Mrs TP

Ugh to dirty water. I take mine to Crystal Palace for swim lessons. A child puked in the downstairs pool on Sat, the instructors had all the kids out immediately and started the clean up process. Bigger kids carried on in Olympic Pool and smaller kids in toddler pool. All good. Yes further away, which has it's own probs but fab lessons and progression - they have a system whereby you can check your child's progress online, a list of 10 / 12 requirements that your child has to pass to move to next class, the instructor enters the date they successfully completed each task.

There are loads of videos on youtube of people playing it. Our 6yr old daughter loves watching them but I am always close by to check the language, nothing too terrible but odd inappropriate exclamation. But you watch it to get a view of the games. Disney Infinity annual 2015 is available in Poundland Peckham.

At the risk of a severe trolling, it was known locally that Father Charles had come to St Johns 'under a cloud' with that 'cloud' rumoured to be 'adult massage parlour related' - not illegal but not sitting well with the church. Now I wonder was that the real cloud, how naive have we all been, how long the church has been lying / covering things up?

If it's chuggers, I politely tell them I don't do charity over the doorstep and wish them luck. The odd one will be quite persistent and talk about not handing cash over but they still want your bank details so I tell them I'm not going to give them my bank details. Others - I barely give a chance to speak and if they do I do not respond to their over-familiar pleasantries and quickly say I'm not interested. Again, some are more persistent and say 'you don't know what it is' so I would say 'I don't know you and that's enough for me not to be interested' and then close the door. This always makes me feel quite rude but it's all over and done quickly. I've found as well that if you don't answer they just keep coming back until you do. They tend to work in small teams in an area and persist until they get an answer. All annoying especially during busy family dinner times.

Thanks for posting this concerned-stjohns.

Some schools report the percentage of the total year group, which will usually include some pupils who aren't entered for various exams and so their figures will appear lower. Other schools only report the percentage of pupils that were entered for the exams and so 'hide' the non-entered pupils and so their figures appear higher. It is difficult to know if we are really looking at like for like figures due to school 'fudging'.

Lowlander - I do now stick very much to the left hand kerb where you can on Sydenham Hill to allow the new law breakers to over-take. The worst I have had is someone beeping me for doing 20 as I entered the speed trap, with it pointing our way.

Yes I've noticed that driving towards the Horniman it now says 20 on what was the exit sign - so has it been extended? Also, Sydenham Hill is now a 20 - that is mental. Barely ever see another car on it outside of rush hour times but now always seem to have an irate van driver behind me beeping like mad because I am observing the new speed limit. These random 20mph zones are just too stressful.

Renata do any of the other girls' schools you mention have single sex 6th form? I thought they all merged with somewhere or other or are generally open to boys from yr 12.

Brilliant - well done that man!

You need to meet the system half-way i.e. put in some close schools, if distance is the only criteria category you fit in to. By this I mean you not applying on faith basis or some particular special needs basis. Once you have your list put them in your true preferred order. The schools don't know your order and you get given the highest match on your list. E.g. if your 2nd, 4th and 5th schools all said yes we can offer a place then you would be given the 2nd school on your list.

Kids are curious creatures. My godson used to insist on taking all his clothes off when having a poo on the loo during toilet training, even when out somewhere. Amusing now but v frustrating for his mum at the time.

Defo too much pressure around and also concepts of what being potty trained is. Simply taking a nappy off a child and them then wetting themselves several times a day does not make them potty trained. My older two daughters where almost 3 and not ready until then. When they were ready it all happened in a couple of days. One preferred night nappies for a little longer and the other packed day and night nappies in at the same time. My youngest daughter took longer and was over 3. She just didn't seem to like going to the toilet and preferred nappies. I think they probably were a bit of a comfort habit for all of them (like a dummy / milk bottle) and it could have happened a tad earlier with huge stresses on them and me. So I left it and tried my best to avoid all external pressures especially 'friends' whose similar aged kids were out of nappies (but still wetting themselves on a daily basis). For your mum-in-law, if she minds him at all then say you would appreciate her help with potty training and she can let him pee all over her floors / furniture - there is a possibility he will go with it with someone else and if not hopefully she will back off. If she doesn't have him but continues to ask about it then keep your answers short 'yes he is using nappies' and don't elaborate, leave it at that. Much of the older generation experienced cloth nappies and no washing machines and it was in their interest to potty train as earlier as possible. It is not the case now. You could speak to his current nursery staff now. They will have seen it all before and will be able to help / advise. Or do wait until after your move. The new nursery will also have been through it all before. It will happen, just not quite yet.

