Brand new school, advice please!

[Whingefree]

Hello.

 

I'm a headteacher, not a techie, so please bear with me.

 

I'm opening a brand new school in September. Two form entry primary with nursery. It's a new build so lots of the IT network infrastructure is in place:

 

 

• Wired CAT5e in every class
  
• IT suite sized room with enough sockets for 30 machines
  
• Smart boards in each class
  
• Wireless connectivity throughout
  

ting

 

I now need to get sorted on purchasing hardware, software and services. We'll want a few office computers running Office 2010 and SIMS/FMS, plus a suite, a couple of machines in each class, a laptop for every teacher, and possibly some tablets/handheld devices for fun. We'll also need printing set up.

 

We'll also want someone to look after it all for us - some sort of service package with remote access fixing if possible.

 

A couple of questions. Would you recommend that we go for a traditional thick client approach, or take a look at VDI?

 

Does anyone have anyone have any recommendations of companies that offer a great service for supply, install and ongoing support?

 

We're looking for a long term relationship with a company that will help us to grow our IT provision as the school grows. We've not much money, so a company that offers an all in managed service, or leasing arrangements, would be considered.

 

Any advice or recommendations gratefully received.

 

Thanks.

 

WF

Edited May 1, 2012 by Dos_Box

[Edu-IT]

a laptop for every teacher

Not really answering your question, but, have you thought about this? Laptops require a ton of management and if they're not looked after they're a pain and resource drain in repairs!

[rad]

You also need to consider the number of Servers you need, depending on users and use. A Laptop for teachers to use is a great thought, however as a managed solution isnt a great idea. How are they going to transfer work between laptop and school network. Having handheld devices for "fun" in a primary and nursery environment sounds like a disaster.

 

You also need to consider whether you want a technician/network manager on site to assist with problems that will come about day to day.

[K.C.Leblanc]

Have you spoken to any of the local secondaries? One of them might offer support to primaries, they will also know how do deal with your local LEA and RBC.

[andyturpie]

Agreed about the latops for teachers, in this day and age there is no need (when our lease runs out it will be highly unlikely our teachers will get them replaced)

 

A workstation connected to each classroom IWB would suffice, plus if you have an IT suite, out of hours the staff could make use of it and VPN so teachers can remote in from home.

 

As for a company, can I recommend contacting Panacea IT who I always go to first with my requirements give Robin a call on 01737-244500

[basicchannel]

Personally I would consider investing in a good school employed on-site Technician. You would have more flexibility and someone available for support at the drop of a hat rather than waiting for someone from an external company.

 

As a community made up of techies who work in schools, I would suggest we all promote this option.

[Disease]

If you are a new build are you not under the last remnants of BSF? In which case you would need to contact your managed service provider to buy any equipment, if you are a free school I would definately say get a decent on-site technician and take his advice

 

Good luck, enjoy your new school.

[gshaw]

Hello.

 

A couple of questions. Would you recommend that we go for a traditional thick client approach, or take a look at VDI?

 

Difficult one to call as many people are thinking the same thing right now. VDI does have its benefits from a management perspective but also has higher upfront costs, I guess a lot of it depends on how much budget you have to play with once all the other expenses are out the way.

[Dos_Box]

You could also try buying into another schools technicians time. Try talking to high schools or other primaries in your area to see if they have someone who can help out. This also has the advantage of allowing you to test the water as to your schools support requirements in regards of time/costs and that the technician will generally have more knowledge of LEA/govt educational IT policies as well as educational software and it's often strange quirks.

[sparkeh]

Personally I would consider investing in a good school employed on-site Technician. You would have more flexibility and someone available for support at the drop of a hat rather than waiting for someone from an external company.

^^ This.

Of course as a primary school tech I am biased but I really believe that you get so much more value for money in having an on site tech over an outside support company.

[Abe]

 

Would you recommend that we go for a traditional thick client approach, or take a look at VDI?

 

 

Thin clients can be an attractive option, but I would suggest that VDI is overkill for the vast majority of applications in School. Remote desktop sessions should be perfectly adequate and much more efficient in terms of resources required and of course cost. You could also consider Windows Multipoint Server, although it's cost effectiveness will depend on how you are licensed.

[mthomas08]

Personally I would consider investing in a good school employed on-site Technician. You would have more flexibility and someone available for support at the drop of a hat rather than waiting for someone from an external company.

 

This but does depend what exactly and how much you rely on IT on site?

