Soylent Green

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.

The hundreds further up the waiting lists are the same people for each school, so it is not as frightening as it may seem. Some of these will also decide not to take up their waiting list place once they have attended the taster day/bought the uniform/tested the journey/made new friends etc I know a handful of children who changed school at the first October half term without any detriment as well as some who got places as preferred schools just after the August Bank Holiday, so hope is there - you may just need to be very patient.

I would agree with Monniemae, in a one form entry school the same number of additional 'jobs' are shared between fewer people. I th8ink it is more about the school culture and I would check in with the class teacher, SENDco and learning mentor and talk with them about how your son feels about school. The learning mentor can set up a weekly group session with some other children to help him build friendships. A pair of ear defenders might make him feel more settled in class, and perhaps a lunchtime club where he can get involved in activities so he is less on his own. If they cannot provide these simple things, find a school which can.

That follows the assumption that a) a place does not come up at a preferred school between March and September (or even later, since some children do change school in the first year, or later), b) That the family does not grow to like the school that the eldest attends, even if it wasn't a top choice in the first place. Our first choice was Charter, we got Kingsdale, son chose to stay with Kingsdale when a waiting list place came up at Charter. Daughter, who has special needs and therefore could truly choose secondary, decided to follow brother to Kingsdale, because it felt familiar and she knew her brother liked it. Sibling policy is not just about school commute(as many on her seem to express as a reason against a sibling policy), there is a considerable amount of emotional attachment too, and schools would lose their community feel if they lost the loyalty of families. Moreover, from a school's point of view, building a relationship with families where there are problems is important. No sibling policy would make this much harder. This idea of people swooping into an area for the school places and then moving out is a distraction, as very few people actually do it.

The sibling policy is only unfair to people who have only one child, who are in the minority. For the majority, it means only having to go through the horrible place?/no place?/waiting list? scenario once. Whilst I appreciate that it is hard for parents who have not been allocated their favoured schools at this time of year, would you really want to go through the same scenario for each of your children?

The tabloid press loves to give teachers a bad press because a fair slice of their readership at some point had a bad time with a particular teacher or with school in general and thus likes to read articles which show teachers in a negative light.

My next door neighbour aged 72 was vaccinated at the Tessa Jowell yesterday. I am CEV, received the letters again telling me to shield (I have had about 5 shielding letters in total), but no vaccination information. The Gardens tell me to expect a text sometime in the next two weeks and I will be able to book an appointment only once I get it. I seems the 70+ is taking priority over the clinically extremely vulnerable.

If there is a more than normal possibility that your baby may need to stay in hospital (and let's hope it does not), I would say the proximity of Kings is a big advantage as you will probably be visiting very regularly. They are all part of the same NHS Trust, so should be very similar?

Trinnydad Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Two informed sources indicate that the vaccination > centres are unable to achieve their quota and > doses are going to waste. This is because they are > being rigidly held to the over 80's group. > They are not being allowed to contact any others > outside that group so that the doses can be used > before being wasted. > > There must be lots of over 70's who would jump at > the chance if offered it and most of them could > present within 30 minutes of getting an alert. > > Waste not, want not. It is my understanding that any left-over vaccines are being taken by NHS staff and their families. A call goes out that there are residue vaccines that day and they queue up to get them. Considering the proximity of many NHS staff to Covid patients, I do not consider this a waste. Moreover, this enables a really quick response and take-up, rather than offering it to the next group down which would involved a lot of ringing round. I hope that once NHS staff have completed their take up, they start to offer left-overs to teachers, who are the cannon fodder of this pandemic.

"scientists indicate that life probably wont return to normal until April-June 2021, so surely residential building work should be paused until people can return to the office" Really? And what happens to all the builders, plumbers, carpenters, plasterers, electricians, roofers and bricklayers during this pause? Would you like to see them queuing up at the foodbank, or do you think those working in safer environments than many key workers (ie outside vs schools and shops) should be furloughed for 6 months so that they do not inconvenience your zoom calls? Am I the only person to find this post unreasonably selfish? When the work starts you will probably find that the noisy phases are for a relatively short period of time and mostly it is reasonably calm.

Sutton Grammar is also doable by train.

Surely this should be a repeated, regular activity before casting aspersions? He could have just been passing time whilst a family member or friend had an appointment in Kings. With partners not allowed into waiting rooms and cafes closed, what is one to do whilst one waits?

The menu is not up there on the website. It just says coming soon. When will it be up, please?

The government advice to schools is to keep windows open to ensure good ventilation.

rupert james Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > rahrahrah Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > malumbu Wrote: > > > -------------------------------------------------- > > > ----- > > > Not a fan of extending the cc, it's a very > > blunt > > > instrument. We should have progressed with > > road > > > charging, something that comes up from time > to > > > time but politically a very hot potato. The > > > fairest system, where you get charged for > when > > you > > > drive and where you drive. But as an > > occasional > > > driver disappointed with successive > governments > > > for not putting up fuel duty, the unholy > > alliance > > > of hauliers and farmers in 2000 put back the > > > environmental cause so much. > > > > > > Before you all dissolve into a puddle with > rage > > > check out this article which gives you a > great > > > perspective on road pricing. If we want to > > play > > > our part in tackling climate change we have > to > > get > > > over this concept that we are entitled to > drive > > > what we like, when we like, how we like and > > where > > > we like. > > > > > > https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/road-pricing > > > > > > As an occasional user of public transport I'm > > > happy to subsidise the masses. > > > > Yeah agree with this. a more sophisticated road > > pricing system would be good (one which takes > > account of time of day, where you are driving, > the > > type of vehicle etc. > > Would you really feel comfortable having Khan in > charge of this? God help us. Yes I would. Conversely, I feel very uncomfortable with a bunch of self-interested, rich, over-privileged scumbags with an agenda to enforce anything on Londoners. God help us that people still support this heinous government.

JohnL Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > legalalien Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > It's Southwark Council - if you have a look at > the > > last few pages of the "our healthy streets" > thread > > there are links to relevant documents. There is > a > > further council meeting about it today. > > The money is coming from central government and is > also part of the terma of the bailout - however > much some councils welcome them. > > It seems to be a cross party plan It seems to me that these measures, along with Congestion Charge changes, are the Tory's plan to make Londoners disillusioned with Labour Councils. I was appalled when I saw BJ on TV saying that the funding crisis in TfL was down to the present mayor's mismanagement. He later retracted the statement, but the lies show the intent.

Schools' waiting lists go on closest first. They often move quite quickly as families decide to stick with the option they have taken, rather than change, so do not be disheartened if your child misses out in the first round. Kingsdale's lottery is taken in equal amounts from each banding pot, and thereafter on closest distance. Good luck