beth

me for starters! I don't think primary school students need or benefit from the academic pressure at such a young age and that it's more important to make friends with local kids from diverse backgrounds and learn about the society they are growing up in. Also, if you read my posts, I was fairly careful to make a distinction between primary and secondary schooling - actually, if my kid at secondary school doesn't get in to a decent state secondary school, I might have to consider private education. I'm really hoping it won't come to that - but I won't sacrifice my kids for my principles at the end of the day. The reason I feel very strongly about this issue is that I was educated in a school system where we were streamed from age 6 - and it was really horrible. There was a gang of kids from the best connected families in town and they were a bunch of horrible, arrogant bullies. Nasty. And so much racism and classism it was so divisive yuck. I would hate to put my kid through the same thing.

Hello all, A price list of cakes and orders for cakes can be made through emailing Anna at [email protected] (note only two 't's in email address). Also by ringing 07804 632690. Let them eat Cake is also open on Saturdays from 10 - 4pm at 157 Bellenden Road. She is also looking to expand the outlets and cafe's her cakes can be bought at locally so if you run a cafe or outlet, feel free to contact her. Beth

Timonthy Spall regularly dines at the Palmerston where he doesn't seem to get bothered by anyone. And the Wishing Well Inn on Bellenden Road was a key location for the film 'Last Orders'.

Yes, it's fenton walsh and there I think there sale is still on so you might even pick up some bargins. Anna's cake shop is only open Saturdays 10 - 4pm but she takes orders for cakes to make and deliver throughout the week as well. Also check out Peititou Cafe round the corner on Choumert Road - fantastic but gets very busy. And Review is a super bookstore - Roz the owner is fantastically helpful and at least you don't have to step over a bucket of water every time you go into the shop!

Actually, a charity I do some work recently got money from Children in Need. They work with girls who have experienced violence and abuse across London (including Southwark) and they received a grant towards their work with girls. I also know organsiations who have received Comic Relief funding althought it is very compeititive to get funding from comic relief as they have a huge number of charities applying for grants.

I will be plugging for Carluccio's - fantastic food, affordable, highchairs and a great kids menu - ?5 for a starter, pasta meal, juice and an ice cream!! Wonderful!

I hope your terrible experience at the Brasserie hasn't put you off Bellenden all together dulwichmum - my friend Anna sells her DIVINE cakes on Saturdays at her shop at 157 Bellenden Road (next to the architechical savage shop and bathroom showroomplace) along with some delicious savory tarts, salads, bread and organic fruit and veg. This cakes are to die for (particularly the gooey chocolate one)- fantastic, worth venturing down Bellenden again! Baking cakes looks so easy but after several distratous efforts of mine, I've given up and when asked to bring in homemade cakes, I sneakily bring in one of Anna's instead. I keep telling her there is a gap in the market for selling homemade cakes to un-homemaking mummies like me to bring to fetes and so on!

No - secondary schools seem miles away for me now! I have a friend whose 10 year old is looking at Charter and Syndenham Girls as good choices. There does seem to be a dearth of good secondary schools in Southwark - particularly for boys as girls have both Syndenham Girls and Harris Girls to go to. But, through lobbying by local parents, a new boys secondary is being built near Harris Girls. That might be a good option in 10 years time when I have to start worrying about it!! I've heard the Brit School in Streatham is good - but arts based, so if you're kid wants to be a scientist, maybe not a good option? Also, I've heard Bacon's College in Rotherhithe is a good but often overlooked choice.

I agree that under-resourcing is a more serious problem in state schools - class sizes in state schools are much larger than private schools and Southwark in particular has a reputation for not investing in infratsture and capital equipment such as electronic white boards. But the thing is, if you have involved parents from diverse backgrounds with a range of skills and knowledge at a state school what happens is that they push and lobby for changes. One a board of governors, you want to have a mix of skills - some parents who've lived in the area all their lives and know all the local families, some parents who know the system and how to work it, some parents with business skills, etc. If you have a mix of parents at a school, they can work together to form a powerful alliance. And it sends a powerful message to our kids - that of working together across divides of class and race. Surely that's one big important value to give our children?

