rendelharris

TillieTrotter Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > By my understanding Headteachers can now only > grant authorised absences for exceptional > circumstances which include close family > bereavement and religious holidays. Is that > right? Yes - family crises also. The chief point of the current guidance is that permission should not be given for holidays if the only reason is because the holiday was cheaper than it would be in the school holidays. Holidays could still be allowed if the the head decides there are special circumstances - for example if a parent was terminally ill and the family were having one last trip before their death.

Possible I suppose that the guy could be a sufferer from severe Lupus, where sufferers have very severe reactions to sunlight - I knew a girl with it once who couldn't go outdoors even on quite cloudy days without a broadbrimmed hat and a beekeeper type veil. I would have thought anyone up to no good would be at pains to avoid wearing a balaclava on a sunny day, that being the most obvious way possible to draw attention to oneself. Scary for your kids nonetheless, I appreciate.

I wonder if anyone's done research on the actual pollution levels inside the school grounds? The statistics seem to be for schools within 150 yards of roads with dangerous levels of pollution, so it's conceivable that a school uphill and/or upwind of the dangerous road and with buildings or tree cover between them and it might have lower pollution levels than one downwind/downhill and less well screened, even if it were further away from the nearest high pollution road. It is really criminal that parents should have to take this into consideration in choosing a school.

TillieTrotter Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The kid was 6....just 6! Bloke in question along > with 17 family members went on holiday and she > missed 7 days of schooling. Really! This is all > ludicrous in my opinion and it's taken away the > discretion of the Head. Headteachers still have the discretion to allow absences in term time, if they do it's marked as authorised absence and the local authority isn't involved. All this ruling does is confirm what was already the case, that parents are not allowed to withdraw their children from school without the headteacher's permission.

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > rendelharris Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > I find it highly amusing that the guy who fought > this case > > did so on the basis that his daughter had an > > excellent attendance record of 92% - so in > other > > words she was already missing fifteen days of > > school a year and he wanted to take her out for > > another ten, meaning she would miss nearly 15% > of > > the school year. > > > > Are you sure about this? I assumed that the 92% > included the holiday? > > I still agree 100% with you, but really hope > you're right, as that makes it even easier to call > him a twat. Hands up may have made a wrong assumption there. Still, 8% a pretty good slice off the top of a child's education, and a pretty good amount for the teachers to have to catch up.

The man's an utter bellend and his opinions are utterly foolish. Shame as I thought he did some excellent work as mayor of London, but he's clearly lost the plot. What's more worrying is that Corbyn is so utterly at sea and demonstrating that while he might have been a competent local councilor he has no idea of how to be leader of Her Majesty's Opposition - this was a chance to look decisive leadership material and he's just looked pathetic. Despair.

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I kind of agree with the post above. This is a > pretty new cinema, presumably you applied for the > jobs knowing full well what the pay was? Ever taken a job knowing the pay wasn't what it should be but you needed a job and it was the least poorly paid one going? I certainly have.

geobz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Anyways good luck, I feel like your wrong for > feeling entitled to wages of ?9.75 and no 0 hour > contracts. You don't like it just change jobs, or > I don't know vote for a Gov that will give you > what you want. ths105 Wrote: > I support your right to protest - just be mindful, > when venting your anger, that there is a Peppa Pig > movie showing at 12.15pm and you will have young > children in the building at the time of your protest. Absolute peak EDF, one be grateful for what you've got and one "please somebody think of the children"! Stone me. Good luck with your demo edphstaff, unfortunately have a commitment that day or would have gladly joined you. But just be mindful, when venting your anger, that for some people it's more important that their little treasures go to the movies than that there's any sort of social justice!

singalto Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I wonder how parents who take their children out > of school for holidays would feel if the teachers > did the same. This - imagine the howls of anguish if every teacher was allowed to take two weeks off at a time of their choosing, and then told parents it was their job to catch the children up on what they'd missed. By the way, elsewhere much is being made of "well what if a child's ill?" as if unavoidable illness and going on holiday were the same thing. Children will of course occasionally be ill, but then holidays are added on top of that. I find it highly amusing that the guy who fought this case did so on the basis that his daughter had an excellent attendance record of 92% - so in other words she was already missing fifteen days of school a year and he wanted to take her out for another ten, meaning she would miss nearly 15% of the school year. I agree there should be some discretion for schools and in my time in teaching it was generally intelligently and sensitively applied, but that's not what this case was about: this was about handing all power to parents to withdraw their children whenever they fancy without sanction.

