Emski

Thanks Indiana, have tried this site too - from the furthest point of our property to the furthest part of Goodrich is 450m. So looks like being the closest to Southwark's software. (Still suggests we're nearer than this mythical 457m though - grr!) Attempting to be philosophical, I guess it shows the tiny distances that are making all the difference for us.

Pickle Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Emski, the distance figure will (I think) include > offers made to siblings I'm not sure, Pickle - Renata said: "Goodrich last place distance offered was 457 metres. Heber had a last place distance offer of 263 metres." I understand that as an offer made on distance only. Renata, can you clarify? 20-30metres currently seems to equate to 5-10 places down a waiting list, so it would be helpful if Southwark could provide the means by which parents could accurately calculate distances I think.

midivydale Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Does anyone know what tool they use to calculate > the distances between home and school? I've tried Google maps (giving us a distance of 420m from Goodrich), freemaptools as suggested by a previous poster (417m) and daftlogic as recommended above (438m). Yet Renata says that Goodrich has offered a place to applicants 457m away. We didn't get in, so I have no idea how or where they're measuring from... Would agree, though, that Anita and the admissions team have been great with their quick responses. I emailed earlier asking to be added to some extra waiting lists, and she replied positively within a few minutes. (NB anyone with queries about Goose Green - it's recently become an Academy, so you need to contact them directly instead of Southwark as they're no longer a community school).

Sorry to hear you've had bad news. I would agree with the above - expressing should keep your supply up. Perhaps just pumping at the same time of evening for the usual duration of your feed would ensure you don't increase or decrease your supply?

This is hideously traumatic. We didn't get any offers from our 6 choices (we picked our 6 nearest schools - and are only 420m ish from Goodrich) and have also been allocated Langbourne (extremely difficult to reach without a car - I seriously don't know how I'd be able to do drop-off and have a job). I only stopped crying at 4 this morning. The letter this morning from Southwark does contain plenty of useful info, as well as contact details for phoning to find out your place on waiting lists (supplied by Renata above) - I've found out we're 6th for Goodrich, which sounds promising but I'd love to hear from any of last year's parents whether that gives us a realistic chance of an offer at some point. I'm also confused about whether or not we're automatically put on waiting lists. The general info that came with our letter says we are, but our specific information on our letter says that we've been put on the waiting list for three of our six, but not for the other three. They weren't able to explain this to me on the phone - just suggested I email and request to be added to the lists. Two of these three are in Lewisham, so I then phoned Admissions for this borough, where they suggested that I would be on the lists (but couldn't give me more info for 3 weeks) and it was just Southwark's wording that was misleading. The wording reads: "Your child did not meet the school's oversubscription criteria so could not be offered a place." Is j&m correct that you only get put on the lists in your own borough? This whole thing is a mess.

Thanks for the advice, Renata. I will email Liam on the address you provided. We have not been offered any of our 6 choices - instead a school in West Norwood that I haven't heard of and won't be able to get to (far too far to walk and not on a bus route). Feeling pretty shafted - we only live 500-odd metres from our first choice. If anyone has any further advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

We used a great childminder on Forest Hill Rd near Peckham Rye for my daughter until she was 3 (Pm me if you'd like details - she may have a vacancy), and then moved her to nursery, which she's really enjoying - Mother Goose on Upland Rd. I'd happily recommend them, but don't know about waiting lists I'm afraid. Think they go from 1yr.

Does anyone have the link handy for where we can check? Thank you and good luck!

My nearly 4-yr-old does a Saturday morning class with EOS dance school at the Dulwich Community Centre - I think they run one for the next age group up straight afterwards. Would highly recommend.

I also used Daniel at Therapy Rooms. Contractions started that night - but then again I was 9 days overdue, and was also doing curry/sweeps/pineapple/sex/long walks/raspberry leaf tea etc etc.... So indeed, who knows?! Unfortunately also experienced the failure to progress after 3 days of contractions. But as I was being threatened with a hospital induction instead of the home birth I desperately wanted, also felt I had nothing to lose... Good luck, I'd say it's def worth a try!

