legalalien

Or, skip the stopover and do what jon says, transiting KL. you can sometimes get business class flights on Korean Air for much the same price as economy on Air NZ or Singapore Air.

Don't fly back via hawaii or the US. The jet lag will be horrific. You can go to a beach in NZ. I'd reduce the stopover time to four days and do Singapore, staying in Sentosa if poss.

Just to add, another reason for keeping your child in the year that they technically ought to be in, rather than deferring, if you could, is that if they play competitive sport (football, cricket) outside school when they get older, their year group will be based on their date of birth rather than their school year. So they'd be in a different group from their school friends/ have to compete with children from the year above.

Danny at JAGS is great. I'd also recommend football magic coaching, for ages 3-8, sat morning in Burbage Road http://www.footballmagiccoaching.co.uk/saturday_morning_football.html

I've been surprised how many people have posted recently saying that Langbourne is an impossible distance to travel. My son is at the prep, practically right next to Langbourne, and I know plenty of people who bike there from SE22, admittedly mostly from the forest hill "end" of Se22' but including someone who bikes from Bellenden Road. It's not as bad as you might think, because on a bike you can turn left up Bowen Road off Huntslip Road, rather than going right around(that end of Bowen Road is blocked to cars). Alternatively if you took the P13 to Dulwich College, it's about ten mins walk from the bus stop. I also know people who do that. I don't know much about Langbourne - although the children always seem very polite when I see them on the way to the train station - but I don't think it should be ruled out on distance alone.

Already in their system = precensored I guess. Maybe I'll give them a call. (Or post in classifieds to see if anyone wants some free books. :). )

Does anyone know if the library takes book donations? I have about 10 recently published modern fiction books that I've read and are in good nick.

Please note

Out of date

Forgot to say - girls are more than welcome!

....

I was brought up on the story of Simpson and his donkey - albeit for Anzac Day in April http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/Simpson-and-His-Donkey-9781921529542 for a recent version

gap are good but fairly pricy - at that age I went for vertbaudet.co.uk. For the record, Land's End do great jeans for still-skinny-at-7's!

It sounds as though you might have tried Dulwich CC and decided you didn't like it? Failing that, the one across from the Harvester is Streatham and Marlborough and the coach is a lovely guy called Mark. I think I have his contact details somewhere. They have training at the club from 5.30 to 7.30 on Thursday evenings - not incredibly convenient, but manageable depending on sibling commitments!

Dulwich Magic are just about finished for the season. My son has been training with them for the last part of this season, and is planning to join the team next season. This season they trained at the Dulwich Prep nursery field in Gallery Road up until Easter, and are now at the SELO field off Burbage Road (Gallery Road end), training is from 9.45 until about 11.15 with games at various times on Sunday. If you PM me I can send you the coach's email address.

I agree - very happy with Elm Lodge (they were great in giving us a fast track referral to A&E when DS had suspected irritable hip (which with the benefit of google hindsight could have been all kinds of awful things...)

We had a likeabike and DS didn't use it at all (he was an enthusiastic walker/runner). Ditto the 12" bike with stabilisers. But at age 4 and a half I decided it was bike riding time, took the stablisers off (he'd never ridden with them) and after a couple of one hour sessions over two days he was away laughing and now loves bike riding. So I think it depends on your child - if you can, borrow one for a few days and see whether they show interest.....

I would add good quality winter coats and wellies to the school uniform if you're focussing on basics- coats are expensive and wellies are both very useful and generally not worn out by the time they're grown out of.

An alternative way of doing it would be to match people with a specific "needy" family with a child a couple of sizes smaller. I came across someone in need on the internet (it was mumsnet, I confess) a couple of years ago and about twice a year I post all the things that DS has grown out of, and which are still in good nick, to her in Yorkshire. We send each other Xmas and birthday cards. I think it's quite nice to know where things have come from, and also to get a "surprise" parcel from the post office a couple of times a year. (As it happens, as a child I was the subject of a similar arrangement where we got second-hand clothes from another (unknown) family, which is what made me suggest it). Once the arrangement's in place, there's no need for "asking" for more help. There's no reason why we couldn't have "local" pairing up - and it could be online and anonymous (although obviously you'd need to know the recipient's address or a school to drop it off at).

I've never tried it but am sure DS (6) and I would find it fun one Sunday morning while his Dad's out playing cricket. prob not for a few weeks though as we seem to be into a frenetic birthday party season....

Don't forget the always engrossing www.airlinemeals.net see http://www.airlinemeals.net/browse.php?id=2122&start=1&x=1 (I love it that people take the time to do this)

I've flown Korean with a 3 year old, it was fine although not as good as Singapore obviously (have never flown Emirates). You get what you pay for! The airline meals weren't crash hot (although my SIL swears that the bim bim bap is great - to each her own), so pack snacks! To be honest, the stop over in Seoul on the way back is a bit of a nightmare. Trick is (i) to assume that you won't enjoy the free buffet dinner, and head straight for the restaurant (your 3 year old is likely to look at the buffet as though it is poison); and, given that you're paying for three seats (I assume), make sure that you demand two rooms in the hotel, and one of you can share the room with the three year old. We didn't do this the first time and the "rollaway bed" was more like a chair and completely unsuitable for a three year old to sleep on. But Seoul airport is OK, and there is a children's room with a sort of bouncy castle where you can while away several hours waiting for the flight back....

The islabikes are expensive but they really are good - both in being light and in having brakes specially designed for small hands - made a big difference to my five year old who was on the small side and struggled with the stiff brakes on a heavier bike. There are some for sale second hand on eBay. In terms of resale, Islabikes do offer a buy back scheme, but they told me (and they were right) that I was likely to get more reselling locally...

We stayed here http://www.spinneywood.co.uk/location.html a couple of years ago with australian in laws - it was great! otherwise you might want to try www.nicheretreats.co.uk - porthleven is lovely. The restaurant here http://www.trelowarren.com/ is great but haven't seen the accommodation...

JAGS also do sessions on Weds and Thurs evenings from 6pm until 7pm (also with Danny). Not sure if you can do drop in though. Again, various ages also I suspect that the youngest are around 5.