 

We between the 3 of us here 900+ Computers/Laptops, projector in every room, endless amount of printers, a load of servers, new VLE (Frog), Digi Screens, Wireless covering 90%, 1600+ Users (Staff, Students yr7-13+). Its a massive job.

 

I also spend a good % supporting an external site with 50 PCs/Server/Engineering software.

 

I would always recommend employing some one on site for the first 6 months to get everything up and running and sort out all the early problems - this to me must be some one of Network Manager/Officer+ Status who has experience in setting up servers/configuring them and maintaining them. That person should also be able to setup the Wireless and maintain the smart boards for you. (Not insulting a technician there, senior ones can do at least most of the above).

 

As SYSMan said - not really a good idea going to a external company it will be a lot of money to get everything properly setup.

 

Some one like me could tell you exactly what you needed and what my preference choices are. Our centre was badly managed at the start and we had given them a plan - which they ignored. As a result I had to go down and fix the server and actually set it all up.

 

Now I wish they had listened to us and when we upgrade their server I plan on having two servers 1 New one to do the Server side stuff and second one for software and shared area.

 

It's a massive job and again I would recommend getting a Quote from a company to do Everything for 6 months - see how much that will be and then perhaps do some job interviews to see who will be best suited for that type of a job. After 6 months you can then consider what next because some schools are even looking at Primary VLEs.

[Edu-IT]

You might find Ozan at OP Software is able to help. Support Services - OP Software Ltd.

[TechMonkey]

 

 

 

• IT suite sized room with enough sockets for 30 machines
  

 

 

Consider more points. like power sockets, you can never have too many network sockets. Some people install a couple in the ceiling space for wireless points to be out the way and future possibility of a network projector. I could see a third one in case a cabinet should ever be installed in the room or just to be spare!

 

As for smart boards my first thought would be to install projectors and save money on the boards for now. A teacher and I have a crazy plan to remove a smart board, paint the wall with whiteboard paint and see if that gives more usage for him.

[Griff]

Definitely consider an onsite technician you need someone there for those last minute issues which effect the instant teaching and learning of students, you could always create a dual role for this with the individual carrying out teaching assistant or similar duties on the side, this is what a friend of mine does at a primary school it seems to work well for both parties. We use a support company consisting of ex LEA engineers from Beds and Bucks. It acts as a kind of insurance for us, we have a flexi contract consisting of 5 days support which we can use throughout the year.

 

Picking up on TechMonkey's point about the projectors I would recommend taking a look at interactive projectors which support the use of a pen but there is no need for a board we demoed one a few months ago but I don't think we gave it a very thorough testing but in principle they look good. ** it can be rather scratchy on the wall but you could throw up some MDF and paint it matt white **

 

Good luck with the school it sounds like an exciting project for whoever gets involved on the IT side.

[ricki]

HI

 

This is my best advice. Start by finding someone can trust that as you want as a ict technician weather this is a school employed one, a contract with a secondry school or a tech employed by a local group of primary schools.

 

Now get the tech to help you design a network that they can support and you can afford, plus what is designed so it can be expanded as the school gets going.

 

This about a server and a domain. This will allow documents to be centrally stored and backed up by backing up one machine.

 

Make sure you have plenty of backup space and make sure its done on a daily basis.

 

The server can they be set up as a windows update server which will keep the windows updates up to date on the machines.

 

The server can be set up to centrally deploy an antivirus like sophos and keep it up to date.

 

Talk with the tech what company you want to supply machines and what make they are. Its not just the price of buying its the aftersales and dont forget to get says 3 or 5 years on site warranty next day business warranty is what I go for.

 

I like stone and buy direct from the manufacturer as I have always found the after sales to be good.

 

Laptops and good but expensive to maintain and life span is shorter than a fixed pc. People sit on them bash them/etc and they are not as robust. I would put a fixed pc into all classrooms and a full ict suite. I would have the suite done properly first time with air con, benches and trunking,etc. Make sure you have more points and power sockets than you need you will expand and get more equipment. This may be expensive in the first instance but will save you money long term.

 

Printing costs a lot of money. Think how this is going to be done and please try and avoid bubblejet printer as they are expensive. A lot of primary schools go with a laser printer in the ict suite and a central photcopier in the middle of the school under contract where you pay for per click(print).

 

I like smartboards as they just work and try and pick projectors that you can clean the filters without taking them down. I like epsons. Try are get universal brackets to mount them on so if you change make then you will be able to reuse the mount.

