Fuschia

Or you could say 120 places would create vacancies that would eventually bankrupt existing schools!

DenmotherSmith Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The councils report on school places states "the > distribution of places indicates pressure in the > north of the borough. Conversely there are > sufficient to excess places in the south with the > addition of a 2FE Harris primary free school in > Nunhead recently approved by the Department for > Education to open in September 2015." > So the proposed primary school isn't even needed > in Nunhead, let alone on the hospital site. Could > the Harris federation be trying to scupper a > future secondary school on the hospital site as > they stand to lose out on pupils to their single > sex secondaries nearby. Harris may have the ear of > Gove and his department and can no doubt see a > threat that could leave their schools heavily > undersubscribed. I think you may have hit the nail on the head. The free school agenda is mooted as being about parent power, but in reality it's increasingly about large chains expanding their portfolios. With all existing ED primaries good or better there would be no access point for Harris into the primary sector but this is the way in - potentially destabilising existing schools. And the cost of all this. Existing schools are increasingly squeezed financially - building free schools 'just for the sake of it' is a colossal waste. Someone needs to FOI to see what consultation took place over this Harris Nunhead. My reading of the Harris site (where they have sneaked it in) is that it was done off the back of Harris ED. That can't be right.

bornagain Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes, but ED is not Nunhead. How can yet another > primary school in ED help the children of Nunhead? > Just because there is some spare land a mile away > is not the reason to find a site for a school. > It's nowhere near where the demand is - > unbelievable. > The thing about free schools is there an unseemly rush to set up as many as possible, it's not about filling a gap for places http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/may/09/half-of-new-primary-free-schools-fail-to-fill-places

http://www.harrisfreeschooleastdulwich.org.uk/50/academy-news/article/11/building-announced-for-new-harris-primary-school-in-east-dulwich 'School Site Announced The former East Dulwich police station has been secured by the government for the new Harris Primary Free School in the area. The new school will open for Reception children in September 2014. It will be housed on a separate site until the new building is completed. Design and construction will be led by the Education Funding Agency. Sir Dan Moynihan, Chief Executive of the Harris Federation said: ?The school will meet the significant demand from local families for new, high-quality places in East Dulwich. Our belief is that children thrive at Primary School when they are consistently happy and safe. The building will have fantastic new facilities, which we are all looking forward to.? ?When the petition for the new school in East Dulwich was put together by Cllr Barber, there was so much support that it justified a new school for the Nunhead area. This was approved last week and will open in September 2015.? Cllr James Barber, who led the campaign for a new Harris primary school in the area said: ?I could not be more delighted that the Harris Federation, working with the government Department for Education and GLA, have come up trumps for East Dulwich with a permanent new free primary school site.'

Harris ED is a different thing altogether and was in wave 4 or earlier Harris nunhead is in wave 5 and was approved earlier this year ' Harris Federation Free Schools The successful academy chain Harris has had 2 London primary schools approved today. One 630-place school in will be located in Tottenham Hale and the other over 420-place school in Southwark. The schools will both have a literacy specialism. As part of the Harris network, they will benefit from sharing curriculum teaching and learning practices, pastoral practices and administrative services.'

Harris Tottenham and Harris Nunhead were both in wave 5 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/280934/Free_schools_wave_5_application_information.xlsx And were both approved, see press release earlier this year https://www.gov.uk/government/news/successful-free-school-proposals-announced Though Harris nunhead mutated slightly 'Harris Federation Free Schools The successful academy chain Harris has had 2 London primary schools approved today. One 630-place school in will be located in Tottenham Hale and the other over 420-place school in Southwark. The schools will both have a literacy specialism. As part of the Harris network, they will benefit from sharing curriculum teaching and learning practices, pastoral practices and administrative services.' I am not sure at what stage the consultation element takes place ... It does look as if the original names gathered for Harris ED have been used to support Harris Nunhead

A secondary building with 6 form would be 10000-12000 sq m I think Plus outdoor space. These days parking is usually very limited The building would be 2-3 stories So I think a primary and a secondary and the health facilities probably could all be fitted in

Something isn't right when there is more public consultation and democratic control of decisions re local shops than there is about schools.

