Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Having read many of the posts from anxious parents and prospective parents here, the Newbury Association, comprising Old Blues, current and past parents, is having a coffee morning on Tues 23 Aug 2011 at St Gabriels School in Newbury at 1030-1200 so that current and future (or prospective) parents can get together to provide mutual support. Unfortunately CH has only provided OB's addresses so far, and as this particular area of the site is so active I would be grateful if parents could pass the word around. I understand there are at least 3 more new pupils from this area this year.

As a parent in the Newbury area I would also like to encourage parents to join us at the coffee morning, particularly any new parents for this September. It really helps having other parents to chat to who have been through or are going through the same experiences with children at CH. It helps the children too in finding out other pupils who live in the same area as it is not always easy to find out when you are at school.

Vanilladash wrote:

It really helps having other parents to chat to who have been through or are going through the same experiences with children at CH. It helps the children too in finding out other pupils who live in the same area as it is not always easy to find out when you are at school.

It's interesting that TrueBlue states 'CH has only provided OB's addresses so far'. I wonder whether the school could do more to put parents/ children from the same area in touch with one another? There may well be current and new parents in Newbury who haven't chanced upon this Forum, but who could benefit from knowing about the Newbury Association. In the same way, for all I know there might be a similar group in my own geographical area - and if there isn't, I'd be keen to make contacts and try to set something up, but don't know where to start.

For over two years I unknowingly worked just a few desks away from another CH parent who had a child in the year above DS, but we only discovered each other through a a mutual colleague who realised our connection by chance. I can certainly vouch for the benefits of having someone else to chat to who is going through similar (or indeed different!) experiences with CH. The school must be aware when there are parents who live or work close to one another, and it would be really helpful if they could share this information with us!

I made the suggestion many months ago that we could map all parents/old blues by the first part of their postode, using Google Maps. Very easy, and doesn't identify exactly where individuals live. I offered to do this for them - all I needed was the Postcode roots, but following a couple of mentions have never heard anything.

Information could then be requested to be passed on by the school office if you were looking for the details - i.e. you email them with your details, and ask the school office to pass your details on to the people in your local area.
Pretty easy, but could be initially a little timeconsuming - could be delegated to a volunteer though.

Here's the mockup I did:- http://www.chforum.info/PostcodeMapExample1.html
Click on a marker, and you see how many people are in that areas (NB:- THIS IS MADE UP DATA!)

It's really easy to do.....but getting the data in another thing!

J

I remember discussing this topic months ago, and I was very keen for it to happen then and still am. I only know of two other pupils who live near us (when I say near, they're about 20 minutes drive away), so it would be handy to know if there are any others. Being at CH can be quite isolating at time, for pupils and parents.

I agree with lonelymom, it's a great idea.

yes it's a great idea, anyone from the Brighton area care to do the same?

jtaylor wrote:I made the suggestion many months ago that we could map all parents/old blues by the first part of their postode, using Google Maps. Very easy, and doesn't identify exactly where individuals live. I offered to do this for them - all I needed was the Postcode roots, but following a couple of mentions have never heard anything.

Information could then be requested to be passed on by the school office if you were looking for the details - i.e. you email them with your details, and ask the school office to pass your details on to the people in your local area.
Pretty easy, but could be initially a little timeconsuming - could be delegated to a volunteer though.

Here's the mockup I did:- http://www.chforum.info/PostcodeMapExample1.html
Click on a marker, and you see how many people are in that areas (NB:- THIS IS MADE UP DATA!)

It's really easy to do.....but getting the data in another thing!

J

Shame that's made up data - one of the pins in right next to us!