bornagain

There is a new clinical lead at the practice - the improbably named Dr Love. I've seen him a few times and he seems good. First time since the departure of the lovely Dr Johnson that I have felt that the practice may improve.

hoonaloona Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I wouldn't feel reassured that teachers are > leaving a school because of house prices! That's > worrying... This is a well-established fact for London's so-called key workers - teachers, nurses, firefighters etc etc. Once they have a few year's experience in the capital they move to more affordable areas. Schools (and hospitals and fire stations) can be found all around the country. There's no need to stay in the capital and stay in rented accomodation when they can buy a house elsewhere.

Most London schools have a high rate of turnover of staff. The bulk of the teaching staff tend to be young and mobile and sometimes recruited from abroad - Canada, Australia, NZ and this can lead to short stays at a school. This doesn't necessarily mean that they are poor teachers. What you should be looking at is evidence of structure - in the curriculum, pastoral care etc. The school should have robust systems in place so that the effect of the staff turnover is minimised and managed. I would be more concerned if there is a significant turnover of the senior staff - deputy heads, heads of department and the like. Having said that, good, ambitous teachers often move on to get promotion. I would expect however for them to stay for 3 - 4 years so that the impact of their work is felt at the school.

The key piece of info about your friend is that she came here when she was 16, ie when she was (almost) grown up. In this thread we are talking about students in year 7 up (ie 11+). I don't think we are comparing like with like. BTW you don't say how you and your friend are different culturally - how is she 'different'?

Not sure if you have teenagers Penguin, but music, fashion, film, internet (ie youth culture) are very international, albeit strongly stemming from US be it rap music or TV programmes. Sure different countries have their own indigenous 'culture' but I'm guessing that quite often they run parallel with these. I am sadly no longer a 'youth' (lol) but I am a first generation immigrant, born abroad and came here as a child with non-English parents. I am 'London' and also 'British', as are my children. Young people tend to live for today and are very quick to adapt and absorb the culture that they find themselves in. I find your views old fashioned, akin to people who ask me 'where are you from?' and when I reply 'London' they say '...but where are you REALLY from?' Penguin68 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I was solely suggesting that where the culture was > not shared (and SE London Youth Culture may very > well not be the same as Youth Culture from > somewhere else, particularly non-Western European) > then there might be an issue - and was making the > point that second generation incomers (from > wherever) are more likely to share a culture with > other young people than those who had been born > and (at last partly) brought-up elsewhere. > Refugees from conflict zones may well have a > different world view (and different experiences) > from those born in SE London. First generation > immigrants are those born outside the UK - it is > the second generation who will likely be 'London' > and 'British'.

Another no for Merryfields. Have had a couple of visits when he flatly refused to do something - rude and unreasonable. The last refusal was replacing a zip in my boots. I took it to the repairers next to the post office on LL and they did it very quickly and well. You can't tell that it is not the original.

Note sure by what you mean by 'culture'? Do you mean culture of parents or teenager? Youth culture is pretty much international these days. Teenagers by their very nature reject culture of parents. As for ED, many, many children (mine included) who do not come from nth generation British stock but if you meet them they are as British as they come. These kids are London kids. Their culture is London (whereever their parents come from).

'Having attended Dulwich Hamlet myself not too long ago, I would say that Hamlet definitely had a representative mix of students and I have some great friends till this day as a result.' One of my children went to this school (my children attended another ED primary also). I could honestly say that Dulwich Hamlet is not a representative of any part of South London (or any part of London) except Dulwich Village. It is predominently white with ethos that harks back to Britain in the 1960s. For instance they had to do a WW2 project from the BRITISH perspective (could only interview people who lived through the war in this country!!). What kind of diversity was that? Funnily enough one of my children now attend Harris ED. The OP is quite right that it is more black but if she is comparing it to Dulwich Hamlet then I expect most London schools would be more black (including many private ones). Personally I think it is more a matter of class rather than the colour of your skin. Knowing children who have attended both schools, contrast in the privilege (for DH) and the lack of (Harris) are startling.

Sorry Ann, 'decent' is a loaded word. Many 6th forms that allow retakes in English and Maths are perfectly 'decent', just have places for the less top end academic. A levels are a HUGE leap up from GCSE - more akin to degree than GCSE in content and very rigorous. I think many students struggle with the adjustment and for some it's a bit much. There is nothing wrong with BTECs, horses for courses. I think it pays to be realistic and pragmatic about what your child is suitable for - and what their ambitions are.

Dunraven, Graveney, Harris Girls/Boys (mixed), Charter, Sydenham Girls/Forest Hill Boys (mixed). No catchment so basically can go where they like as long as it's commutable. They can also go to FE College but the selection round here aren't that great. Some schools are in a 6th form federation eg Dunraven and Harris so that if your base school can't accomodate your subject combination then you can look also at the provision in the sister schools. Be aware that some schools (more academically ambitious ones) do not accept students who don't get their English and Maths GCSE with at least a C. If your child is borderline in either then worth having a fal back option with a school that allows them to retake the GCSE in 6th form. Your child will be expected to get minimum grades at GCSE for subjects of their choice. As far as I know, you can hold several offers of places, it only gets settled in the summer once the GCSE results are known.

I was in a very upmarket restaurant in Lille (admittedly quite a while ago) and was very surprised when a posh lady lunching next to me got up and out popped a little pooch from her lap. It had been there the entire meal! It seemed entirely ok with everyone there.

We've just got a new pup so will be interested in this. What about shops in general are they welcoming or are dogs a no-no?