Good point. James says 'The Dulwich Hospital site is the only Dulwich land with sufficient space for a secondary school. A secondary school would still leave plenty of space for the proposed primary school and proposed medical facilities.' So it looks like there was always a plan for a primary there, as well as the secondary?

James must know about this, he is quoted in that article on the Harris website, about the two new schools. And it was the original gathering of names for the first school http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1011288,page=12 that ended with so many more than the 80 needed for Harris ED. If the number really did end up at '145/80 + 100' then you can see what's happened. And the hospital site was one of the sites looked at for the ED primary wasn't it. I guess both sites, the police station and the hospital were available and so a further free school application was put in and approved in wave 5. The ED primary was approved in wave 4. They are definitely two separate schools, according to the published free school approvals.

According to the Harris website, the Nunhead primary is additional to the ED primary http://www.harrisfreeschooleastdulwich.org.uk/50/academy-news/article/11/building-announced-for-new-harris-primary-school-in-east-dulwich '?When the petition for the new school in East Dulwich was put together by Cllr Barber, there was so much support that it justified a new school for the Nunhead area. This was approved last week and will open in September 2015.?' Does this mean that Harris, as part of the discussions about the ED Primary, went on to arrange to open a second free school, and got it approved, without any further discussion or consultation with the community? And pinched the hospital site, as a done deal, in the process? It appears so.

If you drive, I can really recommend the dentist in balham http://www.dentalclinique.co.uk/dental-team-balham-london.html Katherine is actually an edf-er and a lovely dentist

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Or a tuff tray, with or without stand http://www.tts-group.co.uk/shops/tts/Products/PD1718979/50-Ways-To-Use-A-Tuff-Spot/ There are loads of ideas also plastic liners can be bought with various designs to create small worlds

Red ted art on fb has some great easy craft stuff If weather is ok, how about a sand/water play table and some little trucks and diggers If he can't run around, messy play might fill the gap a little

Have a plan to go for 4-5 weeks (though not just yet!) and mostly as backpackers, yes!

ESP Thailand but also possibly Vietnam or Laos

The restriction re au pairs isn't fixed legally ...any au pair you recruit will be working here as an EU citizen, there is no specific au pair visa. I now have au pairs (2!) and lots of their au pair friends are looking after quite small children, often for long hours. I would think you could easily find an au pair to do that wrap around and some general household stuff as being an AP in ED would be quite attractive. Holidays are likely to be the issue though.(there are childminders who have holiday spaces because they care for the children of teachers, but it would be hard to find space for 2 Could you negotiate to work time only, yourself? Or at least, extra holiday? Could you afford and accommodate two au pairs? Looking after small children when you are not a qualified child care worker is much easier if not alone If you look for au pair/s I would recommend advertising for one who has already completed a year here, person will then be a) used to London b) good English c) used to the job d) a bit older e) you can meet them and get a reference in person from previous family That's how it worked out for us, we have 4 children, the youngest was 2 when the au pairs started and in nursery only from 9-11.30 It's worked very well and in the holidays they have all 4 children 2-3 days Pw

See this, for instance http://www.merton.gov.uk/learning/schools/changingschool/admissions/school-applications-and-transfers/primaryplace.htm

Schools don't get instantaneous updates re the outcome of offers made. They will have had a list and be arranging induction, at some point they will get an updated list with the refusals removed and new allocations included. I might be wrong, but I think the process at the council end is along the lines of updating their system with all the refusals and any late apications, then run the routines again to produce a second round of offers

The wildlife garden runs stuff

Haha I do that too! Then email pics to myself

Ha I just spat tea over my ipad There are willies all over the place in our house, it's true... We are outnumbered if you count the cat!

I have a box for each child for current bags, gloves, hats etc and a box of summer stuff and a box of winter stuff and willies and waterproofs in the cupboard opposite (have fantastic huge utility room/boot room now) Also have boxes in the shed labelled beach toys, sailing, wetsuits, beach shoes, camping etc (expedit unit) which mops up the overflow It dies seem to be great minds think alike.. I need to update my present box and also have a better system for school notes. I keep snacks and spare clothes in the car, cheque book in my bag

Convex Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > There is an amazing thread on mumsnet with tips on > getting organised. Try searching on that...? Ah, good plAn.