 

Richard

[SteveBentley]

• Wired CAT5e in every class
   
  

 

Get as many network points in each room as possible, ideally a couple on each wall. That way when you want to rearrange things you just repatch to make a different point live rather than having great long cables around the room.

 

I'd suggest that rather than looking at what technology you want, you probably would be better served looking at your curriculum and how that will be delivered and see what kit you need to support that now and in the future, rather than the temptation to buy shiny things now because you need them.

[Whingefree]

Thanks everyone. Much food for thought.

 

Hadn't considered employing ICT techie because we'll be so tiny to start with - need to look at that as we grow though.

[hardtailstar]

Thanks everyone. Much food for thought.

 

Hadn't considered employing ICT techie because we'll be so tiny to start with - need to look at that as we grow though.

 

Speak to other primary schools to see if they have a techie,

 

I work in two primary schools, one im employed for 25 hours and the other is only 5 hours with over time arranged as needed,

 

you may find a techie wanting extra hours if he/she hasnt got enough in current school(s)

 

Sounds like an exciting project for you, best of luck

[mavhc]

There's always more work for a technician to make people more efficient. Even as simple as walking around pointing out to people things like ctrl-c/x/v shortcuts. Making your forms electronic, automatically gather in data.

 

Not sure why everyone is against laptops for teachers, no real problems here with 150 of them over 4 sites and just me. Teachers, TAs, site managers, admin who work at more than 1 site. Even easier with windows 7, more likely to install home printers without needing admin password, and easier to deploy.

 

I unpack the new laptops, scan the barcode into the inventory, put asset tag on. Put them on some shelves in my walk in safe, which has network and power in. Import script from inventory to WDS to match WLAN MAC from barcode with asset number for computer name. Leave them imaging overnight, get all the updates, software etc. Then move them to the OU for that location, where the logon script picks up the printers. Files are on shared home drive, configured as offline file sync.

 

If a laptop breaks, swap it out, reimage.

 

Everyone brings their laptop to training/inset days, most use it at home and on the IWBs.

[djones]

Was in a similar position 5 or so years ago and just embarking on another new (primary) school now - I'm a teacher but with a high level of technical knowledge - for a teacher! . No problems with laptops for teachers if setup correctly in the first place - restricted user accounts, redirected files, offline files, server re-imaging with WDS if/when something goes wrong to avoid a techie spending hours troubleshooting, server deployed apps, updates, anti-virus, etc. Just works.

 

We went for (and will be going for in the new build) three/four desktop PCs in each classroom (best spec we can get for £500 inc 3yr warranty - I've found this is the most cost effective length so far). Kitted out half the school in first year and then the rest in the 2nd-3rd year to start to build in some kind of rolling hardware replacement down the line to avoid everything becoming obsolete at the same time.

 

Good quality, site wide managed wireless and sets of 15 curriculum laptops (best spec for £600) housed in LapSafe trolleys (capable of holding 20) - these are expensive but definitely more robust and worth it. Again, buy these in stages (when your NOR is up a bit!). Sorry, just read again that you've already got the WiFi sorted and will have a suite.

 

Rack mount server (you'll need to ensure a tall and deep (42u 600x1000mm?) data cabinet is specified as part of the build/cabling) that in the first few years won't need to store huge amounts of data (read: photos!). In five years, you can replace this with another (newer, shinier) server and use the original one as a backup, etc. Some sort of NAS to enable archiving and backup would be a good idea.

 

Go for EES licensing from Microsoft and buy software as and when you've evaluated what you really want/need to fit in with your curriculum.

 

Full fat clients rather than thin. I'm not yet convinced that thin client or Multipoint Server is the way to go in terms of cost savings, etc.

 

As far as technical support goes. Approach the local secondary as others have mentioned, perhaps the LA have a decent service? We began very small in terms of support hours and gradually increased as we introduced more hardware.

 

My overall advice would be to take things slowly and once open, begin to expand gradually. As you appoint more staff, you can actively look for someone (possibly a TA as suggested earlier) with a higher level of technical knowledge or even a part time tech.

 

I hope this helps,

 

Dave.

[nicola5127]

PM me as i may be able to help with this.

[Mr.Ben]

I would look at the money that you may invest in Staff Laptops and use it to fund better remote access/ a small scale VDI infrastructure to allow teaching staff to connect from their own PC's at home.

 

You remove all of the issues with data protection/encryption on Staff Laptops as well as making everything easier to manage.