Canning

Still say NHS is overperforming and the theoretical ?555 million is a red herring. Compare it to the billions saved by the NHS set against other healthcare systems in other countries.

Who is judging you? Of course it is your choice. Bonkers as it may seem.

Excellent post annaj! My partner works for NHS locally, she is too busy working to post .I am glad you have spoken up for her!. PS I said the same thing about the stats comparison by the way.

Southwark Council are notorious for being secretive. I know someone who is doing a PhD on Housing, he researchs all the local councils in London, he describes Southwark as Stalinist. Of course it must be awful for parents in this situation, Southwark are operating on a very old fashioned principle in education. It is called the 'bulge in the python' - the Council are assuming that the number of children in one year only is much bigger than usual for no real reason, hence the extra classes. I doubt that they have actually checked with other boroughs or birth registry. Please, please don't believe OFSTED their reports are subjective and mostly written off site with no reference to the real life situation in the school. Primary schools, because of their size fluctuate wildly, staff turnover is often high. This is because young newly qualified teachers often find the work in inner city schools not their cup of tea. Primary schools depend a lot on the personality of the head. This is a dreadful job, stressful and not well paid. As parents you can assist any Primary school you send your children to by being actively supportive and positive. This is especially true if the school has a new head or lots of new teachers.

Yeah Dulwich is great. I have a friend who sends her eldest boy to Alleyns, she is happy enough with it but I am appalled by the price! I taught in a school in East London for 14 years which most parents in Dulwich would consider totally unacceptable for their children. I loved it and learnt a great deal about all manner of things. I really think my students gained a lot from the mix of cultures and religions. And lots of them went on to do A levels and some went to excellent Universities. Ofsted reports are due at semi regular intervals you can read all their reports on line if you go to their website.Trust your observations about the schools you visit, I also recommend talking to teenagers who have just left. Despite the poor publicity I have always found teenagers to be very helpful and often truthful. When you visit schools ask the students lots of questions about behaviour and homework and stuff but also observe them, are they happy? Are they on time to class? Do they speak with confidence? Do try to shift your husband from the fee paying route, seriously I think it is both a waste of money and a missed opportunity.

Yes it has ironically by the media who created the false scare in the first place. However the outcomes will affect a lot of children, especially in London for some time. The sheer inconvienence of the repeated trips to the Doctor was one of the reason the combined jab was so successful!

Interesting discussion. I am not sure, however, that I trust the Times' statistical analysis. How can a comparison between the NHS, which is huge and a major employer in the British economy and the tiny, specialised private healthcare sector be valid? I believe it is well known that the NHS overperforms in terms of GDP consumed, this judgement has been calculated whilst comparing GDP consumed by other countries with similar levels of economic development.Obviously if staff sickness were addressed within the parts of the NHS where it is problematic the NHS would overperform even more.I am a little wary also about the political motivation of the Times ownership, the Tory party have made some false steps recently as regards the NHS. If they are to win the next election they need to create the impression in the public domain that there is some sort of case for the NHS to address, or they need to convince voters that those in the Tory party who want to attack the NHS are random nutters!

Welcome back to the UK! I am not a parent but I am a teacher, please be cautious in using OFSTED reports, at best they only give an out of date snap shot of a school, at worst they are very misleading. Schools, both primary and secondary change very quickly. Don't forget that by joining a school your child/children become part of a dynamic process.Visit any school you are considering but bear in mind in some schools staff turnover can be rapid and this affects the character of the school greatly. If it makes you feel any better schools are not as important as people think, in my opinion, students spend a lot of time not in school and already arrive even in primary school with a huge amount of knowledge and a set of values learnt from home. By the way private schools have problems too, but they are not usually academic ones. Incidently I live in Telegraph Hill and I think it is great that Haberdashers is linked to Monson, local schools for local kids.

Hold London to ransom? Why haven't they won yet then? Pretty good wages for the drivers but not as good as teachers or nurses on shift work that includes nights at weekends/bankholidays, or bankers, or MPs or civil engineers, or Farmers. Also why don't more people become traindrivers if it is so good?

Skidmarks - you seem to be arguing for solidarity amongst unions and stronger unionisation for poorly paid workers. I am with you all the way on this one. Mikecg I am pleased you have come round to the pro driver side.

I live in Nunhead as well and I have a real profession well sort of, I am a history teacher. Maybe it is just an East Dulwich thing to have a daft job and be anti train driver.

Can I ask mikecg, to whom are the Union's dictating? The RMT having kept carefully within the anti union laws of this country are involved in a dispute between the workers and management of the Victoria Line.Trust me they want this settled what possible motive would they have for prolonging this dispute? And surely it is obvious that the management have far far more power than the workers. And I so agree with Snorky about the people who attack the drivers.

And guess who defends them and fights for their rights not to be abused Trade Unions. And the reason for the long closedowns are because the management have failed over a number of years to maintain the fabric of the network. Mainly because there is no way to make profit out of maintenance.

I was very offended. I live in Telegraph Hill, this ward is and always has had a proud history of voting for left wing parties.Officially we are the most left voting electoral ward in London. All I could think was how rude!

No one goes on strike for a trivial reason, it costs a lot of money, you don't get paid for a strike day unless the management is very stupid. I use the Victoria Line a lot and I think the people who work at Victoria station have an amazingly stressful and thankless task. I checked the Union's website and the dispute is a long running one partly over safety and partly over the right to belong to a trade union, both serious reasons.Incidently I am a teacher and I don't know why anyone would think we are poorly paid, we moan about a lot of stuff but pay isn't one of them. And the Union has shut down the Victoria Line only for 2 days, seems like the bloody management are always closing it down for the whole weekend.

I love Jacqui, she has done more to raise the profile of home sec than anyone else since the suffergettes blew up Lloyd George's house. And I thought Humph was having a go for no real reason. If I was Jacqui I would have him duffed up by the secret police!

I love the East Dulwich Pool. Everytime I pass it I have a quick prayer that the refurb will not ruin it. There is no greater pleasure than swimming there on a sunny morning with the sunlight beaming down through the water.The staff are great too and it upsets me that the council do not respect them or the fabric of the beautiful building.

I like the brutalist architecture of the Police Station and as an ex teacher I can tell you most schools are pretty much the same. No matter how much you paid for your house in Herts/Cambs/Bucks some cynical old swine like me will be teaching your little princes/princesses. My old head worked in Bucks, where the locals retained the discredited 'intelligence' test 11 plus, he said the schools and teachers were far worse than us inner city types in east Ham.

I have to go against the tide of opinion here.I have been using the pool for 3 years and I love it. I used to be a member of the Reebok gym in Canary Wharf and it was expensive and the pool was superb but it was by no means as beautiful as East Dulwich. I also found the staff pleasant and helpful,really what do people expect from the reception or pool staff? A hug and a kiss? If the pool is going to stay open till april I would be delighted.The changing areas may not be as dazzlingly clean as Reebok but it also is not that bad and at a fraction of the cost. There are only a handful of public pools from the victorian/edwardian era left and I feel lucky to have been able to use East Dulwich pool.