plumyeti

Hi all, Interested to hear what other schools are using for CCTV and how you’re finding it, particularly smaller primary schools. We currently have a Hikvision IP system which appears to have been installed around 10 years ago. We want to add more cameras, but the NVR is at capacity, so we’re looking at whether to replace the recorder and keep the existing cameras or start moving towards another system. UniFi seems popular at the moment, and my previous school started moving that way just as I left. However, we don’t have any other Ubiquiti equipment here, so I’m interested in people’s experiences of using Protect alongside another manufacturer’s network. I’ve also heard of Verkada and would be interested in how people find it, particularly the ongoing costs and whether it offers enough benefit to justify them in a school. Our main use is safeguarding and reviewing incidents or injuries, so straightforward footage searches, reliable recording and sensible access for authorised staff are the priorities. What are you using, would you recommend it, and would you choose the same system again? Has anyone replaced an older Hikvision NVR while retaining their existing IP cameras? CCTV is the main focus, but we’re also considering access control, gates and intercoms, so any experiences of systems that work well together would be useful. Thanks!

Damn, it might just be easier for me to go around and just do it for them myeslf then......

How are we deploying signatures to Outlook now? Our marketing Team has designed a beautiful new signature in HTML. It is now my job to ensure it works and apply it to everyone. Wht is the best way of doing this?

That’s a fair question. We’re an independent primary school, and due to the way devices have been deployed over time, we currently have considerably more computers than members of staff. We have fixed desktops in classrooms, offices, PPA areas and hot-desking rooms, but most staff do not also have an assigned laptop. Staff, particularly new starters who are used to having a laptop at their previous schools, are increasingly asking for more flexibility. Rather than purchasing additional laptops and increasing an already oversized device estate, we’re exploring whether issuing one laptop per member of staff would be a better long-term model. The laptop would follow the member of staff and connect to the classroom or office equipment, ideally through USB-C or a dock. This would be particularly useful for staff who move between rooms, work in different areas of the school or work on a hybrid basis. Around 90% of our cover is handled internally, so the member of staff providing cover would normally have their own assigned laptop. We would still retain a small pool of spare or cover devices for external cover and other exceptional circumstances. I’ve worked at a previous school where this model worked extremely well. Staff had the same device, applications, settings and files wherever they worked, rather than depending on a particular room or computer. Cost is certainly a consideration, but it isn’t purely about saving money. It’s about reducing unnecessary duplication while providing staff with a more flexible and consistent setup.

Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll get in touch with RDUK for a quote. It would be particularly nice to use a local company, as we’re also based in Kent.

Hi all, I’m currently gathering quotes for a project to replace our staff desktop PCs with laptops across the school. I’ve already contacted ICT Direct, VeryPC and Converge, but I’d be interested to hear which other refurbished laptop suppliers schools have used and would recommend. Suppliers offering warranties, education pricing and trade-in or cashback against our existing desktop equipment would be especially welcome. Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

Hello, Is anyone sucsesfuly using the CRM intergration with their MIS. We are wanting to get parents names dispalyed on the phone when they call. We have attempted to use the M365 shared mailbox contacts however then the numbers are public to all phones. Any advice welcome.

Hi everyone, We're a small independent girls primary school about to purchase a new set of 30 iPads and are looking into how best to set these up. Our main concern is safeguarding and ensuring that Lightspeed Monitor work effectively. For those of you using Shared iPads, do you require pupils to sign in with individual accounts, or do you use temporary sessions? If pupils sign in individually: Are you using Managed Apple Accounts? Does Lightspeed correctly identify the signed-in pupil rather than just the device? Are there any additional steps required in Intune or Lightspeed to enable user-based monitoring and reporting? How well does this work with younger primary-aged pupils? Any advice, recommendations, or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated, particularly around getting Lightspeed Monitor working reliably with Shared iPad. Thanks in advance.

I passed on your suggestion to our phone company and they made the changes but with no differance. I beleive we are also using Gamma. 3CX still think it's network related and suggested putting a priority in for UDP 5090 which I have done with no differance. As i have no control over the firewall there is no way to see if that is the issue or bypass to prove it is not our switches.

Hi all, Looking for some advice on a strange VoIP issue at our school. We recently had a new 3CX system installed by a contractor (hosted instance on AWS Lightsail, v20 Update 8A). Yealink T85W handsets are being used as SBCs. We’re seeing a consistent 0.5–1 second delay on outbound audio only when calling external numbers. In simple terms: Internal extension-to-extension calls are fine Inbound external calls are fine Audio from our users/LAN out to external callers is delayed Audio coming back in is fine Delay affects handsets and Windows app No delay when using the browser web client Checks completed Tested across multiple phones / locations Core/access switching checked with no obvious faults Required ports confirmed open Direct test with a handset connected at the firewall still showed delay Firewall is externally managed and no obvious issues have been reported Browser web client works normally Question Has anyone seen a case where native clients / handsets have outbound delay, but the web client is fine? Wondering if this could relate to SBC tunnel traffic, client type, or WebRTC vs native handling. Any thoughts appreciated.

Morning all, I had planned a project to move all out iPads to Intune over the easter.... All going well until I was handed some older iPads. It seems these are registered / managed by another ASM that I do not have access too. It seems historically we have had 1 for Apps/VPP and 1 for Devices into Meraki I am newish to the school and have been adding devices to the one with apps and then into Intune. However as I do not or anyone else have access to the other one we cannot move devices as they are setup to auto enroll onto Meraki. Does anyone know if I will have any luck merging these or anything? Apple support is of course being useless....

Interested to here how you find it. I have heard good things. Do you use similar platforms and have them all linked in together?

I am fully aware of SSO and that is my end goal. at my previous secondary school if it did not support SSO we simply did not support it. It seems completely different here in the Primaries as 90% of the platforms do not support SSO.

Hi all, Just wondering how other primary school approach pupil accounts and passwords. Currently only Pupils Year 1-6 have accounts created for them My predecesssor used to set password based on mymaths username+password which is 3 numbers 3 letters. However, it seems that mymaths now requires longer passwords. It also seems to be one very long winded manual process creating all the accounts as nothing seems to sync my process sems to take a long time getting a new pupil setup. Systems as follows. MIS MyMaths AD Office 365 Accelerated Reading Atom Learning Purple Mash TTRS Ed Shed Spelling Shed Busy things Tapestry Seesaw AM I missing something where we could be syncing all our accounts or am I missing the luxury from working in a senior school where everything was SSO.

Not Sure if you misread.. I am being advised for the alerting to work I need the Alert agent AND Filtering Agent installed.