I think Habs Hatcham is Aske's New Cross. Any news on Harris Girl's? ETA Just been on Harris Girl's site and it has news on individual success but not on the overall percentage which suggests that perhaps it wasn't that impressive?

Thank you scotslass - yes I am planning to do that eventually. But to start with, I wondered if anyone had any personal recommendations? Just to be clear, I have already done a lot of research on paper/internet. What I was hoping for was details of a good breeder that someone could recommend. Sorry for any confusion.

We want to get a dog and we are total newbies. Poodle or a poodle-cross is our preference. Does anyone out there have any recommendations of a good breeder? Thank you!

Japanese coming to ED? Who? Where?

Thanks, TE44. I was calling earlier for a more detailed and substantive statement from Haberdashers about what they are doing post-fraud. A paragraph on p7 in the financial statement for 2013 in your link gives something more substantive. I've attached a screen grab in case anyone is interested. This is the kind of thing that should be released for all to see (rather than buried in p7 of a report). TE44 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > http://newschoolfinance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/a-s > even-year-914k-fraud-at-haberdashers.html?m=1 > > scroll further down page for habs set of recent > accounts. It seems before the conversion to a MAT > (multi-academy trust) 16th September there was no > break down for individual schools.

"Yes, they tend to be when we're talking about a school, but you suggesting that the poor victims suffered because this money was meant for them is a nonsense." Seeing as the fraud took place at a school, whatever this ?4.1 million was going to be spent on, ultimately the purpose of the money is to benefit those children at the school. 'victim' is a loaded word, of course the pupils did not lose the shirts off their backs as a result of the fraud but highly likely that they may not have had some improvements in facilities because of the loss of ?4.1 million. How many mini-buses would ?4.1 million buy - well over 100!

OK James, thanks for the information, let's hope you're right!

A more detailed and substantive statement through the steering group might do it. Not a tiny question and answer tucked away on page 12, I don't think that is enough. This could be a serious set back to their bid re: the community, a blow to their credibility - letting someone defraud them of ?4.1 million over 7 years without noticing! The Charter bid must be rubbing their hands? Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > bornagain Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > All I am concerned is how robust the financial > > governance is at the Federation today and how > this > > may impact the putative new school. > > > > How would you have them satisfy your curiosity?

Hi James, I am not asking for any confidential/police matter to be leaked! Haberdashers have written to all their parents so it's hardly secret now. All I am concerned is how robust the financial governance is at the Federation today and how this may impact the putative new school. This matter is not going to go away - it is/will be discussed in the media and I am sure questions will be asked by more than me about how this will affect the appropriateness of the Federation to run any new school. By the way, did you know about this historical fraud case when you selected Haberdashers as the chosen school provider? James Barber Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi bornagain, > How do we respect the Police requirement to not > talk about the case for fear of prejudicing it and > any suspect getting away with crimes while > fulfilling your request for complete > transparency? > I don't think we can square this circle. We have > to wait until such time that thE Police close this > case - hopefully with people being convicted. > > As for community support. Clearly the > Haberdashers' bid is ahead of The Charter School > bid. The former has 678 unique families supporting > it with another 32 being checked through. We have > no knowledge of the TCS bid community support > because their level of support is being kept > secret.

Seeing you are busy I will do it for you :) So the amount is ?4.1 million over 7 years. Wow. Well done current management team for catching the villan. I hope the steering group know more about how they managed to catch him and how this will never happen again than that snippit tells us.

Hi Cora I am not saying anything about solving the historical fraud LOL! What I am saying is that we need to make sure that if the community goes with Habs then the Federation is as well run as they claim to be. Schools are not sophisticated financial organisations. Their income and outgoings are very straightforward and for them to 'lose' several million pounds over a number of years beggars belief. What have they/are they doing so that this does not happen again?

Hi Samstopit, The steering group have done fantastically well to get the bid to this stage and clearly from what you say that you are dedicated and put a lot of time and effort into the process. It seems to me however (as an outsider but an engaged and interested local resident) that things have moved a bit left field of late with the outing of the news of the fraud. Was the steering group aware of the fraud when they backed the Habs bid? It certainly raises questions about the robustness of the financial governance of the Federation. We are not talking paper clips, we are talking ?2million or even ?4million (according to BBC news). Which is it I wonder? Haberdashers clearly did not want this talked about but since being outed by Private Eye, they have no choice. It has been discussed in Parliament. We need to know about it. Pretending it isn't happening and instead obsessing whether to call the school Dulwich or East Dulwich is not going to make it go away! Going back to the dog analogy, we have found that the chosen one has a less than perfect background. What should we do about it now? Do we take it or walk away?

We are getting a dog and my kids spend hours discussing what name it should have - should it have a human name e.g. Fred or should it be named after a flower e.g. Daisy? We, the adults are more concerned that the putative dog is (1) healthy (2) has no behavioural problems (3) is not too expensive. This discussion about Haberdashers's possible move to the hospital site is increasingly reminding me of my domestic situation! You children are arguing about what the school (which may not happen if other more serious things are not sorted out) should be called whereas others are asking and finding relevant information so that as a community we can make the right decision - to have a school that is run by an organisation that is healthy, has no behavioural problems and that can look after its money. I know some of you have your own personal reasons for perpetuating the childish thread - James (for obvious reasons) and Otta (ex-pupil). The rest of you, and the steering group in particular please pull your socks up! (as I say to my kids ;)) Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The habs theft issue has already been subject to > civil litigation. There is plenty of talk about it > in the school and academy finance community. > > It's also been raised in parliament > > http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/ > cmhansrd/cm140722/text/140722w0005.htm#14072320000 > 03