Tara

We?ve just found a birthday card for Matthew on our front path. Unfortunately there is no address but the card is from Gary, Kristy Joseph & Ava. It also refers to a recent holiday. Let me know if it?s you as there is some money in the envelope.

Hi Dondee - I have a daughter in year 6 at Goose Green and my other daughter will be starting in reception in September. We love the school - my daughter has been really happy there. The staff are all so caring and it has a lovely family feel. It had a tough few years with no permanent head but things have really improved since the new head started. I think we?re really luck in ED to have lots of good primaries and I know it?s disappointing when you don?t get any of your choices but I?d really encourage you to visit (when you can) and see GG in action. From a personal pony of view I?ve also made some wonderful friends as a parent there!!

I agree. People need to see the charging infrastructure in place in order to convince them that an electric car would work for them. Their use will grow incrementally. It?s really important that there are dedicated parking spaces to be able to use them. The lamppost chargers are not great as you simply cannot rely on being able to park near them when you need to charge. However I also agree that electric cars are not the whole solution and that we need to look at reducing car use. Car clubs etc are a great idea and I?ll be seriously considering one when I don?t have car seats to lug around! I am happy to talk to anyone considering an electric car. We live ours!

You can join for a tenner to get a cheaper rate but can also pay as you go too. In my e-golf a full charge will do about 125 miles in summer , around 100 in winter with the heating on

I used one last night. Great to have some reliable charging points with dedicated parking. I ?filled up? for ?10

Another recommendation for Aaron - all the kids at school absolutely adore him. Really excited about this holiday club as is my daughter!

Yes we?ve noticed an increase in the noise from the lordship this year - a wedding most Fridays and Sunday?s. our garden backs on to third and it is pretty noisy, especially during the summer. I feel a bit churlish complaining. Obviously it was a pub when we moved in (the mag) but I think we would have thought twice if we?d known it was a ?venue? rather than a local pub.

There is a hv clinic from 1-3 on Tuesday's. Nominally this is for certain gp clinics but I doubt they'd turn your husband away if he's from another practice

We did a nanny share with our first, unfortunately I can't remember what the hourly rare was, but it definitely made the nanny option affordable for us. We used to share the hosting, so one week at our house, next week at the other families. For the week we were hosting we would buy all the food the nanny would need. We also bought a second hand double buggy for her to use - again we shared the cost of this. It worked really well for us, but does depend on finding the right family to share with. We also used a payroll agency as was too complicated us to do on our own!

I want to add to the recommendations for Nick Minns and his team, including Kuba and Lesh. They have just finished painting the exterior of our house, laying a new garden path and putting up a new fence. Nick and the team were great, they were very flexible and came up with good solutions for what we could do within our tight budget. The end result looks great and I would happily recommend them to others. Tara

We've had some work done on our front yard and have some rubbish that needs removing, mainly rubble, ole paving slabs etc. Does anyone know whether this can be picked up as part of the council's bulky waste collection. I've looked at the items they say they will collect and although they list DIY items there, they specify this as kitchen doors, units or work tops. I don't want to pay only to find on the day that they won't take it. Has anyone used this service before to pick up this sort of rubbish?

Hi, I'm pregnant with my 2nd, due early August and would be interested in any plans to meet up as, like others, not planning to do nct and most of my mum friends had their 2nd ages ago!

Another recommendation for Saied. He and his team have done an amazing, and very speedy, job of clearing our back garden, and preparing it for grass to be laid down. He has kept the house very tidy too and has been a pleasure to work with. Looking forward to him coming back next week to put the grass down! Saied has now finished, and as well as being a pleasure to work with, he has completely transformed the garden - we are so pleased!

Just wanted to recommend Miss Danni's ballet classes which run on Tuesday afternoons in the goose green centre (see what's on section for details etc. - i think the classes are called Get Dan 'n' dance). She has a nursey class at 2.20 and another one at 4 (I think) for slightly older ones - and I think there are some spaces in both classes. She offers a free trial on your first class and then a discounted rate for three more 'trial' weeks which was great for me as my daughter tends to be really enthusiastic about these things the first time she goes and then her enthusiasm rapidly declines. So far so good though, and Miss Dani is really good with them. The lessons are only about 30 mins long and parents are allowed to stay for the classes.

How strange - we're heading off there on Sunday! We went while I was pg and remember thinking it would be fab fir kids as the beaches were all amazing and loads of kids playing on the beach at night while parents eat. Not sure how old your kids are but would recommend the caves and palms well worth a visit too. There's a lovely old train which ru z from Palma to soller. Beautiful walks round tramentura(?) area too. So

The event we are holding is to get parents' views on the Government's proposed new Early Learning Goals. These descrobe what children should typically be able to do by the age of five - that is the reason why we are not specifically asking for parents of younger children to attend this workshop. Parents of younger children (or anyone for that matter) are of course encouraged to look at the early learning goals and respond to the online consultation (details in my earlier post). Cora - apologies but we are unable to provide a creche.

Thanks Buggie that was exactly our thinking - we want to get the views of parents who are going through, or have recently been through, that stage of education.

Dear forumites, I work for the Department for Education and we are looking for some parents to attend a workshop to discuss the Government's proposed changes to the early learning goals (which describe the level of progress children should normally have attained by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage - age 5). We are keen to get the views of a range of parents on the goals - are they clear, do they make sense and are they age appropriate? We are looking for parents whose children are between the ages of 4 and 10. The workshop will take place on 19th January from 12-2 at the Department for Education (in Westminster). We will provide lunch and refreshments and will pay for any travel costs incurred. If you are interested in attending the workshop please PM me for further details. Details of the consultation can be found at:EYFS Learning and Development consultation Tara

I've got loads of apples to offer - not sure exactly what variety but they look brogdale-ish. Willing to swap for anything interesting!

Gov doing a consultation on a revised early years foundation stage. Go to department if education website.

My daughter has been there since it opened and is loving it. Staff are lovely and they do loads of activities with them, nice outside space, loads of toys etc.

Thanks Gussy - yes it is a really good playgroup in terms of the amount of space there is and seems especially popular for people with both toddlers and little ones. Also, lots of childminders and nannies attend so if any mums or dads know that their childminder/nannies go and would be willing to help then please ask them to contact me, Jane or Laurie at the group.