Dulwich_ Park_ Fairy

No, Haberdashes used to only have interviews with the kids and parents, they were forced to get rid of these when Lewisham council realised that very few black kids were "passing" these interviews. Results started to drop after this so they then brought in the "test" which of course was for banding purposes only. Results started going back up very quickly afterwards. Go figure.

Because the kids have to sit an independent test as part of the admissions process. I had a look around there, and the intake isn't paricularily reflective of the area, seemed overwhelmingly white and middle-class.

Its pretty much a grammar school though.

I've never noticed that. All this time I've been wasting my money on beer when I could have drunk tap water for nothing.

Its happened to me a couple of times (the money being sucked in, not the fight).

I'm thinking no doggy treats for a week.

Cannibals? Kiddy Fiddlers? Folk Dancers?

Well, from now on they'll have a point of reference for their defence.

They will adapt (at least the ones that survive will), the gene-pool will be strengthened, and we can look forward to future generations of super-kids who tend to the elderly, operate creches, and probably combat crime.

Now we're just descending into the ridiculous. Raise your game.

The lack of transparency regarding "testing" and "banding" always makes me a bit suspicious, especially when they are only ever brought in once the school has become oversubscribed and can therefore start being selective. My guess is that if you have 5 bands, then 70% of the kids taking the test will end up in the "pot" for the bottom band.

I'm a little suprised by the amount of people who feel that an 8yr old is perfectly capable of supervising a 5yr old, I might start pimping mine out for some babysitting/school pick-ups as presumably there'd be some takers on this forum. The bottom-line is that if anything does go wrong (and I'm thinking of broken arms rather than clown-style abductions) the parents are assuming that other adults will salvage the situation (unless, of course, the 8 yr old is a trained paramedic). I'm sure most adults would help but feel its a bit selfish to rely on this as a form of child-care. For the record, I was allowed to walk to school when I was 5 but it was in a rural area in the mid-70's, a trip of 400m, and didn't involve negotiating very busy city roads during rush-hour.

I'm a dog owner and cannot fathom why so many other owners refuse to clean up after their dogs. The school run down Goodrich Road is just disgusting some mornings, although the total ban on dogs as muted by some members of the forum might be slight overkill.

I visited it last year and got a really bad vibe, it just felt like a grammar school which is where most of the teachers I spoke to used to teach. The Head's presentation was little short of insulting, and everyone I spoke to was very evasive about the Admissions Policy which the school seemed to have almost total control over (banding is meaningless unless you know where the bands are set).

JamesF Can you give us any insight into what their "cause" is?

No, its exactly like a football.

Nail Head. In this instance we seem to have a group who feel somebody else should foot their bill.

No idea but there is normally considerable delay in the development (at great cost) when squatters have to be removed. Why did the GGT go for this paricular property (which they knew had only been bought 9ish weeks before) when vacant properties are apparently falling out of trees elsewhere in the borough? Its a buyers market where squats are concerned...

Surely by turning a large house into several smaller, more affordable flats the owner of the squat is doing his upmost to ease the housing problem and should be congratulated for his/her own "direct action"? The lazy students/heroic activists would seem to be hampering this process because they want to live in a nice big house free of charge as part of some larger, yet undefined "cause"? Unleash the dogs I say......

I thought the squatters were doing that for them? Sounds like a stroke of luck for the new owner.

Thanks to the person who found my wallet and handed it in to the Newsagents, you saved me a lot of aggravation.....

One of the gang threatened to set fire to my house last time they came knocking after I refused to give them my wife's mobile number (she had allegedly shown an interest in the cloths earlier). It was at that point that I guessed they weren't a legit charity. Very nearly came to blows in the street.

Aren't Staffies number 2 on the list of "dog-on-human" attacks per year in the UK? Owners of the breed can't really be suprised that people are a little bit "wary" of them.

No one likes us, we don't care.

I heard a rumour that they ate them.