intexasatthe moment

You've absolutely no reason to be embarrassed - the police have ,but not you !

and details of your book are......?

Good on you for perservering Sue. I'm still devestated that Southwark allowed a mature tree ( Elm Grove / Highshore junction vicinity) with preservation order to be cut down . It was in a front garden and deal was that owners replaced it - which they have with an 18" tree that's going to take many decades to mature and is in no way a replacement. Good luck.

Hi James - I'm still worrying away about the varying admissions criteria for the secondary schools and hoping that you can reassure and shed light. I just don't understand how ,on top of the faith schools and their admissions criteria,how Southwark can have allowed a situation where Kingsdale operates a 3 band and lottery system ( plus scholarships ) and the Charter use geograhical proximity. And the Harris Academies have a 9 band system related to national values. Presumably this is to ensure an intake that will achieve exam results in line with national results - but if other Southwark schools don't operate this system won't it skew the intake in favour of Harris Academies and make it hard for parents to compare performance ? And how are shortfalls /oversubscriptions for bands dealt with ? ( I just know I'm not going to be able to understand the answer to this question ,but would like to try !) And then there's Bacons admission policy ,different again. Why don't they all have the same admissions criteria ? How can parents make sense of all this ?

Squirrels will certainely make off with a whole net and hook. I'm no nature expert but I've read that small birds like blue tits loose so much of their energy/body weight overnight ( especially when cold nights come ,like now ) that if they head to a spot where there's normally food and find none ,then they are in trouble because they lack the energy to look further afield. Apparently if you start feeding them,putting out peanuts etc,then it's important to continue.

Except that year 11's finish their GCSE's weeks before the end of the summer term. Same with AS. Expect you realise this already - but it took me by surprise when my son was in year 11 so just mentioning in case you don't.

James, are you any closer to clarifying you're original belief that Southwark's secondary schools "have agreed common admissions criteria "? This is a real concern to me ,the admissions criteria for Southwark secondary schools vary hugely . How can this be helpful to parents when trying to compare schools ( surely if schools have different criteria for selecting their intake ,they will have different outcomes ) or even understand the secondary transfer process? Never mind the stress for the children in having to sit the tests required for the schools that operate a banding system. And how does the banding work - if for example they have an oversubscription of children for one band ? And why do the Harris Academies use banding that reflects national rather than local values. And without wishing to criticise ( honestly ) how could you think that our secondary schools have common admissions ctiteria ?

Thank you so much Mellors. Imagine no one else wanted to give away clues to their best place:))

Advice for sister in law who is driving in from Farnborough ,Kent. Any tips - is Ferndene Rd ( next to Ruskin Park ) any good ? Fox on the Hill car park ???

Can someone please give details of support group... Have a very well deserved break ,thanks for all you do.

James - just wondering if you'd made any progress on my query about describing the admission policies for Southwark's secondary schools as being a common admissions policy. ( If that makes sense ) I'm guessing it's something to do with the application being made on one common form. Though as many of the schools ( ? 9 ) require applicants to complete a seperate supplementary form this rather makes a nonsensense of the notion of a common form. And my linked enquiry about banding ,particularly why the Harris Federation has banding referenced to National ( and not local ) values ?

Thanks Fuschia - what a power house of info and work you are!

Fuschia - is that info you've asked for and therefore coming to you ? Or will it be available on line from Southwark ? Might it be available at the O&Sc meeting on the 12th ? Aplogies if I'm being dense !

Ha ha no My car was damaged sometime between 3-5 of July by some kind motorist who failed to leave details, but not in this area! A likely tale !

