Digbina

edited: new time Today Theatre Peckham are offering the first of their boys-only ballet classes! Today's free taster class is at 3.30 at Theatre Peckham (https://www.theatrepeckham.co.uk). Boys of all ages welcome. No experience needed. The class will be taken by Ben Love, former teacher at the English National Ballet, and director of Theatre Peckham's resident ballet company, Ballet Soul.

Yes, that was my son. It wasn't the front gate he got out of, it was the front door. The Villa got in touch with the administrator, saying it was defamatory and he deleted it. It was very distressing and what I wrote about it was true and/or my honest opinion. It's not defamation if you tell the truth. Although it's wikipedia, there's quite a useful explanation of the Defamation Act 2013 here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation_Act_2013.

Yes, zork makes a good point. I know people who live by Goose Green and Champion Hill who were offered places at Dulwich Village Infants - typically a very oversubscribed school. I also know people in Walworth who got a distance offer from Judith Kerr. You should definitely stil appply for a state place as you may be plesantly surprised. There's a lot of movement over the summer too.

If you live near the Villa then would you not be likely to get into Dog Kennel Hill, Lyndhurst or the Belham? Lots of children from the Villa nursery go to those schools.

I?m so sorry to hear that. Being a parent is hard enough without a total stranger making you feel rubbish about it. Definitely feedback to the school. It sounds quite alarmist although you never know whether it was an off the cuff comment or an over zealous presenter. I think general courses like these are never as good as someone who actually deals with you and your children as individuals and offers personalised advice and follow up. What sort of advice was she after or particular issues were there that need addressing? Perhaps we can suggest some alternatives.

We have been plagued by moths for years. The most effective treatment is to freeze the affected clothes. This deals with the eggs. But you also need to deal with the adults. Sticky pheromone strips will deal with the males. You can also try cedar balls and discs but these need to ?roughed up? every so often to release the moth-repelling scents.

When you join up you get 5 postcards to send to neighbours to invite them to join too. I imagine that?s why you received one

We got the warning letter only a couple of weeks ago. It did have some effect although the top third of our street is as bad as ever (more flats at that end).

You can notify the council. We recently received a letter reminding us that bins have to be kept within the boundary of the property as there had been complaints about bins blocking the pavement of our road.

You could try JAM in Herne Hill? It's on the corner of Herne Hill and Red Post Hill. 8/9am till 6pm. You can drive up off the street into the church carpark. I'm not sure if they're also running from the St John's and St Clement's site.

Luckily my nanny arrived just he was stepping out of the door. There was a gate between him and the street, but it was often propped open by cleaners, bin collectors, other parents etc (there was a block of wood there for this very purpose!) and staff were not present at the gate. This was around the time there had been a couple of kidnapping attempts in ED. I moved him to another nursery with fingerprint recognition locks on the doors. What really worried me was the way the staff and management just didn't seem that bothered. My nanny took my son back to the garden at the back of the building and they didn't realise he'd gone nor how long he'd been gone for. His key worker said he should have told them he was leaving the garden! He was three. The manager didn't notify us of what had happened until a couple of days later - prompted, I would guess, by our complaint to Ofsted that morning. Southwark Council told me that in their view it was a clear breach of the EYFS regulations which require children to be within sight or hearing at all times. I should add that in the past the Villa has had my posts about this incident deleted by telling the admin they have 'legal implications'. I have three law degrees and can't say I'm sure exactly what they mean by that.

We've been very happy with Ruskin House School (a nursery, despite its name) at 74 Herne Hill. My son had a fabulous time, he learned lots without being forced or pushed, he made many friends and I found the staff to be unfailingly kind and warm. There is good outside space with a mud kitchen, a pond (completely safe!), and a garden where the children have been growing tomatoes. It's a really nice place. It's also open until 7pm! I would NOT recommend The Villa. My son got out of the building through a broken/unlocked front door and the Villa's response was to blame my then three year old son and play down the severity of the incident. Luckily this view wasn't shared by the council who conducted a non-routine audit of their safeguarding practices.