God, who wants their kids 'coached to a suitable level for private school'? How miserable that must be for a 5 year old - to be coached for a lifetime of over-achievement! I want my child to be happy and learn at their own pace - not be on some little gerbil wheel schooling trip! I'd like him to have friends from different backgrounds and cultures and to learn to treat people with respect - no matter what their background. I know you can't generalise about people but some of the kids I see around East Dulwich who go to private schools totally reinforce my arguement against sending my kid to private school - there is an arrogance about some of the kids (not all of course), a real 'I know I'm better then you are' attitude. For me, the values my kid to learn about is about mixing in, about making friends with your neighbours, about learning about different cultures. I have a friend whose kid got a scholorship to City of London Boys and he did well but left in the sixth form to go back to the state system because he was disgusted by the attitude of many of the kids who became more arrogant and elitist as they got older. OK - so my local school at Grove Vale my not churn out lots of kids who go on to private school - but at least my kid will know and be friends with his neighbours, and he won't think he is too good to hang out with kids who aren't part of the 'elite'. I also think he'll get a more more rounded and comprehensive education - in ways that can't be measured by traditional tests and whether a child gets into a private school. You know, if we are ever going to live in a more tolerant and less dividided society, it's going to have to start here - at primary school. What is the point of living in East Dulwich, if you aren't going to send your kids to a local school? If you are worried about the quality of education at the school, get involved. At the end of the day, most research point to the educational achievement of children at primary school being dictated by the levels of parental involvement in their kids and the educational background of the parents. If you're involved in your kids lives and have a level of education yourself your kids will be fine.

My 2 year old goes to Bojangles nursery on Upland Road - near corner of Barry Road. Has been since he was 14 months and he has settled in well. I visited to lots of nurseries - and some of those were ones that had huge waiting lists and are on the 'you must get your child into that nursery' list of the yummy mummy set but I liked Bojangles the best. Staff are really friendly, warm and laugh alot which was the most important thing I think (When I visited some nurseries, I was distributed by the numbers of surly staff - if they don't make an effort for potential clients, what hope is there for the children who go their day in and out)It has a nice outdoor space as well and it's very light and airy inside (despite looking rather run down from the outside). It didn't have a waiting list when we entered our boy in as they were expanding but it's gotton more popular I've noticed. The other good things is that it's open 51 weeks a year and has resonable opening hours 8 - 6pm for working parents. Also, you can send your child there for half days as well which suits some people. As a self-employed person, it's also good in that I can book extra days if I have a lot of work on. It has kids from a diverse range of backgrounds as well which is nice.

Can I also suggest that you or your partner stick Dylan up your nightshirt before going to bed? No, I'm not suggesting doing anything rude with faux Dylan but I know that it calms babies to have comfort objects that smell like mum/dad and - maybe having dylan with a familiar smell will help with the introduction process?

I walked by it and the shelves they were putting up seemed suited to shoes - a shoe shop perhaps?

Hello - the campaigners aren't campaigning against the tram, they think that a good idea - just the plans to put the tram depot smack in the middle of Peckham. TFL are being quite sneaky about not publicy consulting on their plans for a depot in Peckham but the Bellenden Residents have their plans and are campaigning virgously against it. My understanding is that it would destroy alot of central Peckham including the cinema, woolies and all the residential amd commericial property behind there. It would be a huge area, fenced off and would destroy quite alot of established businesses and residences - including some new flats that have recently been built and artists studios. It wouldn't add anything to Peckham and could be quite damaging to an area which is just starting to find its feet. The tram itself is a great idea - it will stop quite close to Peckham Rye Station so if you don't want to walk down there (it takes me 8 minutes to walk to Peckham Rye Station) you can always hop on the train at ED station and change. I don't have a car and I have a child and I find ED great for transport - and living within walking distance of Peckham Rye is great because you have an even bigger choice of public transport

Antigonish! I was there once for a 4-H provience wide show when I was a teenager. A friend of mine from High School Craig Thurston moved to Antigoish 10 years ago - he is a teacher. I grew up in farm country about 10 miles from Amherst which is near the border to New Brunswick. Nothing of note in Amherst except being the birthplace of Sir Charles Tupper and the famous marshlands. Have been here over 16 years now - go back once a year and visit family and friends in Amherst and in Halifax. Halifax seems to have changed for the better - much more happening there and a great little arts/music scene. Wouldn't go back to live in Nova Scotia though. Winters too cold! (Does your girlfriend laugh when things come to a halt in London because of a few snow furrys?) I do miss Martime hospitality and friendliness though and the ocean of course! 'I'm bound for Nova Scotia the sea bound coast where your moutains dark and deary be, when I am far away on the stormy seas will I ever give a smile and a kiss for thee!' (or something like that!)

Totally agree with that Ko - I've heard the same thing. It used to be that Goodich was the only option but now, alot of the other schools in the area of come up and are doing quite well.

Every time I cross East Dulwich Grove (the road that lead to Dulwich Community Hospital) where it connects with Lordship Lane, I feel as though I am taking my life into mine and my childs hands!! It is an extremely dangerous crossing - with cars turning in from several directions, often very fast. An accident is going to happen very, very soon. If nothing else happens but this, I will be happy. But I agree with everything else as well particularly the need more crossings up Lordship Lane.

