Sanne Panne

sillywoman Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If all other things are equal & your gut instinct > is in confusion I'd go for the one closest to > where you live so you can walk him to school. In good old Dutch style I think a 1-2km walk is no big deal and simply healthy for kids - who don't move nearly enough nowadays. But yes this can backfire when the weather is very bad and it does leave you a bit outside the immediate local community.

Can't speak for the rougher boys that need to run around lots, only have a non-girly girl (but indeed not one that needs to run and jump lots) there, but what I do think is missing at Half Moon (and at most state schools) is a nice area of green/grass/soil to run and play and hide in.

Need, no, want a single buggy. For second child who is now 18 months. Will use it till she's 3. First child happy walking and on scooter so no double or buggy board considerations. And we don't need a lie-flat option as our daughter doesn't like sleeping flat in buggies anyway. We have the Techno XLR which is very good but a bit noisy (would prefer air tyres) and not the easiest push for shorter people (one of the people regularly pushing it is not very tall and husband and I are medium height) nor great for longer walks. Looking for something... light, easy to push, ideally also easy to climb into for toddler on her own, and with a good bumper bar so we can go harness-free while constantly getting in and out of the buggy in the park. Looked at the Baby Jogger and Mountain Buggy ranges... are those the ones to go for? Which model is best? We need to be able to get onto a bus with it more easily than with a P&T and its wide wheel base. Thanks :)

I agree 100% with everything Fidgetmum says. Half Moon is great. None of the staff issues you hear about at other nurseries. A very warm and protected start for the youngest. And lots of learning taken home at all ages.

Shrek?

South Beach worked for me too (lean proteins, non-starchy veg and many liters of V8), when you breastfeed Dukan is probably too strict.

So if you put your nearest school first and your preferred (and by distance clearly "wishful thinking") school second (just because you don't trust the algorithm 100%) and you're offered a place at your nearest school and accept it... can you still go on the waiting list for the second school? I thought you could only go on the waiting list for schools that are higher on your list than the school that offered you a space. We're happy with our list now but I'm now curious for the sake of theory...

I know I know.... but since we're discussing generalisations I trust it won't be taken any more literally than "the parisiennes" :)

It'll be interesting to see proper statistics about behavioural problems, happiness in life, family relations and maybe even academic achievement 20-30 years after a trend "settles" in a country. I can't imagine the extremer cases of Anglo-softness (where toddlers smacking other toddlers' heads are just told to "calm down now sweetness") really being good either. I'm not playing devil's advocate and I'm not "for" the French case either, most definitely not smacking kids or scaring them into behaving, but a bit of continental clarity (i.e. boundaries that parents stick to) can't hurt anyone.. I think ;)

I think it's all down to the nanny having nanny insurance (covering liability) and having a legal contract with you (in which you specify that nanny insurance is required). I don't think Ofsted makes a difference.

We did story time in bed but then just let M play in her room if she wanted, with a dimmed light on a timer. They quickly get used to getting into bed when they're tired. So yes a few times we had to lift a sleeping 23mo from the middle of the room into the bed but that can be counted on one hand. If you want her to stay in bed from official bedtime onwards it may be a bit trickier ;)

Ok, will trust the system and hope for the best!

Has anyone seen proof for/against the preferences really being treated as the brochure states? We now have a good school nearby (phew) but there are two other schools that we'd love to get into even more although we don't think we will realistically get in - but it would be great to be on the waiting list of at least one of them just in case a place comes up at some point. Should we just put the unlikely schools in places 1 and 2 and the likely one in place 3 (as long as we're happy in the odd case we ARE offered a place in school 1 or 2)? Does it really, really, really not make it less likely that we will get into our safe bet #3 than families who put that school first but live 50 meters further away? I know it's all safe in theory but not all software works as it should...

Happens with Born Free too and they are suspiciously similar. And after a few months of intensive use some will leak even when lukewarm.

Pics attached. The (effective) way I put the straps to keep the footmuff from sliding down does make it hard to put large objects into the shopping net. Sanne Panne Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > will do this afternoon > > Fuschia Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > Please

will do this afternoon Fuschia Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Please

Kaiser is great and does fit if you use the little loops at the bottom and pull them over the Maclaren's bottom "pins" for the rain cover. You need to pull hard but it does keep the footmuff from getting trapped in the wheels. And I take the straps at the top of the footmuff, pull them over the top of the seat and down again and attach them to the horizontal bit of the frame, by the shopping net. Umm... maybe I should post a pic.

Congratulations! Maybe I will have another child after all ;)

Hm maybe it's not too far on her scooter then. Manoeuvring our buggy with a board and 18kg heavy 3.5yo is quite a pain! We'll do a test run...

I'd just open his cot up and let him play in his room until he's tired enough to go to sleep. Even leave a little light on for him. Stairgate in door so you know he's safe. The newness will wear off and he'll either go to sleep sooner after a few days or he'll just play for a bit before falling asleep every night. Worked very well for us but every kid+situation is obviously different...

We may move back to ED (from Herne Hill) in Jan/Feb and for a few months we will need to take our preschooler to her nursery school on Half Moon lane... with smaller toddler in tow (in a Maclaren buggy as still in early toddler stage). Is this (especially the buggy) doable from the Dulwich hospital (or Derwent Grove) stop in Putney direction or is the bus absolutely packed with school kids (thinking Charter) at that time of day?

Buddha Jazz are mostly Vietnamese I believe, but combined with Thai and Indonesian. A list of "standard" South East Asian dishes and some unique Vietnames ones if I remember correctly.

I like Buddha Jazz, another nice one is Lombok on Half Moon Lane, not sure if they do lunch though.

ema Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Fairlawn is a fabulous school. The Head has his > reasons for his belief in no uniform is a great > policy. You say the children are happy in the > playground....think about it. Maybe the school and > the children concentrate on other issues, eg > education, secure and confident individuals, good > social skills, team-work, great environment....if > it's not broken, why fix it?????????? In other > words, why make a judgement about something so > irrelevant? I'm not sure I understand your post, I think it's about whether it's a weak point that Fairlawn doesn't have uniforms. I grew up in a country where school uniforms don't exist and I'm still not quite sure what to think about them... I do think it is convenient not to have to discuss choice of clothing in the morning. But that's not the ultimate reason of course. To me it's mostly irrelevant too.

There's also schoolmap.org.uk (although I've seen some incorrect numbers there for my address!) It uses Google maps' distance measuring tool. On Google maps, go to the little radar sign at the top right, click on it and select "Maps Labs". Then you will have the distance measuring tool (which looks like a little ruler) in the bottom left of your screen. From then on it's pretty straightforward.