It?s tough, I do sympathise. We had this issue in our old house and did influence our decision to move. Our old neighbour was pretty much a cannabis chain smoker. Community police might be an option?

My son is keen to play more cricket so I was thinking of singing him up to a club. Does anyone have any recommendations? The ones I know of are Dulwich, Alleyns and Streatham and Marlborough. I don't know anything about these clubs, save that I was told that Dulwich can be quite elitist. I'd prefer somewhere that's encouraging and mostly for fun at this stage.

I don?t have any direct experience but I do have qualms about the proximity to the car park and busy road - the air quality can?t be too good. Visiting the supermarket wouldn?t bother me too much as it can be part of the EYFS curriculum - counting, colours, shapes can all be done by looking at the fruit and veg sections, learning about healthy food, choosing ingredients for baking etc.

We were in the same position as you last year. We have a mothers help come for half an hour in the morning who then takes our son to school. He goes to JAM after school club which collects from DVIS, Judith Kerr, JAPS etc. I?m very happy with JAM - it?s not bright and shiny but the adults are warm and friendly and there?s a good mix of activities.

Try a Real Fsmily Holiday with the Field Services Council. We spent half term at Juniper Hall in Surrey and my boys had a great time romping through the woods, building dens, playing hide and seeek with the other children, climbing trees etc. Accommodation is youth hostel style with shared bathrooms and the food isn?t gourmet but we all had a good time and came back tired, muddy and de-stressed.

If they?ll suffer them, soft cotton mitts to minimise harm from scratching.

It?s www.jollyforesters.com. The email is [email protected]. The Feb half term dates aren?t on the website but I received an email about it so I would email or use the inquiry form on the website. Stock up on laundry powder!

Try Jolly Foresters - lots of outdoor activities in Dulwich Wood. My son loved it.

There?s (or there was, I?m not up to date on this) a forest school nursery in Myatts Fields in Camberwell.

We've been very happy with Ruskin House School at 74 Herne Hill. My son had a fabulous time, he learned lots without being forced or pushed, he made many friends and I found the staff to be unfailingly kind and warm. There is good outside space with a mud kitchen, a pond (completely safe!), and a garden where the children have been growing tomatoes. It's a really nice place.

Hi Beauchamp I was just about to post a reply (had to finish watching Bake Off first) and now I see you've deleted your post asking for feedback on the Villa. Funnily enough, I was about to preface my reply by saying that the staff at the Villa do monitor this forum and have been known to make threats about 'legal implications' to the admin to get uncomplimentary posts removed. It happened to me. However, people posting factual information about their experiences or actual events should not worry that this is unlawful. That said, since you asked about the pick ups and drop offs, I wanted to share my story with you. My son no longer attends the Villa, and this is why: My son was there until last year. I took him out for various reasons but the main one was that after he was able to get out of the main building (the door lock was broken and had been for some time) I no longer felt that he was safe there. He'd made his way from the garden, through the cloakroom, through another two rooms and had opened the front door when in an amazing stroke of luck, my nanny found him just as she was arriving to pick him up. When she took him back to the garden, the staff had no idea he'd been gone or for how long. His keyworker then tried to blame him for "not telling them where he was". He was 3.5 at the time. We weren't contacted by the management and they didn't report themselves to Ofsted (in fact, we didn't hear from the Villa management until a couple of days later - coincidentally, the afternoon of the morning after I reported them to Ofsted). We weren't happy with the Villa's response so I took things up with the council who said that they saw it as a breach of the EYFS welfare standards (children to be within sight and/or hearing at all times) and conducted a non-routine safeguarding audit. To my knowledge, they never informed the other parents, which I am pretty sure they are supposed to do. I had other concerns about pick-ups eg when in Caterpillars my son would come to me with a dirty nappy or sopping wet sleeves which indicated that they were not paying as much attention as they could have. I did speak to management about that and matters improved.

I think the narrowest child car seat you can buy is the Britax Prince, if it's smaller than the 5 year old's current seat you might squeeze three across. I wouldn't think a five yo could go in the front unless taller than 135cm and even then I wouldn't do it.