I'm Canadian as well - from Nova Scotia and would be glad to help translate! ED is great for babies and kids - and easy access to London is fab. Also, you could look in the area of Oglander, Coplestone and Bellenden Roads which are in SE15- slightly cheaper but easy walking distance to Lordship Lane, near East Dulwich station and also you have the benefit of being nearer to Peckham Rye Station as well. Bellenden road area has some nice cafe's and shops - and a fantastic yummy cake shop opened at 157 Bellenden Road on Saturdays 10 -4pm.

At 8:30pm tonight on BBC 2, there is a programme on 'the lengths parents will go to to get their children into good schools.!' Might be a laugh, might make us groan with despair!

Whoa, Hugeonot! I never said anything about excluding kids because of their parents professions in my post, mate! In fact, some of my best friends work in PR! It's just that every 2nd person in East Dulwich seems to be employed in the PR or media industry and sometimes it feels like their is a bit of an 'in-crowd' thing happening - it's quite nice to have a mix of people working in different professions and industries that's all, I meant and if I offended anyone, sorry, didn't mean to! Goodrich is very over-subscribed - at the moment, it's a very limited catchment area due to it's popularity. But all that might change when in a couple of years, the government introduce the lottery system where everyone is just thrown into a hat and names are picked out at random. So it's not going to matter how close you live to an over-subscribed school - you'll have to take your chances! I think it's really going to take the heat out of house prices in the area anyway where at the moment living in an area near a popular school can increase the house prices immensely. I don't know about bratty spoilt kids at Goose Green but the ones I've meet have been well behaved and I know their parents are pretty good with the displine thing. It is a good creative school though - one girl from the school has been in Carmen at the Royal Opera House this season.

What a shame most of our kids probably wouldn't get in there! Haberdashers sounds like a great secondary school. I'm more concerned about secondary schools than primary schools round here. There is not a lot of choice in terms of secondary schools - particularly if you have a boy. At least girls have the choice of Syndenham High School which is supposed to be quite good. And faith schools irritate me as well - if you go to church (whether you believe or not and let me tell you, there are ALOT of parents who cynically go to church around here for the school thing), you actually have alot more choice - of good faith and good non-faith schools. Really, the government should stop funding church schools. It's not fair that us honest agnostics get penalised for setting an example for our kids by being true to our beliefs!! Anyway, back to Goose Green. My friend says you are seeing a steady trickle of the middle classes (mostly parents who are more interesting than the usual media/pr/banker types anyway!)back to the school as it's reputation grows so it'll have a wide mix of kids from different background fairly soon - as long as it stays a true community school that's fine with me.

Goose Green Primary School on Grove Vale has really come up in the world - it was 2nd in England for most improved schools and in the last league tables published in the evening standard came out higher than Goodrich - which is the school that people buy houses near to get into to! Goose Green did have a terrible reputation but was a fresh start school about 7 years ago, the headmaster replaced, staff sacked and is really doing well. My friend's 10 year goes there and loves it and is doing well! A friend of my partners teaches there and says there is a really good spirt in the school although it can appear abit rough around the edges. They also have an excellent anti-bullying policy and crack down on bullying. I'm going to send my son there when he is old enough - only 2 now! It's not a trendy, 'I must get my child in there school' though and tends not to be considered by the dulwich middle classes (for reasons I'm sure we're all aware of) which is a shame for them but great for us - you can actually get a place then and the local kids get a good school and it's pretty diverse. I love the carnival this school puts on in the green every summer and it's got a great after school club as well. A warning about schools in East Dulwich - people get terribly paniced about schools and some schools are over-hyped and impossible to get in. What I've also heard is that those schools that are over-subscribed aren't as great as they are hyped up to be anyway and the heads feel they don't have to try so hard - a friend of mine has tried to get an appointment to look around Dog Kennel Hill and has been unimpressed by the complete lack of response to her messages. Also, if you are thinking of buying a place near an over-subscribed school, be aware that the education secretary has just announced that as of 2008, over-subscribed schools are going to have to have a lottery for places - thereby everyone who applies name goes in a hat nomatter where they live and the ones who are picked out get a place. This is to stop the middle-classes effectvely buying a place through buying a house near a school.

Every Saturday, from 10 -4pm, The Project Space, 157 Bellenden Road sells yummy cakes (homemade by Anna who also makes cakes for Peititou), savoury tarts and salads, design items and organic fruit/veg, much of which is grown at a food coop in Essex. Great local venture!