Belle

As James said, he and members of the Steering Group have not undertaken this process lightly, and significant consideration was given to the Charter's proposition. There is no doubt it is an excellent local school which we are lucky to have in our area. Crucially though, we are under a time constraint: to avoid a shortfall of secondary places in 2016 we need a provider who can act quickly and assuredly, and who knows the free school process. Haberdashers' Aske's can do that, having already set up a free school. This is a process they know, and excel at.

My friends run this place: https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2187405 They are lovely and will look after you well!

Very interesting - thank you - also explains why he was so keen to move to packed lunches as he said the school dinners were too noisy & gave him a headache (a bigger group of kids). I couldn't understand it at the time as he is not exactly quiet himself! I hope your ears/hearing have now recovered - can imagine how difficult it would be working in that environment.

Grotty, feel free to PM if you want to discuss the grommet experience/process that led us to it - your daughter sounds like she's having a similar experience to my son. at 15 mths and even at 2 it was quite hard to tell if his hearing was impaired so for us it was more about the infections, which were really hard to treat.

Thank you so much Dodie, very helpful to hear of your experience, and I'm glad things improved for you with the grommets (which I never spell correctly!). I can't imagine how challenging this was for you when dealing with newborn twins! Your insight on how the hearing loss manifested itself is very very helpful. We have been wondering whether this might be a factor at school (teachers have picked him up on concentration issues) - obviously realise a 5 yr old boy is not necessarily the best listener even with perfect hearing! I am thinking a busy classroom may well cause issues. and also that i need to be better at making sure I'm on his good side/in front of him when I'm talking to him. We got conflicting advice re water in ears too. As it happens, we rarely swim (try to use ear plugs when we do though) and he hates having his hair washed so we do it in the least invasive way possible (sometimes he'll only allow me to basically do it using a flannel...). On the rare occasions that water has got in, he's really reacted to it though. thanks again - really appreciate you posting.

My son (5) has had two grommett operations, at 16 months and 2 yrs old. Both times the grommetts made a huge improvement to his health & quality of life (had chronic ear infections/glue ear) and we don't regret getting the operations. Both times, the grommetts fell out naturally after some time had passed (as is expected). However, we discovered about a year ago at a routine audiology follow up appt that he had lost some hearing in one ear. Subsequent appointments with our consultant have revealed that one hole left by the grommett has not closed back up properly and his hearing is down to 25% in the affected ear. This requires a relatively simple op to repair. We have no qualms about this and trust the surgeon completely. However I don't know much about this whole circumstance - has anyone heard of this or been through similar? Particularly wondering what the practical implications of this hearing loss are, it's so hard to tell what is behavioural and what is physical when it comes to listening at this age... any advice/insight very much appreciated. NB this isn't meant as to cast any negative light on the grommetts process, which we thought made a massive difference and we'd definitely do them again. Just in case anyone reading this is considering it!

I've known children in my son's reception class be taken out for a day or two for planned leave, without apparent repercussions. But no idea if this is cleared with just class teacher or going to the head. We chose not to risk it when travelling to my friend's wedding last autumn - I now think I was crazy as it meant we had a crazy cross London dash in rush hour to Heathrow! Maybe speak to your class teacher first?

Yes recommend Soccer Stars too. Denzil is great.

http://www.tptoys.com/playhouses/tp_wood_playhouse_with_slide_fsc.htm We got the above playhouse/treehouse climbing frame last summer for our 2 boys (now 5 and 2.5) - it's been great. We haven't used the sandpit function, not really needed to yet.

We think they're great - and sometimes they do next day delivery.

I think there are a fair few ex-ED'ers who have moved that way and still visit the forum, so you may get some insight that way...

Two of the schools mentioned are single sex, there's a demand locally for something which is co-educational. That's something I personally feel very strongly in favour of.

I can't speak for the council, but it's possible that they have listened to numbers - as pointed out above, the campaign has really burgeoned over the last few weeks. This campaign is for a local secondary school. I can't see why anyone would argue for kids to be bussed out of the area, particularly when there's now an opportunity for provision on our doorstep. As others have said - maybe free schooling is a flawed policy. I don't know. But what I do feel strongly about is local education for local kids. Given the time constraints, and the increasing pressure on existing provision, I cannot see another way - so my preference is to get behind the campaign and help to steer it to ensure the fairest solution.

The Peckham Academy is Harris - and, as has been well documented here, there is a real appetite for a non-Harris secondary option locally.

V true re going on backwards! My first time on the ED- LB train a v kind mum who also had a buggy of her own to handle kindly helped me onto the train. If you look for the disabled carriage there is more room for the buggy there. London Bridge became my favourite place to go with my first baby as it's so easy. Have fun!

James said the council leader, and as he later mentioned, that is Peter John. He also mentioned the council member for children's services, that is Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle. It should be fairly straightforward to follow the process: anyone can come on here, Facebook/Twitter or email /phone James or make contact via the website for information. I'm on the steering group and have made myself known to my son's primary school, as I know others have on the steering group in their respective schools, which means in practice that parents in every school in the area should have at least one named person they can make contact with if they have any enquiries.

