Soylent Green

I've not been to Gala but I have been to X The Tracks in Brockwell Park and On Blackheath and loved them both. It's a great way to do a festival without the camping and these events have a great community vibe. Let's not forget, every council has events on their common land for local people to enjoy. They are not private events as everyone can pay to attend - a private event would surely be by invitation only - so it is not privatisation of common land. Totally support your right to grumble, but let's let this go ahead.

This is for my daughter's Geography A'level coursework. The survey is short and on changes to Peckham. Thank you for helping. You can find the survey here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1YMBhih6iFDvUVAq5p66YBjg7Zsq2STwu4kWD3lElLtg/edit

It's just a short survey on Peckham, Many thanks. Here is the link. https://www.surveymonkey.com/create/?ut_source=dashboard_survey_list

Nigello Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does this mean that classroom numbers will > necessarily fall? If so, could this be a > plus-point from this situation? Hardly. Which would you prefer; 30 kids in a class with a teacher and a TA, or 22 kids in a class with a teacher but no TA?

Just catching up on this. I am on immunosuppressants and also got contacted. I also had a text to book mu booster jab, which I did and was then miraculously cancelled with no explanation. I have not had another text to rebook in 2 weeks. Has anyone else had the opportunity to book a booster at Tessa Jowell?

Both my children attended Kingsdale from year 7 and the younger one is now in Year 13. Kingsdale is a hugely creative school with fabulous art, drama and music. These subjects are highly valued and showcased. Academically, students also perform well because the teachers are hugely dedicated and supportive and help the students believe in their ability to succeed. Both of mine have achieved extremely well there, but more importantly have been happy and enjoyed school life. Everyone jokes about Kingsdale being a bit chaotic, but it always pulls through in the end and outcomes are reliably good. It is an enormous operation with 2,000 students and a proportionately enormous staff, so logistics can understandably go awry. If you want a creative and nurturing ethos, then it is the school for you. If you want regimented structure and rigorous protocol, it probably isn't. My kids both thrived there and I have nothing but praise for the school.

The government's levelling up strategy is based on taking money out of London schools and giving it to schools in the north. Southwark schools lost ?500 per pupil per year. That has had a massive impact on schools' funding, regardless of falling rolls. Primary schools throughout (South) London are making their TAs redundant to make ends meet - meaning no additional support for children in the classroom, which will impact learning but schools' hands are tied. It is a dire situation created by a ruinous Tory government.

If our energy provision was still nationalised, our gas and electricity buying would be hedged and our storage facilities would be in full operation. We therefore would not be facing this mess. Large British and foreign energy suppliers hedge and forward buy supplies and other countries have kept their energy reserve operations.

Anyone heard from The Gardens? I am still waiting notification...

Kingsdale is brilliant for all creative subjects and pastoral care is excellent.

Whilst the words 'exam' or 'test' will not be used, kids pretty soon twig that the 'quizzes' and special pieces of writing for the headteacher are progress assessments. As for homework, daily reading is the most important thing you can do with a young child along with spellings - and in KS2, times tables. I would agree homework is for parents' benefit rather than the kids. Take these scenarios: Maths h/w differentiated 3 ways: Some kids have fully understood the learning and are just going through the process (waste of time), some struggled a bit in class, were helped by the child next to them and now can't really remember - complete the sheet but get it all wrong (waste of time), some are a bit hesitant and ask for parents' help, who show them the way they did it at school - confuses the child further or ends up with the parents giving the children the answers (waste of time), some just don't do it. (Not fair on those who did). Teacher has to mark it all not knowing if the child did it independently or with help because none of the working out is shows (waste of time). One of the other differences between this country and others is that schools provide the books, so the books stay in school, whereas in other countries parents buy the books and they go home. In this scenario, being asked to finish a piece of work makes sense as homework, but UK homework is usually a printed sheets - which schools can no longer afford to provide given the marginal benefit - and is just further practice of what they have done in school. Instead, children who have struggled and completed little work get to catch up during assembly, breaks or registration/story time with adult guidance.

We used to take our rabbits to the vets up by the Harvester. You can park outside which is useful.

For the same price as a car hire, can't you all take the train? You can help her with her bags that way and anything you can't carry you can order online from Ikea and have it delivered to the halls.

How can you know if you might fancy a swim in 14 days' time? That is ridiculous. Fine for people who do a regular class, or like to stick to a regular timetable, but this is totally off-putting for anyone who fancies a bit of casual fitness.

