Advice please - Need to replace very old kit but very minimal budget!

[Steve21]

iPads really... :s After all the conversation about what you want, and the amount of old kit that needs replacing, seems a huge waste of money to get 3 iPads in, when you could get like 15+ desktops from some of the guys on here

 

I'm told that is the best use of the money.

Isn't that the bit where you tell them it's not and you suggest stuff?

 

Steve

[jmak]

I think I might spend it on alcohol and chocolate, ready for a really c*@p expected year to follow. Budget for next year once the annual payments have been made is now £0.

 

Fixed that for you

 

More seriously - really sorry to hear that.

[Irazmus]

Time for an update....

 

Firstly a genuine thanks Irazmus. Unfortunately though I've looked into bidding and apparently I'm too late.

 

Emails were forwarded from our office to the site manager and our SLT, nobody thought to let me know. Not even our ICT Co-ordinator, who is also part of our SLT!

 

Damn. It seems your communication is as bad as ours.

 

As for the £2k we have to spend before the end of term.

I thought Impero would help wonders. We have no web monitoring here so it would tick that box, also I have occasional trouble patching everything with everything here so along with a few of the other 'tools' it has it seemed a good idea. It's a big no though.

 

We're buying 3 iPads and 4 apple TVs for three teachers (and one teacher with our one and only iPad). I'm told that is the best use of the money.

There's no real mention of the remaining pennies - I think I might spend it on bits, ready for a really c*@p expected year to follow. Budget for next year once the annual payments have been made is now £0.

Kinda thinking buy a new server instead of the iPads and save myself some work!

 

I'm sure it could be worse - it just seems a little pointless coming to work at the moment.

 

Well that sucks. If I were in your position I'd be putting my recommendations in writing, with full justification of why it's a better use of funds than the iPads and Apple TVs, and submitting them to the governors in the hopes that they can overrule the Head. Even if that doesn't work, at least they won't be able to say they weren't warned when the inevitible problems occur.

[klop]

It would seem there's no point in protesting. Decision is made.

 

It would seem I am no longer listened to in relation for ICT matters here any longer.

 

Recently it was talked about (without me being part of the conversation) whether we should scan documents and keep them electronically or photocopy them and pay for offsite storage. My understanding is these are documents relating to the pupils that need to be kept for several years.

I suggested scanning. Our copier is great, would be quicker than photocopying. Scans to a shared network folder - simple really. I'd create a new folder on a server, move all the scans into it and it would be backed up every night.

SLT asked ICT teacher, he suggested file format might not be able to be read in 10yrs time and also the hard drive would probably fail in that time.

So we're paying for offsite storage for lots of photocopies!

 

Oh well, it could be worse - at least they've not switched off the air con yet :-)

[SHimmer45]

its VERY short sighted to not include yourself in discussions about the IT of the school, without a solid foundation a school cannot progress its usage of IT.

Ipads imo are a short term add on to a schools ICT resource.

schools have to be a little careful storing confidential items offsite in cloud storage so i would check the guidelines.

 

SLT should be asking you what is required to achieve their vision for ICT in the school with the ICT co-ord you HAVE to be involved.

sad thing is if something fails which is aging and needs to be replaced and hasn't its your fault according to them.

ICT in some schools is the case of the tail is wagging the dog....

[3s-gtech]

With that sort of cluelessness, what are the chances that they'll choose storage that comply with Safe Harbour?

[simpsonj]

Have to ask, how are they planning on using the Apple TVs? Are they expecting them to just plug into the projector and boom, it's all working? Have they considered the impact they'll have on the network (Bonjour is a pain) and that most old projectors are VGA only, so even if they do connect to the projector via an adapter, they probably won't have sound?

 

We tried to put in Apple TVs but had to give up because we discovered we needed new AV equipment to go with them, which we couldn't afford...

[SHimmer45]

appletv's are VERY chatty on a network, dont play well with proxies / filtered internet connections as they are a home product.

you can get HDMI to VGA converters but these are £50 a pop.

when we started rolling appletv out into rooms with old projectors we told the budget people that upgrading the AV in the room was 400-500 depending on type of projector required due to room size. (inc the cost of the appletv).