It is definitely Thurs isn't it??

"Muruganantham is sceptical about the effectiveness of TV advertising. "You always have a girl in white jeans, jumping over a wall," he says. "They never talk about hygiene."" Spot on!

YSL foundation is great - think it's the touche eclat one (similar format to the highlighter/concealer of the same name - comes with a big paintbrush style applicator, really easy to put on). For lighter/day coverage I like Clinique CC cream. I have a Becca concealer, but not sure if they're still for sale in the UK (they used to sell them in Dr Boo) - I combine that with Liz Earle version of YSL touche eclat which I read about in Sali Hughes' column, as mentioned above. St Ives apricot scrub is one of those budget cult beauty buys, I recently got one and I really rate it. I have really sensitive skin but seems fine with this. Because of having bad eczema/sensitive skin, I tend to use doublebase (emolient for dry skin) as a cleanser and moisturiser. But I got a Clinique sample moisturiser with the bonus they do in the summer (think it's called Renewal, but will check) and I really rate it. I have a Clinique eye cream I use when I remember - I also like Dr Hauschka's eye balm. I use the latter more because I get dry skin around my eyes, no idea if it helps with the wrinkles! Second Benefit mascara - think it's called They're Real? I'm on my second one, they are truly the best mascaras, and I've tried a lot! Clarins have a great new eyeliner out - 3 dot liquid liner - foolproof applicaiton but really hard to get at the moment - I'm on the waiting list at Dr Boo!! I used to be anti blusher too, but now wouldn't go without it. I got a nice thing from Benefit recently called Lollitint I think, they also do Benetint which is great,and they do loads of nice powder blushes - coralista is my favourite. After years of lipgloss have got back into proper lipstick recently, got a lovely coral one from Clarins which I've worn loads. Nars & Laura Mercier do great eye shadows. Also - if you're looking for a treat - Benefit in Carnaby Street have a new champagne bar/treatment area downstairs and you can book in for one of those makeup lessons where you redeem the cost against products, could be a fun outing if you're looking to stock up? I really rate their stuff (if it wasn't obvious from the above!). Finally, I saw you the other day and you definitely did not look 10 years older! You're as lovely and freshfaced as ever - so take heart :)

Don't we already have schools close to each other with different admissions policies? Charter is on proximity isn't it, whilst Kingsdale is a lottery system as I understand it, and yes Harris on the banding you describe.

Hi - no real answers, but have been going through similar off and on with my now 5 year old, since he was 3 or 3.5. I posted this thread about it a year ago and got some really helpful messages and PMs. both my dad and father in law are dead and so that's prompted a lot of questions, and he has at times really struggled with the 'why does everyone have to die' thing (fair enough ...I still struggle with it!). I've avoided anything heaven-like as I just don't think it's helpful, personally. I tend to go with facts - people get ill or things happen, their body stops working. When he asks what happens to them I explain that people believe different things etc. His teacher told him recently about cremation and burial so we've talked about that. LIke I said, no real answers - I guess we just play it by ear depending on what aspect he is asking about. http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1029682,1029682#msg-1029682

Yes, think that may have been us! But others further away got offered places later on (not many though, from what I've heard). I'd have thought with the new school (s?) opening this year may not be as crazy as last year?

From what they say on Twitter it's the whole place I think? Have just messaged Emmanuelle Marshall to see if the shoe shop may open elsewhere, it's so good - would be really sorry to lose it.

Yes, I'd agree with that - though I understand you'll be concerned because your son is at a nice nursery, and change is always a bit scary with kids. But my son was very happy with childminder (still is as she does post school care for him twice a week still and holidays) and she always does loads with him, his little brother and the other children she cares for. Plus, I like that she adjusts the care dependent on the kids' moods - very true that they can be quite tired from school nursery, nice if they have a bit of 'home from home' type time around that. My son went to the nursery in the afternoons and I would say we only did morning things once or twice a week (and that was just park trips /the odd playdate - nothing organised) - because anything more wd have been too much on top of a nursery session. Good luck with the decision making - it's tricky working it all out.

I went back to work just after my older son started at school nursery. It worked for us as we already had a childminder in situ, and it coincided with her taking on my younger son for 2 full days, she knew the school etc and was in a position to be able to do the drop offs/pick ups on the days I worked, then fill in during school holidays. If you're not coming from that position, I agree it's quite tricky. There were quite a few working parents in my son's year, off the top of my head I think mainly using childminders/nannies though. You might be able to get a childminder who is happy to do it as a wrap around care thing, i.e. not be paid for the missing 3 hours - esp if she/he already has other charges - in the same way that many take on school runs. I really rated the school nursery we sent my son to, and we were lucky enough to get a place at the adjoining school, although even if we hadn't I'd have said it was a good experience for him. Not even so much the getting ready for school, just the range of activities and friends he was exposed to - it was really good for him.