DVnewbie

Hi - also really sad to see Tiger Sharks closed. We are very local and it has been amazing for my daughter. If it re-opens/finds another place to operate, we will follow if we can. Does anybody know any other good swimming clubs locally, in the meantime? My daughter will really miss that extra one hour swim each week. i don’t know the details but very sad to see them close down and Krys did seem really upset too. Understandably.

Hi - just to let the wider community know, there are places in Years 1 and 2 and Dulwich Village Infants for September. If you ring the office, they can give you details - 020 7525 9233. Or email [email protected]. The school’s latest results are still great but it is always harder to fill places in Years 1 and 2 as there is no automatic entry to Dulwich Hamlet (the lovely junior school (Years 3-6), next door). However, there are stats that show nearly every child who wants a place at Dulwich Hamlet from Dulwich Village Infants, gets one. Worth looking at if you are moving into the area or looking for a place for a 5/6 year old at an excellent school anyway! I am inherently biased though as I have had three children through the school. And I know other local schools are also excellent!

Hi - we no longer need our amazing nanny. This is her second stint with us. She looked after our children first when our third child was a baby (and the others were 5 and 6). She stayed until the little one went to school. Then she came back recently to do after school nannying for us four days a week but we don’t need that anymore, sadly. She drives, is great with babies, toddlers and primary age children (and tricky teens…) and knows Dulwich very well. She’d ideally like two full days a week. Please let me know if you are interested and I can put you in touch! Thanks.

Hello - just in case anybody is still looking for school places, Dulwich Village Infants has a few in Years 1 and 2 and no waiting list. (There is a short waiting list for Reception so you can always put your name down on that list by calling the school if you are looking for a Reception place).

Also - as soon as you have an address/tenancy agreement, email the schools and get on the waiting list. There is still a lot of movement at the moment as people decide whether to accept offers or not. (Some apply for private and state schools and may have accepted a private place before the state offers come out.)

Hello! Just to reiterate, there are loads of good schools round here, particularly at the moment. Southwark has falling role numbers so it is much easier to get a place at the ?good? ones these days - and there are more really good ones about. My children go to/went through Dulwich Village Infants and Dulwich Hamlet and the catchment areas for both have gone out massively recently. (Obviously, I really rate both!) I have heard lovely things re Ivydale too - a colleague?s children go there.

Hi - we can also recommend Andy. He came out at 7.30 pm on 23rd December to deal with an emergency leak in our bathroom. We had 12 people coming for Christmas (including family flying from overseas that we hadn't seen for three years because of Covid) so we were extra grateful for him picking up the phone so late in the evening just before Christmas and coming out. He also stayed late until it was done - and did a really good job!

Hi - I thought I posted yesterday but can?t see it so apologies if this is a repeat... Our au pair has just arrived from Italy. He would love to meet other local au pairs so please can you PM me if you have a sociable au pair or know of any meet-ups locally? Thanks very much!

Thanks very much but he?s quite keen to meet other au pairs so I think a school would be better. There seem to be a couple of options in Clapham... Thank you for your reply though!

Hi - can anybody suggest somewhere near to Dulwich for English lessons for our au pair? Thanks!

Hello - just thought I'd let people know on here that there are places available in Year 2 at Dulwich Village Infants School. A couple of families moved out over the summer but it's still an "outstanding" school and my children loved it (recently!). It is only an infant school though, so you'd need to have another school in mind for your child for Year 3. There is no automatic entry to the Dulwich Hamlet Junior School. Just posting in case anybody is stuck for a Year 2 place at the moment...

Hello - I have heard really really good things about Bessemer too although I have two children at Dulwich Village Infants and could not be happier with it. It's a brilliant school and it's more diverse than you'd think, given where it is! We're both White British but both children have friends with parents from all over the place who speak English as a second language - e.g. Japan, Germany, Sweden, Italy and Belgium. And there are plenty of British parents of Indian and Chinese descent plus Irish, American and Antipodean parents. Our oldest child is going to Dulwich Hamlet next year with about 85% of the year. Having said how much I like the village schools, I think transport links are better from Herne Hill as you can avoid London Bridge (a huge plus unless you work next to it...) and get either the Thameslink or into Victoria. So I tend to walk 25 minutes from the Dulwich Village to Herne Hill. Have to say that I can massively struggle to get onto a Thameslink at Herne Hill between 8.15 and 8.55 though - they are always rammed. I think Bessemer and the Village (state) schools are excellent. The other one in that area would be Judith Kerr - I don't know anybody whose children go there though so can't give a view.

Blackberry Woods near Lewes in Sussex? It's a very sweet campsite, in the woods obviously, although pretty basic (but hot) showers.

Not all people who work or worked in banks are inhumane... Quite a few are very nice, normal and community-spirited. Really... (No, I'm not a banker.) It's certainly not fair to generalise based on one bad experience. And I know a lot of Charter parents who are extremely happy with the new head. My children are not at secondary school yet so I can't speak from direct experience.

We've just gone through the Hamlet admission process. Two children in our dvis year 2 class didn't get a place at the hamlet immediately. One child was at dvis on a church place and we think the child will get a place via the waiting list. The other child had an 'open' place (non- church) at dvis and got offered a place at the hamlet a couple of days after the offers came out (a few children applied who have since got places at private schools). I think that the move at 7 is more of a worry for children at dvis on a church place ( although even then, they'll only have a place if dvis was their nearest c of e school so they'll live pretty near the hamlet too). As for how good the hamlet is... We'll see! Heard great things and not so positive things.