tallgirl

Wissant, a town near Calais, France has a campsite 5 minutes walk to the sea. It's a 2 hour drive to Dover, 35 minute on the Eurotunnel and then a 30 minute drive to Wissant. We've never stayed at this campsite, but have stayed in Wissant and the campsite is close to shops and amenities.

St Francesca Cabrini Primary School is collecting them, It is on the corner of Forest Hill Rd

Hollydale is well thought of by local parents. It had a good Ofsted Report and SATs results. It's not as well known as Ivydale as it's a smaller school and has no nursery. Children normally go to the pre-school on St Mary's Rd from 2.5 until they start reception.

Sling and buggy, you wouldn't get much use from double buggy, as the few months until you have your second bundle of joy will make a big difference in your older childs ability to walk. If you are tired, toddler walks ( could use reins/wrist strap if they like to run off!) and baby goes in the buggy, if toddler is tired, the baby goes in a sling and toddler in the buggy. From experience this works very well (most of the time!)

A few years ago Ivydale was in the bottom 100 schools in the country, so it has improved massively since then! I know several people with children at the school. The Early Years section is very good (nursery/reception) and the school is very strong on music and art. Where it falls down is in the junior years in terms of behaviour and providing suitable work for brighter pupils and homework (but this may change by the time the current intake reaches the juniors). You should also look at Hollydale, my friends with children there are really happy with the school on all counts. If you live in Nunhead, Edmund Waller and Turnham are also popular with Nunhead residents. You probably will get more feedback from the Nunhead Forum, nunheadforum.co.uk

does this route overlap with the P12 much as that also has problems?

St Mary's preschool in St Mary's Rd, Nunhead, it's really good and they take children from 2.5. It's from 9.15-12.15 Monday-Friday.

Ladywell Gymnastics club opposite Bellingham train station is good (train from Peckham Rye or Nunhead). Caters for all ages of boys and girls from pre-school to 16. They also have an under 5s drop off play seeion on Friday mornings and Wednesday afternoons and some holiday sessions

surrey docks farm with donkey rides

I hope you all end up with a school you like

A silver plated tooth box. It's good to have somewhere to put your milk teeth in when they start to fall out at 4-5 years old. Once the tooth fairy has finished, teeth can be put back in as a souvenir of young life!

My friend's son goes there,

he is very happy, made many friends and has been making good progress in his grades. It wasn't one of his parent's top choices but now they are delighted that he got in there!

As your children get older, St Francesca Cabrini Primary school (Catholic school, top of Forest Hill Rd) has after school Italian lessons (I think from age 5) and from year 3 all children learn it as part of their daily curriculum

The St Francesca cabrini School Fair is tomorrow, Sunday 27th June at St Francesca Cabrini School Forest hill Rd SE23, P12, P13, 63 and 363 go close to the school. There is international food, plants, toys, slushes, cakes, bouncy castle and much more! If you're interested to apply there for next year or your child is joining the school this year, it's a great opportunity to meet parents, staff etc and have a look around.

I think emc is a journalist looking for a story

St Mary's Rd Pre School (St Mary's Rd) in Nunhead is open for 15 hours a week, from aged 2.5 you pay 6 pounds a day, but for 3 year olds the fees are 3 pounds per day (a pound an hour!)

Lidl in Peckham has a set in one of their specials of the week this week.

If you want to go away for weekends etc it's better to have Friday off, also schools often have Sports Days, assembly etc on Fridays so if this is your day off you'd be able to attend more of these once your child starts school.

Yes, they are certainly full at the moment.

I confirmed this this morning with the staff, but they have a waiting list for September. They take children from 2.5 to 5, so if your child was 2 by March 2010 it's worth putting your name down now. ?3 for a 3 hour morning for 3-5 year olds (ie 3 before 1st september) and ?6 for a session for 2 year olds, you can do part-time if you wish (It is a proper drop off nursery). It's in St Mary's church Hall, St Mary's Rd in Nunhead, but is non-denominational.

It's an excellent, well run and stable environment for a young child. The Nursery staff are well trained, experienced (all except one have been there for many years) and the children love it there. My son wishes it was open at the weekend and during school holidays. They have had visits from the fire service, complete with fire engine, an Xmas Fair, Party and Carol Service and they have Sports Day. It's also open for 3 hours rather than the usual 2.5 hours which make a huge difference if you've things to get done. The only problem is, it is currently full, so you will have to join the waiting list! Please pm me if you want more detailed info. I would suggest you post this on the Nunhead forum : nunheadforum.co.uk

Hollydale is reported to be good by parents whose children go there.

prdarling, I do have sympathy for your plight and I hope you get a place at Goodrich from the waiting list, it sounds like you were very unlucky and are probably at the top, or close to the top of the waiting list. I was lucky and did get a place in my first choice Southwark school . As some parents were holding Lewisham places as well as being now offered Southwark places, places will come available on both sides of the border as parents offered schools in both boroughs turn one down.

In terms of siblings, it would be extremely difficult for parents with more than one young child at primary school to deliver them to different schools, simultaneously, each morning.

not long to go now, we will find out which school we have got from Southwark on Monday

Ah James, so we should have heard this Thursday (the 29th) about Southwark primary school applications, this would have given a week for parents like us, who held Lewisham offers to decide on these, as they would know the Southwark outcome before the 5th May decision deadline for Lewisham. The six working days you mention equates to almost two weeks as it includes two weekends and a bank holiday, the bank holiday weekend is when many parents would have the chance to sit down and discuss the outcome of their primary school appication so the delay is very significant. Whatever you say, the delay can only have been for purely political reasons, as surely it's not good for council staff to deal with parents trying to sort out their options TWO working days after local council elections???? I guess for example, we won't even know who is executive member for education in the council on the 10th May?

Southwark council is now set up with a selction of call centres, it's hard to get to speak directly to the people you want to speak. Sorry James, I'm not satisfied with the reasons given why the primary school outcome has been delayed by 3 weeks, we heard from Lewisham a week ago and we have to wait to hear from Southwark for another 2 weeks. Surely it's a very silly idea that this result so important to us parents will come out a couple of days after the council elections, we don't even which party will be running the council then!