dwhyte85

I'd be suprised if schools from around here could give me helpdesk data, to be honest, I'd be suprised if they had a helpdesk in some cases!

I don't know whether I am just missing the point or... if I am being overly pedantic and scrutinizing what he is doing too much. I have every confidence he can see that we're doing a good job, I just can't see how it can influence our SLT. Graphs, pie charts and line charts are great... but without context and data to compare against it all seems pretty pointless...

I don't want to post too much on here... could be prying eyes, I will put a survey out this week to get some feedback. Alot of the jobs are what i'd call first line, brain meltingly easy jobs but... that's the nature of schools. the other 20% is me doing admin jobs to make teachers lives easier. We rarely get time to do anything on the infrastructure because of the holidays being our time to take holiday. You're right though, without context the statistic is meaningless... and that's what he will present, infact, even with context it is pretty meaningless without comparison to other schools. The consultant wants facts not personal statements I think, I could do a survey & I'm fairly confident alot of feedback would be good - not sure it could be used as evidence when he presents his findings to SLT.

We are going through a consultation to see where our ICT was, is and will be. They are considering all aspects inclusive of whether an MSP would benefit the school greater than us. We're also arguing for the normal... pay, training and another member of staff and we're trying to show that we're run ragged (not shown by the above) and that if we're not careful service will degrade as the new equipment deteriorates and we're stretched even thinner. Hard to sum up in a few lines... I am trying to find out whether we're providing a good service in terms of education, solely based on stats rather than issues. I can see it as a good point and a bad point, good in that... we get things done, things are working quickly and... staff are happy... the bad in that, well, the training we've given, the things we've asked SLT to do aren't working... for instance, knowing the basis of the issues - I know alot are re-plugging in things for lessons which grinds my gears because they should never be unplugged.

Would you suggest that 80% of all issues that come in are resolved within 20 minutes as a good thing? I can see some negatives but, in general, would you suggest that is good service bearing in mind nothing has been formally ironed out in terms of agreements?

They can't afford to pay me anything extra but can find budget for a staff conference! I know the feeling, we have a consultant in at the moment too but this is to help us see whether we are being under paid, still it feels like a kick in the teeth when you state why you're understaffed and why you're underpaid and they're just not listening! My advice is, if you do ask, be prepared for a no - have a backup plan, that's not to say leave but maybe try ask for training and justify its purpose for work - they will try to get 'good value' from you, try to get value from them as an employer.

They'd rather work with hindsight, bump the grade up that way and hope that the new employee will stick around a bit longer, well, here at least. Reliance on us is insane, we have far more inclusion than any other support staff (yes, even more than TAs who are little more than gophers in our school). I am applying frantically to get back into the real world!

Good method Domino, it requires the SLT to give a flying monkeys though Point 2 has been re-iterated by myself, other staff (who don't want me to leave) & even other members of SLT... sometimes it just isn't going to happen. As Domino has said, don't go crazy and hand your notice or anything if they say no... it can be difficult retracting it after

I am on a 3 month notice period - it is terribly frustrating as when I apply for jobs people are not interested! I hope if you are enforcing a long notice period on the position that you are open to candidates already in that position...

https://www.justgiving.com/charities/ - I don't know exactly how it works, I know they did offer recurrent type payments and donations. An example page: http://www.justgiving.com/cancerresearchuk/Donate

Personally, as an athiest I think it's all twoddle. That said, I don't see the point in forcing my reasoning on a believer - I know it can help people feel like they've got a purpose and that they're working towards something. I've had this discussion before whilst at school (as a learner), I've found believers try to ram beliefs down my throat and on what is practically unfounded claims, an old book that could be true but may not be. I know the argument of it's a set of stories to help lead lives better is widely used too but on that basis, will books on self improvement be sacred in a 100 years time? I think live and let live comes into it but, realism and reasonable judgement comes into play. We believed in Santa Claus based on stories as a kid, a guy may have existed (st Nicholas) who brought children presents but whether he was how we saw/see Santa Claus is a different matter, years of effectively chinese whispers may have developed what we 'know' now but may be far from the truth and greatly exaggerated - but the concept was similar - that's how I see the bible. They're my opinions, so please don't be offended.

I can't even buy worthwhile gear on my server, I can't get the plans for decent blacksmithing either. I've been kicked from heroics and non-heroics, it sucks! I stopped playing before Burning Crusade, started again just before WOTLK then gave up because it was effort and just came back into it now - must be the cold weather! @nikaso - death knights are not so sneaky haha

You are jealous of my +1 WoW intellect.

I am getting kicked from heroics because my gear isn't good enough and I can't be bothered with going onto comms to talk to people about game tactics to do raids. I did PVP this weekend because it was the call to arms and extra honor so all my gear is PVP but it's poo for PVE.

Cans or bottles?

Where can I get good gear that isn't through PVP or requires me to give my evenings raiding? Are the heroics any good for gear compared to raids? I know it's all pointless but... I'm just that sad.

She's hot and the e-mail implies you could win tickets to stay with her overnight and see her perform, that doesn't read too well...

TestDisk is free, I use it alot TestDisk Download - CGSecurity

I've been waiting since April for mine, most displeased.

Do it, that way you can show improvement to SLT (upon next survey) and hopefully, either get necessary training or budget. I would ask a few key Qs: How would you rate ICT support within the school & why? (e.g, 1..5) Do you feel your queries are resolved within a satisfactory time? Are you happy with the support you receive? (If not, why?). Do you feel you have adequate training on ICT within the school? That way, you have things to argue with your line manager. Rather than asking for things outright without unfounded statements (yes, they'll think everything you say is rubbish unless you have data to prove it) they have evidence to show otherwise, it may be half the tickets that are complaints are because staff can't workout how to plug in the VGA cable after a teacher has unplugged it prior and that a bit of training will help... it can tie in with your tickets. Don't give them too much room to answer freely, you might get the odd twonk who answers poor, poor, poor, poor... but that way you can address it to SLT as something that needs improvement either by budget, training (staff and technical) or if SLT need to step in because staff aren't following processes in place.

It beats my first schools: Eton Wick C of E First School Headteacher maintains it, I think.

Did they tell you what band you're on difinity? I wondered whether your job + self-employed work defines the band or is it just for the self employed work, I haven't yet paid mine so it's extra interesting to me... I may have more money left after paying NI than I had thought

Doesn't add-on to what you're currently earning, so the rate is higher?

To do it properly you should have liability insurance (incase things go boobies up), go self-employed and then you just need to keep around 30% for tax and the other 70% can be owners drawers (e.g, you can take the money out). Make sure you agree prices, agree work to be done - then people can't be upset if they get something different. Insurance isn't that expensive, best to get some - pretty sure it's public liability insurance you need.

Add the domain suffix through IP addressing on one client to test it works, if it works add it to DHCP when it distributes IPs.