This is what I done in the summer holidays

[the_one_that_cant]

This is where I spent half of the 6 weeks hoidays, setting up the desktops et al.

 

Beautiful school imo

 

The North Somerset Times - Video: Nailsea School tour

[sidewinder]

Looks good, nice building

What integrated desks you using there?

[sippo]

Not IT related, but have shared sex toilets. Is that a good idea?!!

[bossman]

Who manages the IT?

Is it outsourced?

 

Has this been part of the BSF initiative?

 

Looks good, the old school as the HT states did not have the IT infrastructure embedded like in the new school it was as he states bolted on as if it was an afterthought.

 

Well only time will tell in the results over the next 5 years.

[Guest Guest]

The £32million flagship school

 

What? We arnt even getting half that. Yeah it looks great but where has that £32m gone?

[IanT]

Im curious if they are outsourced or have there own IT Team

[rad]

I like the spinny chairs getting the spinny action.

 

But boy one of those classrooms had mega high ceiling. They will be freezing in the winter!

[Maz]

I'd love to work in that theatre / lights and sound desk you got there.

 

Bit dissapointed at the amatuer sound quality on the interview though - not very professional.

 

Nice school though.

[OllieC]

I spied a fat frog... that's our spare light desk.

 

The place does look amazing... can I move sixth forms?... hehe, makes our new build look ever so basic. They've basically considered and acted upon everything that was ignored at my place.

 

Looking at the website it is indeed a BSF. Does that mean that IT has been outsourced or does it depend?

Edited September 29, 2009 by OllieC

[mossj]

Unisex toilets ?!?

 

Also that IT room, can't be a good teaching space so many pupils have there screens so many diffrent ways. Would take a team of TA's to see everyone.

[john]

I spied a fat frog... that's our spare light desk.

 

The place does look amazing... can I move sixth forms?... hehe, makes our new build look ever so basic. They've basically considered and acted upon everything that was ignored at my place.

 

Looking at the website it is indeed a BSF. Does that mean that IT has been outsourced or does it depend?

I thought it was the Leap Frog, at first glance I went oooh Fat Frog but then on thinking back I think it may be the Lea Frog as its that bit more higher end than the FF (both very good desks for Schools and students as they are simple to use)

 

I cannot wait to go back to the private school I worked at, the new Theatre complex should be nearing stage 1 completion and see what shiny things they have got for me to drewl over mmmmmmmmm Martin Macs......

[OllieC]

I thought it was the Leap Frog, at first glance I went oooh Fat Frog but then on thinking back I think it may be the Lea Frog as its that bit more higher end than the FF (both very good desks for Schools and students as they are simple to use)

 

I cannot wait to go back to the private school I worked at, the new Theatre complex should be nearing stage 1 completion and see what shiny things they have got for me to drewl over mmmmmmmmm Martin Macs......

Ohh okay yeh it could be. We use a Strand Classic Palette as our main desk and a few small zero88 desks for the drama rooms. We bought two Mac 250s last year for the show and hired another 2 250s and 2 300s... I think they're going to buy two wash's for this year's show as well. Would be nice to get an atomic strobe as well rather than having to hire one every year.... wait... thread hijack... we need a thread for this stuff.

 

This private school does sound rather good btw. =D

Edited September 29, 2009 by OllieC

[Jamman960]

Looks very similar to the Voyager school in Peterborough - these schools start off with some serious IT infrastructure, all of these new builds have been overseen by external support suppliers from what I've seen.

[tsky]

Firstly... well done on putting the video together - you've obviously spent a lot of time on it. You have a nice environment to work in too...

 

Secondly...

uuuurgh so many aspects of this building scream "I'm an architect and I don't have the first clue about education!"

 

Same sex toilets - are they shared by staff too? That's a common one in architects minds - yes what a good idea, let's have the little darlings all mixing with each other while they go to the can, that won't unsettle the poor Y7 girls when the Y11 boys are all taking a leak...

One of the worst ones I've seen is the notion of staff and kids in the same toilets... yeah because THAT's not going to cause issues for teachers the kids hate...

Floor to ceiling doors in the toilets too.. hmmm... drug-taking/glue sniffing/smokers dream that one.. not to mention the fact they'll all be sh4gg1ng their tiny braincell out....CONSTANTLY

 

Swivel chairs... ARRRGH! no no no no no! It works with 6th formers and university students but not with hormonal little numpties that decide to see how many RPM they can manage out of them during your lesson (and don't pull the "well manage them better in class" b0ll0x because I'd love to see you do that with some of the kids I used to teach that were all statemented, on various types of legal and non-legal narcotics and have a history of mental illness!)

 

Big atriums... look great, wonderfully impressive for the corporate market - but really, no no - REALLY, think about it... that's probably around 30-50 classrooms you're wasting as empty space you have to heat. Much more cost effective to have a bleedin rectangular block as a building... s0d the "wow" factor and go for functional and useful every time.

 

Are there computer labs in large open spaces only? Maaaan that's going to be a nightmare to teach in.. I had a room that was the size of two rooms (one side designed as computer area, the other as written area) and invariably my HoD would dump his class on me so I'd have 60 of the little darlings to look after over a massive space... uuuurgh. So glad I'm back in the IT Support role.

 

Colours, colours everywhere and most of them associated with driving mental illness... (check colours not to use online if you don't believe me - yellow is bad).

 

Yes it looks lovely, yes I'm having a personal rant about what I think is idiocy - but I've been in FE and in Secondary and in the real world and I've seen who drives these kind of building projects - greasy little architects and councillors who like to be patted on the back and palms greased with tax payers money. £32 Million eh? I don't think there's much value for money in there ....

 

[the_one_that_cant]

Haha, sorry about the confusion.

 

I didn't make the video, I was contracted out as part of a team to put the IT infrastructure in place.

Yes the IT support is sourced out. There is a number of technicians onsite (3 I think) but jobs are logged via a Kaseya helpdesk system, which is based in the North East.

 

The unisex toilets where as much of a surprise when me and my colleagues saw them too. I saw the building take shape when it was time to furnish the place. The speed in which it happened whas phenominal.

Edited September 30, 2009 by the_one_that_cant

[webman]

What? We arnt even getting half that. Yeah it looks great but where has that £32m gone?

 

Oh come on, I thought you knew about BSF? That £32m is divided between consultants and architects!

[bossman]

£32 million is the upfront cost overall which is quoted for the build by the company who actually gets the contract (after gentle persuasion of the monetary kind) then approx a 3rd taken off by the company for administration costs and their profit margin (don't forget the tax benefit of the initial £32million) that leaves approx £22 million.

 

This is then divided up as follows:

Actual build structure £4 million

Internal infrastructure fixtures and fittings £6 million

IT infrastructure cabling wireless etc £2 million

IT computer systems (learning devices for all) plus desktops and media £2 million

Other bits and bobs for depts £2 million

 

This equates to £16 million from £22 million which leaves another £6 million going spare for consultants, councillors, local mafia etc

 

This is only probably but could be a very good guess and the last bit about the local mafia was just to make you all laugh as all this is fictitious but could actually be more closer to the truth than you may think. ;)