We had ours done 14yrs ago and there was more of a fuss about enough height clearance for the new stairs to comply with fire safety regulations. I don't remember the specifics but just warning to be aware there can be issues around this.

No 7 protect and perfect mid range and great. I go up and down the budget range as finances permit (on Simple at the moment) but on a very dull note for me the best thing is lots of sleep, v. little booze and loads of water but that is not an easy lifestyle to maintain :) Good old sliced cucumbers also great for truly knackered eyes.

Have you tried a YouTube search - people post all sorts of helpful videos for assembling dis-assembling all sorts of weird and wonderful items.

We had parent's evening last night and I came away feeling much happier :) Others have also complained re the option choices. It seems that new for this academic year the school had decided to offer triple science over 9 lessons per week rather than the 6 lessons in previous years. As it is to be an extra 3 lessons they had to offer it as an option. We were given a questionnaire last night re this situation which looks like the school are considering dropping it back to 6 lessons and so freeing up 3 lessons for an additional option. My daughter said she didn't want to actively choose triple science as there are other options she prefers but if she has to do it as core fine. There is also a strong rumour that PE is going to be dropped as a compulsory GCSE for EBACC pupils. Finally, citizenship is only 1 lesson per week and so could not be swapped for a more traditional subject. For those that I did tell which school it is, I would like to add that last night the teachers were engaging and positive and the head made herself fully available for all, mingling with parents all night. A tiny blip in my faith in the school has been overcome.

Yes newboots GCSE PE a core subject ??? The non-academic kids can drop quite a lot of academic subjects but the non-sporty kids are all forced to do GCSE PE. Whirly probably not too dis-similar to you in the end, as she would like to do a language and humanity for 2 of her 3 options so she has one extra not the two extra, which I'm guessing is because she has to do PE and yours don't. The school have offered her triple science as an option as she has the ability but she is not interested. I'm relatively relaxed about that (naively?) as I can see her passions lie elsewhere. I would rather she could have more choice than be forced to have her timetable cluttered with PE and citizenship :(

What compulsory options and choice arrangements do your teenagers have at their secondary? My daughter has to do maths, English, science, which I would expect but then also RE, PE and Citizenship at GCSE thus limiting her own extra choices to 3 from which includes triple science, humanities, languages, arts and vocational subjects. Really doesn't seem like much choice at all. I don't particularly mind RE as it develops analytical skills. Sadly not so thrilled with PE (understand some exercise needed but don't think it should be a core GCSE)and citizenship - nice idea but not thrilled it is viewed as more important than an option. What do others think? Help me chill.

I always ended up in the back between two car seats and the third in the front passenger seat - saves a lot of bickering having them all split up. Now we are down to just one booster seat and I still end up in the back as our 13yr old has longer legs than me and claims the extra leg room in the front.

Funny spark67 :)

When I was growing up in the late 70s early 80s my best friend's dad was a postie and my friend used to tell me how he got drunk and got loads of choccies and cakes once a year on his round with all his Christmas tips.

When we lived in Lambeth (ok some 15yrs + now) one of the binmen had a notebook and wrote down all the tips they received at Christmas so they could be equally divided. The other binmen could see exactly what was happening and all seemed happy. Our Southwark binmen have never seemed to expect a tip in the same way they did in Lambeth.

My youngest is in year 1. In term time her legs and elbows are a mass of bruises. We had a trip to A&E this week to double check a sprained ankle was just that and not a break. We've had endless notes home re minor injuries and phone calls re head bumps, like others on here. Im my experience much of it is accidental, too many bodies and often a wet slippery playground. However, like anywhere there is the odd child that takes rough and tumble play too far or is deliberately malicious and adults need to be vigilant. In the playground at pick up time, which is extra chaotic, I saw an older boy back into my daughter completely accidentally and knock her over. He immediately spun round, picked her up and apologised to her, not aware that I saw this happen. When I got over to her, he apologised to me too. I have also been in the park after school and caught a different older boy deliberately kick my daughter in the head when they were all on the boat swing. Needless to say I dealt with this situation.

How sad for you both. If Monday is to be his first day off work then you can phone in sick for him. You don't need a sick form from the first day. Not sure but it is something like after 5 / 7 days. Make an appt for the GP within the week and if necessary they will back date an official certificate but certainly do speak to Seldoc in the meantime to get immediate help.