theratprincess

Our Y7 takes the 363 to near the Woodhouse Pub and goes down the walkway to Sydenham Hill Station railway bridge or gets off at the Dome Hill Park stop and walks down Rock Hill. Then walks through the estate and comes out at back of the school. They?re looking at doing the above cycle route too.

It's worth reading the Kingsdale admissions policy and scholarship appendices, which are on the admissions page of the school website. It is a little complicated! My understanding is that only the sports and music scholarships give the possibility of a place at the school. Kingsdale offer music or sports scholarships to 15% of their intake, which works out at about 60 children currently. Applicants are tested, scored and ranked according to their scores. Those with scores of a certain amount are offered full or half scholarships. The school then offers places to scholars ranked in the top 15% figure and hold an oversubscription waiting list for the rest, which they work their way down as higher ranked offer holders drop out. The rest of the available places are offered via a banded lottery. The banding test is a non-verbal reasoning test and the school say it is used so they get pupils with a range of abilities. Scholars may get a place either through the scholarship list or through the lottery. The maths and art scholarships are applied after a place has already been offered and are not a means of getting a place at the school. Last year, I found details about them on the maths and art department websites and they were also given out on the school tours. For the music aptitude test, which is used alongside an audition to assess music scholarship applicants - one of the local music schools offers material to download and practice.

My child got music scholarships to Haberdashers and Kingsdale, starting at Kingsdale next year. They played two instruments - one Grade 5, one Grade 4. I was informed by various local music teachers that around Grade 5 is their experience of the level that past pupils got in at. Various of my child?s friends who are good musicians with more than one instrument at Grade 2 or 3 did not get any scholarships at Kingsdale, not even a half scholarship and ended up on the waiting list or with nothing at Haberdashers. I heard though that this year was an unusually high standard due to a larger number of private school applicants. These schools have to say they?re just looking for raw aptitude, but I?m really sceptical about that.

Our 8 year old son has recently been diagnosed with an early onset idiopathic scoliosis. He's wearing a spinal brace 17+ hours per day and may need to have one or two major spinal operations. Bit of a long shot, but just wondering if there's anyone on here with a similar age child with the same condition who might like to meet up or chat? Or have you gone through this yourself at a similar age or with an older child and have any experience or tips to share? I'm a member of SAUK and have started exploring contacts that they've given me but there is no one local on their list. Many thanks.

We had a fab holiday a couple of years ago at the Huttopia site in the Gorge du Verdon (it?s the French equivalent of the Grand Canyon). We took the Eurostar direct to Marseille and then hired a car. https://europe.huttopia.com/en/site/gorges-du-verdon/ This year we?re going to their site which is within walking distance of Satlat in the Dordogne. No direct train this time but the kids are super excited about the prospect of a double decker TGV, which is only 2 hours from Paris to Bordeaux. https://europe.huttopia.com/en/site/sarlat/ There?s a good write up here on Sarlat and surrounding area. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/travel/2018/apr/07/dordogne-france-holiday-guide-best-restaurants-hotels

Yes, we?ve had a similar debate in our household about the labelling effect. Ultimately, though we just decided that the benefit to him of assessment was likely to outweigh the negatives. He already knew that he found writing and spelling (but not reading) more challenging than his peers and we said that we would be meeting someone who was going to help us understand if there was a reason for this and to work out how to help him. It was not a negative experience for him, quite the opposite. At his lowest point last year in Year 2 we had many tears and arguments over homework etc and not wanting to have a go at things that he found hard, so we also got a tutor for him which coupled with a much better Year 3 class teacher and focussing on other extra curricular things he is good at, has really boosted his confidence. And finally yes it is a minefield getting seen by the right people. Our son has been seen by the community paediatrician at Sunshine House who did a developmental assessment, had a SALT there and at school, has additional learning support in and out of the classroom at school, tutor etc. As parent you have to be the coordinator of all this as you are the only one that has the full picture!

Our school had an ?early? dyslexia screening at the end of Year 2 but were not permitted to fund formal assessment by Southwark until Year 3. Dyslexia can actually be diagnosed earlier than age 7. We were not prepared to sit back and watch our son lose confidence at school. His teachers just seemed to assume he was not very bright. I had always had a gut feeling that something was different about him compared to his peers and his younger sister. We also have a family history of dyslexia and our son had a speech sounds delay. We paid to have him assessed privately mid way through Year 2 when he had just turned 7. It was money very well spent and the report, I understand, was way more thorough than a report done via the school. I have had to be politely very insistent with the school about following the recommendations by scheduling extra meetings and chasing updated ITPs (individual target plans) etc. We used a former Great Ormond Street Consultant child psychologist called Valerie Muter http://psykidz.co.uk/helenlikierman+valmuter.html . My son knew he was being assessed, there was no way of hiding it but Dr Muter was good at reassuring and explaining things to him and the assessment was fun activities with breaks and chocolate biscuits. Good luck! Happy for you to PM me.

