I seem to have some money for a project to "push IT forward"...

[pcstru]

One of the best things we have done with a small amount of money is a Library Laptop/Netbook Scheme. Students can borrow devices for 24 hours in the same way they borro0w a library book. Unfortunately this isn't terribly high profile or 'wow', but it has proven to be very well used and gives access to technology to students who might otherwise find it very difficult.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

That's another good idea. Setting up your school's own TV station would also be a very practical and high profile project you could do.

 

Amazingly, my school had a TV recording studio in my elementary (primary) school back in the 70s (showing my age) that was kitted out with professional TV cameras and a fully equipped studio and editing room. I can still remember working the cameras and taking direction from the control booth ("camera 4, zoom in on interviewer..,,hold steady...cutting to you in 5,4,3,2.1.." - amazing experience that influenced me into technology. I think a local TV station had donated it all, because the school certainly didn't have that kind of money. It would have cost a mint back then.

 

They're visually impressive too! One of the few investments that you can take a look at and see where the money went.

 

Let me know if you're interested and I'll put some ideas together for you.

[Ephelyon]

+1 to the UniFi point!

[Meldrew]

I think you need to put your foot down. You can come up with plenty of ideas but without knowing what's actually going to help the school as a whole or certain departments you could easily be seen as wasting an opportunity to improve. Speak to the SLT and say you're technical, you're not a teacher and you're not involved with the day to day running or management of departments. Even put the ball in their court whilst appearing pro-active - email everyone ( all staff), and ask what they believe you could do to improve.

 

I will hasten to point out that if you start thinking outside the box a little 10k will get you a lot. You can *easily* do large wifi installs for that money if you use Unifi kit instead of the boxed solutions like Ruckus or Meru and without any further spending and little time resource BYOD will fall into the same pot.

 

There can be a certain amount of catch-22 with things like this. Techies don't know where the school wants to go, but SLT don't know what's possible in the specified budget. I think a little brainstorming of potential ideas can be good to take to SLT for them to pick what they feel would be good for the school.

 

Another suggestion. For 10k, we installed a whole school praise system. Each teacher is equipped with a small battery powered barcode scanner (about the size of a box of matches - google OPN2001). Each student's contact book is printed with a barcode of their admission number (and barcode class lists) and when the student does something beyond the call of duty, they get given a praise point. Each scanner is then uploaded by the teacher occasionally and stored in a database where students points are totalled and they can use an online shop style system to spend their points for rewards, such as food from the canteen, sports activities, stationary, (or anything else you can think of TBH).

 

Meldrew

[Flatpackhamster]

Photos from the edge of space using a helium balloon? Something linking the school with a local charity or local group in a techish way?

[ICTDirect_Dave]

Photos from the edge of space using a helium balloon? Something linking the school with a local charity or local group in a techish way?

 

Heck! For £10,000 you could start your own space program!

[JamesDonkin]

Do you have many disabled kids? If so you could spend some money on accessibility for IT like touch screens, big keyboards, camera mice (free if you already have a webcam) adjustable desks/monitor brackets or special software for input for people with low literacy. We use this stuff all the time as we are a special school but I know that mainstream schools are getting what used to be our more able kids now. This will look great to other schools, ofsted and parents if you are ahead of other nearby schools in this area. This is a very basic overview but if you want more detail I'd be happy to help.

[synaesthesia]

My reason for suggesting putting your foot down is simple: if you spend 10k on something you probably quite rightly feel is worthwhile and SLT/someone else feels otherwise, you don't have much to fall back on.

[mrbios]

Just be thankful you've been given the option....when our head noticed he had £10k in a budget that was free to be used on anything he went out and dumped a load of iPads on us that we didn't want....no research went into their use, never asked us a single question :/

[Steven_Cleaver]

Remote access - as someone has mentioned this has been received really well by students, staff and SLT and improved a number of issues including students\staff losing work, data protection, software compatability issues etc

 

Better Progress analysis systems - again this has been received really well here by SLT and this means data is used more comprehensively and effectively.

 

Parental Gateway - if you don't already have one better parental involvement in students learning.Can also save some money less printed reports.

 

Digital Signage.