Totally agree with Big Phil. Am in constant communication with Southwark re state of Highshore Rd ,near Post Office sorting office . ( in Peckham ) And thanks to Samuel Ofosuhene ( the guy who's arranging the current street audit around Forest Hill Rd etc ) with some success. But all that money spent on repaving Crystal Palace Rd ,and now Court Lane ,plus the fancy cross overs to the side roads joining Lordship Lane. How on earth does Southwark prioritise this type of spending ? Is it all zoned ? " Oh we've not spent much money in East Dulwich ,let's do it now whether it needs it or not ?" " Oh,let's keep the good burghers of Court Lane happy and further improve their already immaculate pavements ? "

James - firstly all credit to you for coming on to this forum ,though seems a bit of a mammoth undertaking. Over on the Family Discussion threads I had raised the issue of all Southwark's Secondary schools no longer being LEA schools and all being Academies,Faith or Foundation schools. My concern is that as such, one of the freedoms they enjoy is that they can determine their own admissions ctiteria. You had responded to say that Caroline Pidgeon had negotiated a common admissions policy. But looking at the individual schools admission policies ,I can't see this ,as they are all so different. The Harris Academies require children to sit a test for banding purposes ,but their banding ( 9 bands ) is different from the system of 3 bands used by Kingsdale. Throw into this mix the purely geographical crtieria used by Charter and sibling priority being lower than sport and music aptitude at Kingsdale plus the different again policies of faith schools and Academies that aren't sponsored by Harris and I'm struggling to see what the common bit is. And if the schools are using different admissions criteria then surely that would make their results/league tables difficult to compare/give a misleading picture ? Also do you have any light to shed on the banding systems used ? I've always found this a bit confusing - one of the Harris Academies says that their banding is with reference to National banding values. So presumably that means that they are striving to have an intake that reflects ...what? Why national and not based on values for Southwark /London? How do they work the bands out - is there a measurement of national aptitude/IQ for year 6 which is then divided up into 9 bands ? If you have a banding system how do you avoid a situation where if you fall in the top bands ( presumably fewer people ) you get in even if you live a long away from the school and if you're average and fall in the middle bands ( presumably lots of applicants )pressure of numbers will mean that you'll only get in if you live very near the school? Sorry for length and if not very clear - maths not my strong point.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1217974/Im-Harriet-Harman--know--What-Minister-allegedly-told-witness-crashing-parked-car.html

Using the menu the scanning process just wouldn't commence. Don't know why ,it just sat there for 10 mins with 0% completed. It was only when we unplugged it that it started rescanning for channels .

Jah Lush - we've just been struggling to retune our BT Vision box .In the end we unplugged it and restarted it ,and it went automatically to the scan for new channels option. We do have a remote ,but I notice that the box itself also has an OK/select button. But if you have a freeview TV maybe it's different.Have you checked if the TV has a an OK/select button?

" an agreed common admissions crtieria " Off topic for this thread so I'll try and be brief. There may be some agreed criteria ,like priority for children with statements ,but if you look at the criteria applied when places are oversubscribed you will find a huge variation in Southwark Secondary schools.( None of which are community schools under the control of the LEA ) Which is why Southwarks booklet ( find it here http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourServices/educationandlearning/Admissions/startingsecondary.html ) on applying to secondary schools says Voluntary aided, academies and foundation schools have different admissions criteria, Because Academies and Foundation schools can determine their own admissions criteria. Bacon's has a stringent inner and outer geographical requirement ,the Harris Academy's mainly require children to sit a test and places are allocated by banding.In some cases this banding is" referenced to the national distribution of ability ". The Charter bases their admissions criteria around geographical distance ,and Kingsdale goes for banding ,only 3 bands as opposed to Harris's 9 ,but gives priority to " Children who satisfy our scholarship criteria based on aptitude for music or sport." over that of siblings. So huge variations.

Was your daughter higher up the school,ie not reception ? I think sometimes there's more movement in the older age groups ?

Re the straight line /crow flies criteria - Southwark's website refers to it as The straight line walking distance. So it can't be as the crow flies ...can it ?

James The problem with a non community school is that they have their own admissions criteria. What like all Southwark's secondary schools ,none of which remain community schools being either Academy's or Foundation schools ? Or is it only a concern if it's a primary school ?

Good suggestion Moos .

Article in Independant on getting your child to sleep ,not using controlled crying. http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/how-to-help-your-baby-sleep-1791130.html