[Steve21]

Only my two cents, but I'd be verrrrry careful with not questioning and arguing your point forwards even if it's to governors.

 

Else it'll soon be why did this fail, you aren't advising us, why do we need you if we can decide on our own.

 

Steve

[klop]

We've only the one iPad in school at the moment and that is with the ICT co-ordinator. He is the chap asking for the extra iPads and accessories, and he is part of our SLT.

He asked for an Apple TV so I suggested he buys one from somewhere like Argos so we can possibly take it back if it does not work how he wants. I'm not an Apple person, the closest I get is my son has an early iphone and I helped our teacher set his iPad up. I have had a play with Meraki when there was talk of us buying 40 but as we didn't I kinda left it.

I did also set up an Apple TV for my father-in-law.

So, I suggested we purchase one and trial it - no go. We're buying four.

Three will connect to new projectors with HDMI ports. One is a very old projector so we're purchasing an adaptor to try to hook that up. I believe the adaptor has a 3.5 jack out to plug into the amp.

 

Time will tell I guess.

 

Next hurdle is going to be to let them know there will be no paid for apps. Head has insisted free apps only!

[klop]

As for letting them know I think it's not the best option, believe me I've tried.

 

I have spoken with our Head, our ICT Co-ordinator, our deputy head and even our bursar.

 

There is no vision for ICT here, no roll out, no plan... no nothing!

 

I'm left with old kit, and even when I find something that may help with it (Impero) I'm told no.

 

I am concerned when it all goes wrong I'll be left up the creek, not too sure what there is left I can do though.

Writing to the governors feels like a bad idea, I'd be concerned that will only mark me as being against the SLT decisions and not supportive.

 

I try to email my concerns to my seniors so I have a record of them, but without replies it's hard to prove they read them - so I don't even think that will help.

 

I'm out of the loop - it's as simple as that.

[Irazmus]

Time for an update....

 

Firstly a genuine thanks Irazmus. Unfortunately though I've looked into bidding and apparently I'm too late.

Emails were forwarded from our office to the site manager and our SLT, nobody thought to let me know. Not even our ICT Co-ordinator, who is also part of our SLT!

 

We have the SOR team on site now marking equipment for transfer, and it seems that most of our desktops are not yet assigned, and I'm told that the servers have not even been offered yet, so may still be up for grabs. If you're interested in any of our kit (except the switches and APs, they've apparently already been allocated), our SOR rep recommends you give the SOR team a call and express an interest. There will be a "viewing day" for all the kit that's not been allocated, but I'd suggest trying to get in before that.

[pbainbridge]

It may be worth talking to a nearby/feeder secondary to see if they have spare kit. I see a lot of kit cascaded down from secs to prims to help them out.

[PrimaryLou]

Very interested in this thread and will keep an eye on any developments, as this was the first thing I wanted to post about here.

 

Please don't shoot me down (after reading this thread haha!!) but I'm a primary teacher and since of 3 days ago, ICT co-ordinator. At this point, I want to say how awful some of the experiences are on here. Some members of staff are obivously trying to claim they know what they are talking about without consulting the experts, you guys, the IT support! As a teacher, I often find lack of communication the number one frustration. Anyway...

 

I don't claim to know it all about IT, but I know damn more than most staff in school combined bless them! We have IT support from our feeder secondary. My school's biggest problem is that we have a few ancient desktops in each classroom. We need to get a bank of laptops in a trolley so that we can actually start teaching the curriculum! But we have no money. I'm not aware at this stage if there is anything in the budget for ICT...I hope there's something! So I need to find the cheapest way possible of getting some semi-decent laptops (I'm not expecting brand new). Some comments on this thread were some things I was already thinking about.

 

Bidding on hardware....is this still available in all LEAs? I'm in Lancashire and knew this was happening many years ago.

 

"Hand me downs" from secondary schools - could be worth a go at contacting local secondaries to see if they have anything they want rid of?

 

Leasing - what are peoples opinions on this? Good option if there really isn't any money in the pot?

 

Sorry for hijacking the thread.....am happy to make my own if needs be, but thought I'd add to this one as my one would be very similar.