Is Alleyn's School a cuckoo?

[Zebedee Tring]

The discussion on this thread seems to have moved to a debate on the rights and wrongs of parents, when delivering or collecting their little darlings, clogging up the roads near schools, whether or not those schools are in the private sector. And indeed Sainsburys customers clogging up the roads near Sainsburys.

However, what I said in my post the other day that appears to have sparked off this debate was as follows:

' ... as a resident of a road near Alleyn's ....why can't Alleyns and JAGS arrange for the coaches that bring pupils to the schools to be parked on the extensive grounds that they own instead of causing obstructions when parked on the public roads?'

I would welcome views on this from ED board people, or indeed Alleyns School.

[Asset]

The council have very kindly painted large areas on our public roads precisely for the coaches to sit in, thoughtful of them.

Allfornun, you are being deliberately argumentative over the congestion, I'm not sure what your agenda is other than just for the sake of it. As a resident I witness it every day.

Most schools have large areas around the entrances where there is no parking allowed - you know, the yellow zig-zags. Not here.

spelling edit

[AllforNun]

the public roads also belong to the pupils who attend these private schools and their parents so i do not really get your point, not sure eh roads are specifically for the residents who leave in them or close by ? I imagine the reason they do not want to use their own grounds is for fear of one of the pupils getting killed or injured by large coaches manouvering in tight spaces within school grounds. Have no agenda other than this situation has always been like this is shared by everyone across the country who lives near schools and that tthe issues regarding congestion are way bigger that coaches outside of schools. We are all well aware that the councnil chooses which roads to speedhump depending on who pressures them the most, west dulwich and dulwich village are littered with them......peckham....rare sight indeed !

ps, I witness it everyday as well.

[Asset]

That's not my point.

something should be done to ease the congestion - it makes the road unsafe. Witness motorbikes driving on the pavement as one example of that. Measures could be taken by the school to encourage more staff and pupils to travel on public transport, or measures taken by the council to create restrictions around the school gates, at leeast if there was no parking around the gates there would be more space for cars to pass each other.

And it is not the same at schools around the country, I used to live on a road before that had a school on it which did not have the congestion this one does. There is a distinct preponderence for larger than average cars around this school and I suspect fewer children take public transport than average. Or even - god forbid, walk to school.

[sillywoman]

There doesn't appear to be the same traffic congestion problem around the Charter, or the village primary schools as evidenced by a trip round these areas at school drop off or pick up time when the private schools have broken up and the state schools haven't. I can only assume it's because their intake is local and almost all the kids walk or cycle. I agree with Asset wholeheartedly on this issue. AFN, I think you're either being deliberately provocative, or burying your head in the sand over this.

[Janeth]

Alleyns is the best! what are you talking about fireworks and music? That might have been the opening of the new theatre which by the way is being used by the national youth theatre. Alleyns sposors loads of charities, each of the 8 houses has a house charity which they support and there are regular fund raising events, such as inter-house strictly come dancing, x-factor, and cake sales at break. They do scholarships and bursaries. Also it's a really nice school (I mean as in the type of pupils that go) bullying is practically unheard of there and the teachers talk about how we congratulate other people's success even if we haven't won something. (tu)

[Asset]

wow, that's really great Janeth - I think you might be on the wrong thread though

[gabriel1]

i live on a street with a school on it and in the morning and afternoon the street gets jam packed with cars and sometimes parents even block my drive access!! (shock horror) and it's a State school(double shock horror)

i also take my children to school in battersea and that street gets jam packed as well...do you see a pattern here? I think and i could be way off the mark here, that this is a problem in practically all areas of London....Private or State.

ps.I have visited Alleyns a few times and found it to be a truly wonderful school,with it's feet firmly on the ground and if one day my children actually get in there ,i can think of no better school to oversee my children's education and any parent who thinks otherwise ,i can only assume is lying.