My son had issues with delayed speech sounds that his nursery picked up when he was 3 - they found they were having difficulties understanding him. We paid for a report from Jen Warwick, to tide us over until his NHS appointment came through. With hindsight, I am not sure Jen's report was strictly necessary other than for our peace of mind - in the end the end, after we chased Sunshine House, the NHS appointment came through quite quickly. He then had input from both his NHS and school SALT and daily speech work sessions with the teaching assistant at school until he was signed off when he was 6. Just to add, there is a well known correlation between delayed speech sounds and dyslexia. Obviously may not be a problem for you, but worth keeping an eye on (my son is being referred for the early dyslexia screening programme at school, but we also have a family history of dyslexia). Good luck! Feel free to PM me if you want to know more.

My son has been blocks of weekly sessions at Rye Oak with a Sunshine House SALT, since he was 3 ? or so because whilst his grammar and vocab was fine, he was unintelligible due to delayed speech sounds (f, v, l, r). You are right - there are certain sounds that they should be able to make by a certain age. Our son?s nursery first raised concerns with us and we then self-referred to Sunshine House (you can just call them and ask for a form). Sunshine House did an initial assessment quite quickly and then there was quite a wait for the actual sessions. In the mean time, we got a local private SALT Jen Warwick to write a report for us, so we could better understand what was going on. He is now in Year 1 (Ivydale) and since Reception has had daily one on one time with the class teaching assistant/teacher so they can do the speech work with him, which is overseen by the school?s SALT. He is now nearly 6 and his speech is fine and perfectly intelligible and I think we will be signed off by his SALT very soon. If you have concerns, I would definitely follow up and not leave it. A good starting point would be to look at the resources on here http://www.talkingpoint.org.uk/. They also offer a free phone call with a SALT, so you can talk through your concerns. The main thing to do is not to correct the mispronunciations, but to consistently keep modelling the correct sound back. Good luck!

Thanks for this. I probably should have said that we have tried all the DSG teachers, and those recommended by them and so far, none of them have slots that we can do either in school (Ivydale) or after school. The problem is that we have limited days as I work Monday to Thursday. I will try Margaret's daughter though. If there are any other recommendations, please keep them coming!

Anyone? Our current teacher has changed her teaching days and we are teacherless! Thanks

Can anyone recommend one that is fairly local? Needed for my five year old son. Thanks very much.

Might it be worth getting a Physio appointment any way? There are paediatric physios at Sunshine House. My daughter (aged 2) was seen there recently because she in-toes when she walks. They were really good with my daughter and the appointment was quite quick to come through after GP referral. You might even be able to self refer - you can with some other services at Sunshine House.

Our house was measured at 455m from Ivydale and we were 2nd on the waiting list on offers day. We got offered a place about 4 weeks later. Judging by who we see walking home from school, I think we might be one of the furthest families in reception, at least on the Southern end. Incidentally, we were told that the furthest distance on offers day was 445m but the official figure that came out later was the 386m that Renata has quoted. No idea which of the figures is correct, but wouldn't trust Southwark - they were a bit of shambles.

Just a reminder - the picnic is on this Saturday. So far, I think there are about 10 families attending. It would be fantastic to be joined by some others. Please let me know if you are planning to come along.

There is a small group of us who (to some extent) already know each and we have have organised picnic so us and our children can meet before school starts. We would really like to meet other prospective Ivydale parents and children. So please come and join us! The picnic is at 12.30pm on Sat 9 August in the enclosed picnic area in Peckham Rye. If you want to come along, please PM me so we can exchange contact details, in case needed on the day.

Brilliant - thanks all!

We've finally booked our holiday (we're off to Cirali in Turkey). Can anyone recommend a parking service at Gatwick? We're thinking of taking our car and leaving it at Gatwick for a week while we're away. We're flying from the South Terminal, if that makes any difference. Thanks

Thanks for this - so useful. My partner actually tried (and failed) to make one of these when we needed to push a Maclaren and a bike at the same time for the nursery run. Wish I'd known about it then!

Just completed our form. We're in too. Met the head on Friday and was impressed. Look forward to meeting you all soon - happy to attend any variety of meet up.

Thanks very much Skegness. I now finally understand how it works!

What is the source of this information please Renata? The furthest distance offered for Ivydale is not what we have been told by Southwark on national offer day or subsequently.

I have another question. How does the 1.5 form entry work? I think that they split the classes into the youngest half and oldest half of the year. They then stream the children as they get to the older end of the school My son would be in the youngest half of the year. Practically, how does it work? I don't really understand! Also, what are the downsides, particularly if you have a child in the younger half of the year? I will call the school and ask them too, but was wondering if anyone with children at the school can shed some light on things in the meantime. Thanks

Thanks I had been wondering about lack of space, so that's really good to know.

Thanks very much that's really helpful. I have also received a PM with similar positive feedback. Still interested to hear from others.