dreamaholic

Take Charter North Dulwich as an example, The furthest distance we offered a place for our year 7 September 2023 was 921 meters. As of the 1st March 2024 the furthest distance we have offered a place for September 2024 intake is currently at 827m. If private schools become more unaffordable for parents who are not mega-rich, some kids will have to move from private to local, and it will only be even harder to get into schools that are already over-subscribed...

One of the headline Starmer kept talking about is charging VAT for private schools. This would make private school fees unaffordable for many who are not mega-rich, pushing more students back to the state education system. Would the state schools be able to take in the extra students? Many schools are already over-subscribed, are there enough schools, classrooms and teachers to take on the extra students? My fear is that the extra VAT they get is not going to be enough to provide education for more students under the state system, as well as the additional 6500 specialist teachers they claim they will provide.

I don’t have any personal recommendation, but I have heard friends having 1-to-1 sessions with native language speakers on italki.com. Have a look. Lots of native speakers and rates are reasonable.

I completely agree with you and have signed the petition. Introducing VAT to school fees will not impact the super wealthy, but those who work hard and try to save pennies here and there to afford the school fees. Imagine if 20% of current private school students can no longer afford to go to private schools and have to go to state schools, will the state schools be able to cope with the extra students? Say currently you need to live within 1km to be within catchment of your desired state school, that could be reduced to 600m. Just THINK about the potential consequences…

I could hear helicopter flying in the area (16 March around 8.30pm) - does anyone know what's going on?

James, we would really appreciate if you could speak to Southern on our behalf. Currently if one of the trains get cancelled, or if a 4 carriage train turn up instead of a 8 carriage train, the trains would be jam packed. Can't see how they can reduce our timetable to just one train an hour even during peak hour. How are we going to go in the work? I got a season ticket and to be honest I can't see how they can just reduce their service just like that. That's a 75% reduction (from 4 trains an hour to just one) Many thanks in advance

Fernando helped us with some gardening tasks - our garden looks so much better now. Thanks!

We went to this one in Majorca last year. http://www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/europe/spain/majorca/puerto-pollensa/apartments/aparthotel-playa-mar.html

We went to Thomson's family resort last year, there's a cr?che and the staff there have UK accreditation. There's also evening entertainment evening and my son who was around 20 months old loved it, especially Thomson the dog. We are going to another family resort this year! The resort we went to was in Majorca. With lots of water slides for kids. Would recommend!

We have asked Fernando to come and do some gardening for us and he turned our much neglected garden into a tidy garden with a new flowerbed. Would recommend and would personally ask him to come back for future gardening jobs.

Olay regenerist is great. I use their 3-point serum and day / night cream. They are often on offer too (like 3 for 2 at boots / superdrugs). I've used more expensive brands before and I prefer Olay. Much cheaper and you can feel the difference after just a week.

Please see map attached. Hope this helps!

We went last weekend there's a car park at imperial college that's approx 3 quid an hour but that was full when we got there at around 12. We parked our car near Gloucester Road, there are some spaces that's approx 3 quid an hour till 1.30pm then it's all free till Monday morning. It's a short walk but very good value. We prefer driving than taking a train then tube / bus too.

Another recommendation for Fernando. He came and helped us tidy our overgrown garden, he did a good job again, thanks!

Hi Fernando - I just emailed you to see if you're available to help with some gardening next week. Thanks for your good work last year.

Hi! We will be travelling to Antwerp and the surrounding area with a 19 months old. Are there any family friendly restaurant with good food that you would recommend? I had a quick look at tripadvisor, photos of the dishes look lovely but it suite hard to guess whether a certain restaurant is family friendly or not! Thanks in advance.

There's a scheme called the cherubs scheme. http://www.cherubs.uk.com/index.php From their website: "Your baby is photographed on 3 separate occasions by your local Cherubs professional photographer during his/her first 18 months and after the final photo session you will receive a beautiful presentation triple folio. It contains three 5-inch images recording the development of your child: first when they are a few months old, once they can sit up, and then when they can stand. A wonderful keepsake! You will also have the opportunity to purchase extra photographs from each sitting, under no obligation. This exclusive offer is made available to you by the Master Photographers Association. Thousands of happy Mums have had Cherubs portraits taken of their babies since the promotion was introduced." The photographer we got is Asher from rockimaging, he's brilliant. He goes to your home with his equipments for he shoot. We bought more photos after each shoot as they are really good and are not too expensive. (Nothing like Venture pricing!) http://www.rockimaging.com/

Fernando came back today to finish my front garden and start working in the back garden. He did a good job and tidied our much neglected gardens. Thank you Fernando!

I found Fernando from this forum, he came today and did a brilliant job at tidying our neglected front garden. He's punctual, pleasant, tidy and did a great job. He transformed our front garden! He will be back next week to help us tidy our back garden! I'd definitely recommend him to anyone who need some gardening done to their gardens!

Sounds fun! Will bear this in mind when my son is older! He's turning one this Sept, so won't appreciate bouncy castle yet :)

Lots of horror stories here. Oh dear!! http://www.workingmums.co.uk/search/advice.thtml?&tag=3716&refinement=Flexible%20Working&o=&search=returning%20to%20work

Thanks all for your reply. I'll have a face to face chat with him tomorrow... fingers crossed it will all work out. I'm smelling trouble though... because I haven't submitted the 4 day part time request (as I was going to first use up my annual leave so I wouldn't need that to start till 1/1/2014, so I thought I had some time! how naive....) and the tone of his email doesn't sound like he's going to approve it. Also, while I was off, instead of getting temporary cover, I think they "restructured and expanded the team" and hired 1-2 extra staff, so I have a feeling that I'm no longer wanted. Maybe I'm thinking too much, lets see how tomorrow goes.

Hi PrivateBanking, thanks for your suggestion, I'll check out the website you suggested. Because my 2-day a week arrangement is only for 2 months, then I'll work 4 days a week, I didn't submit it as a formal request. I don't know if this is why my boss thought he could ignore me for 2 months!

My maternity leave is due to end in late August, and I can only find childcare for 2 days a week in August and September before increasing to 4 days a week in October. I have accrued 30+ days off throughout my maternity so my plan is to first use up those annual leave days before formally submitting a request to work 4 days a week from 1/1/2014, say. I have communicated my plan to my manager verbally back in mid May, followed by an email in early June after I got a formal offer from the nursery. I didn't hear back until today, almost 2 months after our chat, with an email from my boss saying me returning back to work for 2 days a week in September would be "a drain on the rest of the team", and his "preference would be for me to utilise your holiday during September" I feel very frustrated that they didn't let me know sooner (it's been almost 2 months since I told him the plan!!) and disheartened to see that I would be "a drain on the rest of the team". Had I known sooner that I'm not welcome to work for 2 days a week in Sept I wouldn't have arranged to start nursery in late July! (and saving me hundreds of pounds!!!) Will discuss with them... but just wondering what are my options? Can they force me to use up my holidays in September bcoz they dont want to see me? I don't want to use up the accrued annual leave that way! Thanks for reading and thank in advance for advice!

Thanks all for your suggestion! I'll try these out and see what my baby likes!