Socket and cable shouldn't cost more than about ?30, installation shouldn't take more than an hour so whatever the electrician's hourly rate is (?60+) plus ?30. Make sure the unit has an RCD (residual current device) to minimise risk of shock. Check the installer is registered with an official self-certification scheme so they can certify the work themselves, if they're not you'd have to get it independently certified as safe (doubling the cost) in order for it to be legal. (Not an electrical guru, had one put in at mother's house recently!)

nxjen Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > So does this mean that when anybody who has > created a covenant as the condition of selling > land dies that the covenant is unenforceable? > Seems a bit odd. Seemed odd to me too but that's what we were told - the original seller had died intestate, I don't know if it would have been different if he'd passed it on somehow.

Very much my thoughts Louisa; as Richard Dawkins sagely observed, "Don't get into an argument with an idiot, the best you can hope for is to say you've won an argument with an idiot." The fact that suzieb has dug around to find a thread that had been lying fallow for five months is pretty indicative of her intentions.

As ITATM said - thirty years back my mother bought a bit of land at the back of her garden with two neighbours, and they divided it up to make their gardens bigger. The guy from whom they bought it had tried and failed to get planning permission, so he put a covenant on the sale that nobody was allowed to build on it. Two years ago one of the neighbours decided to have his house knocked down and build four new houses on the site, including the piece of land with a covenant on it. When she (mother) tried to oppose this on the grounds of the covenant she was told that as the original vendor had died in the interim the covenant was unenforceable as it would be up to him to make the complaint - so now she has four geet ugly Barret homes at the end of the garden! Get the best legal advice you can.

Good to know, well done! Fitting 700x28 tyres or even bigger if your frame can take it can do a lot to soak up the bumps. Great to hear you're enjoying it.

sorchamr Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I dont cycle I go by bus look like cyclist round > by Elephant are all very assertive and fast - it > looks so scary Presumably you're talking about cyclists who remain on the road to mix with other vehicles (as they have every right to do if they choose!)? It's now possible to ride all round Elephant in both directions without ever having to share space with motor vehicles.

Nigello Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Small butterflies (moths?) at ground level on > Wimbledon Common yesterday - anyone know which > kind they could have been? Meadow Browns are very common on London grasslands and, as the name suggests, could easily be taken for moths.

A quick search online reveals that bike hangars cost around ?2,600 plus VAT, so one does wonder where the other two grand gets soaked up.

When I was teaching secondary school bringing any sort of blade into school was an automatic suspension, threatening anyone with it on school premises would be automatically reported to our police liaison officer for possible further action (ETA and would trigger permanent exclusion). That's only my experience but I'd be surprised if policies are much different now.

Jeremy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If the roads are quiet, then they'll probably be > building up quite a bit of speed.. so perhaps it's > just as well they're warning people! > > I think we have to trust their judgement. Yep - some force up north, can't recall which one, instituted a policy of being as quiet as reasonably possible a couple of years back but scrapped it when a woman was run down and killed at night stepping out in front of a vehicle which didn't have its siren on. We used to live on Denmark Hill so got the sirens all day and all night, not to mention the air ambulance coming in to land; even if they woke me I consoled myself with the thought that they were on their way to help someone. Now if something could be done about thumping drum & bass from cars after midnight (or indeed at any time)I'd be all for that!

Otta Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Just been given a heads up that the slightly > unhinged Lewis is asking on twitter for the real > identity of me (not hard to find Lewis) and > various others from this thread. I don't have a dog in this fight but I must say that's extremely disturbing. In the US there is an offence covered by many state and federal laws known as "doxing": revealing documents about a person. Revealing the name of someone who chooses to operate under an alias online comes under that heading. I assume some similar provision exists in UK privacy laws, so Mr.Schaffer should be extremely cautious about sharing real names of posters on Twitter, or encouraging others to do the same. My EDF name is my real name Lewis, in case you're wondering.

There isn't one, they can use them any time provided they're responding to an emergency.

Brulysses Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > the Colyton road end was where I used to hear them > a few years ago... Cheers we were looking nearer the pond, will have to have another look.

We went looking for the owls yesterday but couldn't see (or hear) any - any tips for the best locations?

Annasfield Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Cycling to work is great. You'll love it > > > I only started 2 years ago but I'm addicted now. > It's a great way to start the day. > > Just take it steady and learn to build your > confidence. If you don't want to a junction on a > bike get off and use the tragic lights like a > pedestrian. Are tragic lights the ones one crosses while soliliquising ;-)? Good advice, and when you get to know the rhythms of your chosen route you might well find there are certain junctions where it's actually quicker to dismount and walk across than wait for the lights to change.

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