Ketlane

With Google Translate and others you will not get a perfect result. But it does remove a good deal of the drudgery of translation: my approach for English > German, English > French is to run the translator and then do some very careful proofreading and editing, with a bilingual dictionary handy. Certainly I'd never use the raw translation for any work purpose without careful review.

I think in this case that the HTs bought things without legal/financial advice, and that this was the fundamental cause of their being scammed. IT staff are good at choosing IT but are not necessarily good at reading small-print legalese: though as ever a second pair of eyes and a different view might have spotted the trap.

Well, just watched the programme. As presumably the BBC's legal eagles have crawled all over it, I assume that at least most of the allegations against the companies and the directors are true. Absolutely shocked by the fix that schools have got themselves into. I'm afraid I'm rather less sympathetic than the reporter, though. If my reading of the stories is right, it goes like this: HT or similar has dealt with cold caller; has been persuaded to sign up there and then; has done no research, no comparison shopping, no legal checks. HTs are paid to manage - and there is a string of management failure. (1) HTs shouldn't be meeting cold callers, they should be making appointments; (2) for a commercial lease there is AFAIK no cooling-off period as with a consumer contract - therefore signing on the spot is a serious failure, exposing yourself to risk; (3) research into product, true price, track record of company, and legal consequences of the contract is all part of due diligence, another management responsibility. That's not to say that the HTs concerned aren't victims, but they do have some responsibility. As for the reporter's theme that making schools more autonomous removes the lines of support from local authorities, that's true, but schools are free to buy in whatever advice and support they decide they need, and independent schools have been doing this since ever. I'm fascinated by the banks' involvement, though. Looks like they didn't do due diligence either as the leases were clearly scams. Good for the Clydesdale for signing up to wipe out their debts.

Have a look at SchoolBase. Does lots of things and can cover parent communications and so on.

Huge improvement on the green countdown I've seen in some cities. For drivers there used to be a brilliant system in Germany where a second set of traffic lights showed the speed at which you would meet green lights all the way: 50km/h, 40 km/hor whatever - really helpful and it helped traffic flow, not having people racing off on green at one set of lights and then hitting the next red.

There is a freight company, I think it's Downton, whose trucks carry the slogan "Real Distribution Solutions." Putting aside the buzz-speak solutions bit, presumably the alternative is virtual distribution, where you only imagine your parcel has been delivered?

There was a sign at one time in Aberystwyth which said "Do not throw stones at this notice. By Order." ....and nothing else.

Anyone else spotted this? BBC News - Facebook's email switch prompts criticism by users FB now displays an @facebook.com email address by default

One major issue here is the large number of variables, most of which cannot be controlled. As sample size becomes smaller (comparing within one school rather than between schools, for example), small random factors have greater effect on measured differences. Generating data is relatively straightforward; interpreting it well needs some statistical expertise. As posted earlier in this thread, the data should enable questions to be asked; using the data alone to make judgements would be pretty rash, I think.

....and Edexcel's online marking software won't work on IE9, only IE8 (previous versions wouldn't work on IE8, only 7 - and it doesn't work at all on other browsers). So much for the white heat of the technological revolution.....

Big piece in today's Times. Stats are pretty scary - not just for Everest: Everest - total ascents since 1953: 3,684; deaths 210; fatality rate 5.7% Nanga Parbat - total ascents since 1953: 287; deaths 61; fatality rate 22.3% K2 - total ascents since 1950: 198; deaths 53; fatality rate 27% Annapurna I - total ascents since 1950: 153; deaths 59; fatality rate 38% Now these stats aren't quite what they seem because many more people will have been involved in those climbs and not made the summit; and many of these deaths will have been of people who didn't reach the summit. But it all makes the H&S scares we seem to suffer daily look pretty trivial!

If a school's management and staff are getting things right, inspection will reveal exactly what management and staff know already: strengths, weaknesses, whatever. If they are not getting things right, the inspection report will be a surprise. If inspections are done right (I know this is another discussion) they should produce reports which accurately describe a school - and therefore will not be news to the Head, SLT or Governors. Full marks to people who have posted above to say they'd welcome inspection of their own IT areas: these are clearly people who are working hard and making as sure as they can that they are getting things right, who are analytical and self-critical.

I've recently had to come down of the same mountain escorting someone with altitude sickness. Disappointment isn't a good enough word. But the rapid improvement in his health was fantastic. The old adage "there are three cures for altitude sickness: descent, descent and descent."

Read Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Honest, pretty accurate, thought-provoking, informative for those of us not lucky enough to have climbed in the Himalayas.

Probably won't help your specific issue but SchoolBase provides email to parents, including mailmerges, and text messaging, all within the MIS system and in the basic package. Worth thinking about if you change MIS at least.

I still remember an idea from a comic when I were a lad: torch with a black beam for looking for things you don't want to find. Pity that Physics is against this!

A bit tongue in cheek here - but if the school makes the use of mobiles compulsory in lessons, they'd suddenly be very unappealing, and maybe even "accidentally" left at home?

I have one of each of these, but no longer have the printer. Going rate is £35 each, happy to accept £10 each plus cost of postage within UK (I don't know how much that will be but we can make a guess!)

Here's what has worked for us. All emails given.surname@.... (exceptions for duplicate names and things); emails given out freely to parents, who mostly work it out anyway. Parents get clear briefing on whom they should contact for which issue (lateness, academic worry, illness, pastoral worry, whatever) Generic email addresses also exist e.g. maths@... which are then assigned to the appropriate person. Incoming emails are supposed to be acknowledged within 48h - perhaps by a "thank you, I'm investigating, I'll get back to you" - this is key to keepong relations sweet. Further guidance for substative reply deadline. Misdirected emails (e.g. about French GCSE sent to the Bursar) get forwarded and parent copied in. Email to parents is used heavily for sport, messages for individual teaching groups, whatever... Pupils also know these addresses and use email quite well to communicate with staff Seems to work.

For textbooks, these people may be useful: READ International - Homepage

One of these - teletype and punched paper tape.....PDP8e

Same experience - watched the crack grow as I drove along M6 before I could stop safely to check. Insurance covered less the excess. I was foolish enough to ask what the cost would have been had I paid myself - the guy on the phone started saying "seven hund....." before I stopped him and went for the insurance option. In Autoglass I watched a Mercedes driver being quoted £900+ for a non-Mercedes part and a genuine Merc screen into 4 figures. Ouch.

Library systems really useful for issuing and tracking just about anything that's portable. Locker keys and room keys for example - the software can pay for itself that way - AND keep your librarian happy!

We provided a desktop in each teaching space, plus enough in staff areas to hot-desk, and PCs in offices for those who have offices. Remote access from home for all. There were grumblings on occasion but the setup is robust and there's little downtime from PC failures. No problems of connecting cables and finding tey don't work for whatever reason, no flat batteries, less to carry, less to drop, less to have stolen. Laptops provided to a small handful of staff who really did need to be mobile and managing things from a minibus or whatever. In a school where teachers going home before 6pm is a rarity and many are at work before 8, the classroom and office desktops get used heavily outside class time. And realistically teachers do have their own PCs at home and also have broadband access so working remotely isn't a problem (and they do work late too - I've fielded help calls well after midnight!)

One PC I know tells me he picks some people up with 150 offences on their record - and they still don't get jailed. While we would all subscribe to the ideas of mercy and of fair trials, the other side of the coin is that would-be offenders should be scared of the consequences if they are caught and convicted.