I bought one on Etsy but found it fogged up really quickly, so I just stopped wearing it

We had a few salvaged units to hold cutlery, crockery, pans and some food stuffs and on top of this unit put the kettle, microwave, toaster and Ikea hotplate (as mentioned above). We added a freestanding shelving unit for other kitchen stuff, and had the builders plumb in the fridge and dishwasher. No sink - we used the dishwasher and the washbasin in the downstairs loo - water and waste for dishwasher and fridge came from the downstairs cloakroom, and because we had no sink, we only needed the cold water plumbed. This was a very space saving solution. We also relied heavily on the barbecue - I even barbecued with a head torch on!

Yup, people who have moved into the area have stayed in the area. Therefore, fewer homes are coming on the market and so there are fewer younger families. Several schools in this area are no longer able to fill their reception places and at some point, I think we will see some schools close or have their intake reduced - eg from two form to one form intake. This makes expanding secondary schools less attractive in the long-term.

My two both failed the music scholarship and got into the school. Even the scholarship place are a lottery - you just go into a different pot. The school does banding tests and names are selected randomly from each band. The waiting list, however, is band and distance based. If you like the school the most, make it your first preference. It won't affect your chances of getting a place at other schools as the schools do not know where they are on your list. In terms of prep, I bought the non verbal reasoning Bond books for my kids so they were familiar with the tests before taking them.

JEG1 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hi EDN > > When you say you live in a secondary school dead > zone, do you mean you're not in the Charter > schools catchment areas? Just interested, as there > are other very good state schools in the area as > well. I think the best thing to do is visit as > many schools as possible schools with your > children (when restrictions are lifted). You might > be pleasantly surprised by some of the other local > state schools. > > But yes, if you can afford private and you think > your children would be more suited to that > environment, then go for it. Keep all your options > open. We're lucky to have an abundance of > brilliant schools, both private and state. This thread seems to have gone off-topic, but to summarise the poster is looking for ideas on state or private education. My recommendation would be to look at both and decide what you like and what you would be comfortable with. Then apply to both state and private and see what places you get offered. In my opinion, if you think you might feel you are short changing your kids with the state system, then go private. Whichever you choose you have to buy into it and believe in it. You may find yourself frustrated with the state system if you feel your children are not supported enough or not getting enough homework, but the way to manage this is to have a tutor who can provide that extra lift and support. It works out much cheaper than school fees and you have more control as you get to choose who works with your children. Alternatively, with the private system you might find yourself having to go without some of the things that you would wish your kids had if you are financially stretched and that the kids are resentful that they do not have the skiing holidays/latest tech etc that some of their friends have.

I would want to see a wider choice of results before taking this as gospel. I am immunosuppressed and my consultant was keen for me to take the vaccine, which I have done. I was told that it might take a little longer for my resistance to build, but it has never been suggested to me that the vaccine would not work. Admittedly, I only skimmed through the post, but I did not see any time scales - perhaps if these people had been retested two or three weeks later, their immunity to Covid would have increased? There is a huge range of drugs for immune-suppression and doses vary widely, so I would trust the doctors who treat you rather than Dr Google.

Our dentist sent us to Dulwich and we did end up paying, even tho' dentist had said our daughter would qualify.

DuncanW Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Soylent, I'm not certain that's right. > > If you have two kids or more and at the time your > eldest is applying for secondary schools, they > can't get a local school because other families > have moved into the area to get their eldest in, > and then moved out and the younger ones are > getting sibling priority, would that not be a > disadvantage? I think you are over-imagining the number of people who move out of an area once they have one child in secondary. In my experience of having had two children go through secondary school, relatively few people move away at this stage. Who wants their 11 or 12 year old, who is just getting to grips with commuting and having the independence to meet up with friends at weekends or after school travelling long and complicated journeys between home and school and friends and home? The reason for number of applications exceeding number of places is simply because there are a very large number of junior school age in this area. Most local primaries have either expanded or had bulge years and people are less likely nowadays to move out of London for the Kent grammars. If you add up the number of local year 6 classes you will see how the supply exceeds demand. Starting closest to CED; GG 2, DKH 2, St Johns 2, Bessemer 3, Heber 2, Goodrich 3, Bellenden 2, Lyndhurst 2, St Anthony's 2. That's without bulge classes or including Herne Hill, Nunhead or Dulwich schools. Already you are over 500 pupils chasing how few places? Sadly, we know this bulge is already in decline - primary schools are not filling their reception classes any more - which means there is no argument for building any more secondary schools. Sorry that this is such a depressing state of affairs, but you are just wasting sweat if you think the sibling policy is to blame here. It's not.