[AllforNun]

MMM now lets think about this people you have, Dulwich college, Dulwich prep, Rosemead prep, Herne hill prep, Jags, Alleyns and Oakfield prep all private schools with no defined catchment area and all within 1mile of you. During the school runs all that traffic heading back this side would be coming back through DV amplifiying the problem around the bottle neck that is your road.......easy see.........

Alleyns is a good school and gabriel is 100% right the problem is in all areas of London.....what can be done...nothing because you would just push the problems on someone elses doorstep that would then be the definition of a NIMBY, which and not wanting to start a row, i am sure you are not ! x

[intexasatthe moment]

Not all schools have huge coaches parked up long before end of school day and completely blocking the road to the extent that it's hard to even ride a bicycle in between them.

[Townleygreen]

Asset, you appear to be talking about Hillsboro Road (hope I've got the location right this time!!). Here the traffic is all associated with the Alleyn's Junior School. Hence the preponderance of Chelsea tractors I guess. The seniors use the coaches, whereas younger, eg infant pupils are going to be too small to go on a coach. I also like you don't undertsand why there are no yellow zig-zag markings in this road. Perhaps it is because as far as the council is concerned, the school entrance is in Townley Road and they haven't noticed Hillsboro. Why don't you try to lobby the council to get them painted in on your road?

It is true that this problem seems to exist at all schools. Where I live there is an primary school and if you happen to try to drive past at starting or chucking out time, then you are basically screwed for up to 15 minutes. They even park on the zig-zags - this is the parents of the pupils for goodness sake.

[AllforNun]

Oversized coaches now is it ? straws clutching !

and townley i agree screwed for 15-20 minutes x 2 per day!

take note everyone 1440 mins in a day 10080 over the week so thats 200 mins a week with some congest and inconvenience. Note that all private schools get far longer holidays so obviously 200 a week is only in regards to term time. x

[Asset]

Oh Honestly, I have never said Alleyn's isn't a good school or that the problem only exists here. Some people seem to want to argue themselves into a corner just the sake of it.

OK, it's absolutley great that the majority of pupils and staff drive to school, it's absolutely fine that the street is gridlocked twice a day for a period of time, it's also no problem that motorbikes drive down the pavement, there are no zig-zags, and that the chelsea tractors regularly damage council and private property as they seem unable to be controlled properly.

AllforNun - happy now - get back in your white van and drive around to your heart's content.

Townleygreen, I am talking about Hillsboro yes. I believe the council do have some plans to paint zig-zags at the gates at the bottom of the road and double yellows at the top. Personally I think the double yellows will make a bad situation worse but hey, what do I know - apparently there is no problem anyway it's a figment of my imagination.

[Asset]

And AllforNun, I really don't understand why you've got such a bee in your bonnet. I think it is perfectly valid to be concerned about the weight of traffic in a narrow road next to a school. It is a valid concern whatever part of London it happens to be in. This particular problem concerns me as it is the street where I live and I have children that use the street.

You don't even live here, you don't even live near here.

Yes the public roads are for the use of the public and no I don't expect to have sole use of the road.

[SteveT]

Perhaps if they staggered morning intake over 90 minutes and the same for the afternoon might help?

[AllforNun]

asset 2 minor things, one i am a bee keeper hence the bonnet and 2 Nunhead is very near, near enough for me to walk to my place of work. oh...and being fattist about traffic is not the answer. It is not so much a figment of your imagination but a fact of life in London....i know a nice quite village with little traffic and no internet connection, i keep a number of bee hives there, if you fancy it i can hook you up. Parp Parp fat wagon coming through !

[Asset]

not suffering from hive collapse yet then?

[AllforNun]

I think the desiel fumes from the big fat coaches are keeping my bee's very happy !

[sillywoman]

I think the problem for residents behind Alleyns is not just the weight of school traffic. We all know that when you live near a school there will be a certain amount of drop off, pick up traffic. It's that recently Alleyns actions have caused a dramatic increase in the congestion of our local roads all day and at collection times the roads are often impassible and very dangerous for our kids who are walking or cycling home.

