Bouncy

http://www.atl.org.uk/publications-and-resources/report/2012/2012-september-cover-story-ofsted.asp

Congratulations - exciting time! Do you want to go to the classes for information or to meet people? If the former, in my experience the NCT classes basically duplicated the hospital ones, but with rather a biased push towards anti-intervention and home birth. So not worth the time and money from that point of view. If you want to meet people, however, may be worth going even without your partner, if you'll be the one off on maternity leave and looking for things to do / people to meet up with in the local area...?

fapl - was about to say exactly the same thing. Haven't given birth at Kings but at St Thomas'; similar experience to many on here - excellent midwife / doctor person-centred medical care when things went contrary to plans and finally got assigned a slot and admitted, but highly stressful and unpleasant pre-admittance and on post-natal ward. Again, due to them just being way past capacity. Given that South London maternity services are already clearly utterly overstretched, I'm very tempted to have another baby in good time before Lewisham closes!

http://www.edinborocastlepub.co.uk/ - great garden, good drinks (but grumpy staff to be tolerated!)

I re-read and enjoyed Whit recently; would also recommend (as someone already has) Walking on Glass, and of course The Wasp Factory...

I'm a bit confused about the roles...Mummy Pig works on her computer sometimes - but it always looks like she is writing a letter, rather than studying or working freelance (though how you would convey that...?!). As a mother who often works at home, perhaps I am analysing this aspect of things too much, though!!!

Congratulations! Lovely news... How did he propose, if that's not too personal??

I remembered this thread when I saw this: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/mar/25/education-harris-academies-curriculum

Slightly off on a tangent, and very British...but I'm never quite sure if I'm 'meant' to tip takeaway delivery people / hairdressers. Hairdressers tend to look happy and un-flumoxed when I do, but a friend said the other day she never does, and it's not expected...and some takeaway people look positively offended when I tip! What's the unspoken rule / consensus on all of this?!

Oh Midivydale - I remember your other posts related to your return to work - how's it all going??? I hope not too horrendous?? On whether women ruling the world would make things better: I agree that what is deisrable is equality and parity rather than feminine take-over. However, I do feel that we need some more females / people who have 'feminine' values in power, so that this can be achieved. In order that we can have true equality of choice in career and childcare, we need a structure where both are valued and real choice made possible. I think it's a massive obstacle to this that, for example, it's impossible to be both a politician in central government and an involved parent (because being a central government policitian is all-consuming - much more than full-time, plus evenings going through 'boxes,' etc). This means that even the female politicians have to relegate the importance of family involvement, and move away from this part of their life, and reconstrue any pre-existing beliefs around it (otherwise, they'd be left with massive cognitive dissonance) - in turn relegating the importance and time devoted to family-friendly policies (for both men and women)...

Hi Peter - yes, I'm aware of CFBT as I've worked with them in the past, so am interested more than generically in what specifically they will contribute in this case. I can't find detail on the parent group on the school website (though maybe I'm missing it?), but you have a very comprehensive Linkedin profile, so that answers my initial question!

Thanks for your reply, Peter. What do you work freelance as? I'd also be interested to hear more about your motivation for setting up a free school, about why you've chosen CfBT, about what their role would be, and what the role of the parent group would be. Thanks!

Hello Peter - I was wondering what your background is? Thanks.

You should! - especially if he's still in that position / a similar position!

Midivydale - NO!!! Seriously??? It's impossible that could have been all that long ago, right, as you're a recent mum? Did anyone react??