wasp Factory...

I'm a bit confused about the roles...Mummy Pig works on her computer sometimes - but it always looks like she is writing a letter, rather than studying or working freelance (though how you would convey that...?!). As a mother who often works at home, perhaps I am analysing this aspect of things too much, though!!!

Congratulations! Lovely news... How did he propose, if that's not too personal??

I remembered this thread when I saw this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/mar/25/education-harris-academies-curriculum

Slightly off on a tangent, and very British...but I'm never quite sure if I'm 'meant' to tip takeaway delivery people / hairdressers. Hairdressers tend to look happy and un-flumoxed when I do, but a friend said the other day she never does, and it's not expected...and some takeaway people look positively offended when I tip! What's the unspoken rule / consensus on all of this?!

Oh Midivydale - I remember your other posts related to your return to work - how's it all going??? I hope not too horrendous?? On whether women ruling the world would make things better: I agree that what is deisrable is equality and parity rather than feminine take-over. However, I do feel that we need some more females / people who have 'feminine' values in power, so that this can be achieved. In order that we can have true equality of choice in career and childcare, we need a structure where both are valued and real choice made possible. I think it's a massive obstacle to this that, for example, it's impossible to be both a politician in central government and an involved parent (because being a central government policitian is all-consuming - much more than full-time, plus evenings going through 'boxes,' etc). This means that even the female politicians have to relegate the importance of family involvement, and move away from this part of their life, and reconstrue any pre-existing beliefs around it (otherwise, they'd be left with massive cognitive dissonance) - in turn relegating the importance and time devoted to family-friendly policies (for both men and women)...

Babur http://www.babur.info/content/la-carte-home is expensive but so worth it for a treat (make sure you order from the restaurant menu, not the takeaway, which is fine, but not in the same league). We've tried Hungry House a couple of times to try to discover new places, but they never live up to the reviews - which, when positive, seem a bit suspect, really. Has anyone else found this??

Absolutely.

Hi Peter - yes, I'm aware of CFBT as I've worked with them in the past, so am interested more than generically in what specifically they will contribute in this case. I can't find detail on the parent group on the school website (though maybe I'm missing it?), but you have a very comprehensive Linkedin profile, so that answers my initial question!

Thanks for your reply, Peter. What do you work freelance as? I'd also be interested to hear more about your motivation for setting up a free school, about why you've chosen CfBT, about what their role would be, and what the role of the parent group would be. Thanks!

Hello Peter - I was wondering what your background is? Thanks.

Perhaps they are the way to go, then? - find it hard to imagine how they could be any worse than LT! At least you wouldn't be paying for bad service!

You should! - especially if he's still in that position / a similar position!

Midivydale - NO!!! Seriously??? It's impossible that could have been all that long ago, right, as you're a recent mum? Did anyone react??

Yes, I also attempted to complain to LT when we had all our horrendous issues - to absolutely no avail. As I said earlier, I see no way that Tom or any other local manager can affect or intervene in dealings with the Ludlow Thompson central office - and Tom has offered no indication that this might be the case, or, indeed, acknowledged the issue. This despite an number of posters clearly stating property management by the central office as an explicit problem which potentially will affect all tenants and landlords. So I continue to recommend strongly that renters and landlords avoid Ludlow Thompson. In addition, I give no validity to Tom's attempts to stem this discussion or hide it behind closed doors. Many of the issues raised are pertinent to all (potential) renters and landlords, and are therefore ideally suited to public discussion. They are not ideosyncratic issues that need to be responded to point by point. This red herring is an incredibly transparent fish, Tom. For example, I will repeat my simple question: what does the 1.5 weeks' rent plus VAT (i.e. PLUS 20%, i.e. 1.8 weeks' rent, i.e. ?1245 for the most expensive property currently advertised by LT in East Dulwich - and NB - there are NO properties currently advertised at ?200 pw as in the misleading example offered) ACTUALLY pay for?

Very interested to read all this having been to the Forest Hill pools last week for the first time - the reception staff there were of the 'I-can't-belive-someone-is-being-this-rude-and-unhelpful-I-just-wanted-a-swim' ilk...if the centres are run by the same company, seems the problems may be widespread...

Tom: You say - "For example, if you were moving into a property at ?200 per week, the move in monies due would be: ?866.66 (first month's rent) ?1200 (6 weeks rent as deposit) ?360 (agency fee) totalling ?2426.66" Please could you clarify - is this ?360 a fixed fee, or does it vary? You haven't contradicted or addressed polla2256's asertion that (s)he paid ?500. On what basis does the fee vary, if this is the case? What does the fee pay for? Could you provide a breakdown of what the fee pays for (particularly if it is not fixed)?

Tom: I find it difficult to believe that anything like a significant number of people would change their mind having handed over ?500, especially when it's so hard to find a decent place to rent. This sounds like spin, possibly designed to hide your taking a significant lump of the ?1000 as "fees." So: of the ?1000 you force people to pay in order just to have their offer to rent accepted by the landlord: - how much of this goes towards first month rent? - how much of this goes towards deposit? - how much of this is taken as "fees"? I am perfectly happy and would much prefer to continue this conversation via this media rather than out of the public eye in your office or by phone. In fact, I think it's extemely important that the conversation continue in the public domain, as it's a public issue which heavily affects many people in the area.

Probably not, according the available research, and on average: http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/toolkit/approaches/ability-grouping

polla2256 - like your post, would be fascinated to see a response that addressed its specifics, as well as neilson99's. Seems like that's not going to happen now..........Tom? Ejack - no problem, thought that must be it! :-)

To sound like I'm writing for The Mail: it is a real postcode lottery. A friend of mine was eligible for treatment, while her otherwise equivalent colleague in the neighbouring borough wasn't, purely because of the areas they lived in. (The sad thing in their situation is that the first person is a lot richer than the second, who couldn't afford to go private...) People do get into debt here too - I know people who have, either because they couldn't get any chances on the NHS or because their allocated chances had been used up...