Combine this with a justifiable perception of complete disinterest from Alleyns (they've been lobbied for years and often don't bother to reply to letters, visits in person are fobbed off, and phone calls never returned. Sometimes they'll lie to get residents off their backs - they did it to me)and maybe you can begin to see why they're not popular with many who live cheek-by-jowl with them.

Add to this the aggression we face from the parents and Nannies trying to get little Jeremy to school on time from West Wickham (I've been spat at by an Alleyns parent,) and the speed that they roar up our small residential streets in the mornings and afternoons. And whilst I'm on a roll I'll also mention the name-calling of our local kids who can't afford to go to their 'truly wonderful' school - nice. Put all this in the mix and you might begin to get a sense of our frustration.

AS to their charity and community work - well, they may do loads for the community but in 50 years of living adjacent to them none of my family have ever had any benefit from them. Bursaries & scholarships are OK (they have to provide them to keep their charitable status) but you have to be able to afford the private tutor to 'train' for the examinations in order to get the award in the first place (unless you have an exceptionally talented child) and that's ?40 a week that many families just don't have spare. Then the award is only partial fees so you'd still need to find ?500 per month or so. Equal opportunities? - I don't think so. And to me Education is just too important to have this kind of have/ have not division - but that's another thread!

[AllforNun]

" It's that recently Alleyns actions " what actions ?

and why "little Jeremy " ? he's a pupil right ? as for name calling of our local kids ? surely you are having a laugh, you basically have a fucking private school paid by the tax payer and exclusive to your local kids and it's called Dulwich Village School ! get real

[sillywoman]

AllforNun Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> " It's that recently Alleyns actions " what

> actions ?

>

> and why "little Jeremy " ? he's a pupil right ? as

> for name calling of our local kids ? surely you

> are having a laugh, you basically have a @#$%&

> private school paid by the tax payer and exclusive

> to your local kids and it's called Dulwich Village

> School ! get real

Building over their car park so that their teachers now use the back road to park all day.

The thread is about Alleyns. If you've got issues over the village Infants and Juniors you need to start another thread AfN.

[Zebedee Tring]

This is totally unfair. Some kids may move from Dulwich Village Infants and the Hamlet to the private sector, but a considerable number, including my two sons, didn't. And among what would now be called their 'cohort' were a sizeable number of kids who, for want of a better categorisation, were 'working class' - in the most positive sense.

[Zebedee Tring]

For the avoidance of doubt, what I was saying was totally unfair was the suggestion that the Dulwich Village Schools were private schools paid for by the taxpayer. In fact 'unfair' is an extremely understated way of describing it.

[dc]

It is undeniably true that the independent schools in the area have a huge impact on traffic. Having already finished for the Easter break you will see next week that, despite the maintained sector schools stilll being in action, there will be no excess traffic during the 'school run' periods.

This is because upwards of 80% of local state school pupils walk to school. The figure for the independent sector is almost the reverse - around 80% get a lift to school. This is not surprising given that the independent sector selects on tested ability and has no interest in proximity whilst the exact opposite is true of the state sector.

I do find the focus on coaches as a bugbear within this thread odd. They are clearly an efficient way of getting a lot of pupils to school and are no more to blame for congestion than the 185, 40, 37 etc. Each coach replaces up to 50 car journeys.

If people have useful and innovative suggestions of how to tackle this problem, I used to serve as a local school governor on a 'safe routes to school' committee and if you PM me I would be happy to put you in touch with people working on this from almost every school in the area who are keen to make progress on this issue.

There is also some info from the Southwark website here: Safe Routes

[Zebedee Tring]

I do find the focus on coaches as a bugbear within this thread odd. They are clearly an efficient way of getting a lot of pupils to school

Noted, but as I have already asked twice on this thread, why can't the coaches park on the extensive land witin the schools' curtilages rather than cause obstructions on the public roads?