Thank you very much to everyone who's helped!x

Does anyone know of any daytime pregnancy yoga classes in East Dulwich? I did one upstairs at Soup Dragon last time I was pregnant, but I guess that doesn't exist anymore... Any suggestions gratefully received - including any DVD recommendations. The only local classes I can find all seem to be evenings. Thank you!

My daughter started at Mother Goose (Upland Road) a few months ago, and is very happy there. There don't seem to be any 4 yr olds there though, so your child is likely to be the oldest. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad!

I was very unimpressed when I looked round 2 years ago. Happy to share more details if you think it would still be relevant.

Our (minimal!) enquiries seem to suggest that school nurseries offer 15 free hrs a week during term time (as Fuschia says) - but I think this has to be taken as either 5 mornings a week of 3hrs (eg 9am-12pm everyday) or 5 afternoons a week of 3 hrs (not sure of the hours here, but suspect it's something like 1-4pm). ie, you can't pick and choose your days. A private nursery will be more flexible on days, and will often deduct your 15 free hours from the total time you enrol them for - ie, if you choose to do 9am - 6pm three days a week, your fees will be reduced by 15 hrs a week. But I think you have to put them in for the full 52 weeks (unless you give notice before your 38 weeks of free hours are up).

All going well at the 12-week scan in a few weeks, we'll have some big news for our 3 year old... Although she generally likes and is interested in babies, it's going to be a massive adjustment for her and I want to do everything humanly possible to ensure she is excited about having a new baby sibling, and that there's minimal resentment/jealousy/upset caused. I'd really appreciate any tips (or errors to avoid) that anyone can share on how to tell her the news and keep her as reassured as possible. A large part of our decision to have another child was for companionship for our daughter, so the last thing I want to happen is that they end up fighting continually! Many many thanks x

My 19-month-old has had one virus after another all winter, and has just got over tonsillitis (with antibiotics). Docs just said it was down to her age and the season, and it wasn't anything to get worried about. She goes to childminder, but a stay-at-home friend's toddler of the same age has had all the same bugs too. Spring can't come round too quickly!

Didn't work for me, think I had a couple of attempted ones. The first time the midwife couldn't reach it, can't remember whether subsequent one(s) any more successful. Eventually went into labour 9 days over after acupuncture.

Just a quick vote for Lidls nappies. Particularly good for nighttime as they seem to take much more volume than Huggies or Pampers. Also much cheaper! (However only available from size 3 I think so no good for newborns.) We tried the eco ones at the start and they were fine until we had to go up a size and then leaked regularly.

The poor baba's hands are freezing! Can anyone recommend any particular styles or brands of gloves for a 16-month-old? She doesn't tend to like this kind of thing - hats get pulled off and thrown on the floor. Any advice appreciated, thank you.

Great - thank you!

Are those opening hours in addition to, or instead of, the usual 1-3.30pm times, do you know? Thanks

Belle is right, I think - milk is thought to create nastier bugs than even the nastiest stuff your baby might pick up off the floor... 12 months is recommended. (Having said that, all these guidelines are overly safety-conscious I think...)

We were recently offered a place with Mother Goose on Upland Road for full time from Sept for our 1 year old, despite only applying a couple of weeks before. You may be lucky!

I attended that workshop (all 4 hours of it!) and was also worried, so introduced bottle after 10wks. She took it fine, so we used it whenever I needed to go out or would be drinking - which wasn't very often. At around 5 months (I think) she suddenly refused to take the bottle. Didn't seem to matter if it was EBM or forumla. We ended up in a protracted battle with her to get her to take the bottle, which involved a lot of screaming (mainly from her...). I know many parents who've given up because it's pretty traumatic trying to force it. She did eventually take the bottle again, and now takes a cup, and I stopped bf at 7 months. Which is just a complicated way of saying, if you want to combine bf and bottle, make sure you keep baby used to both.