Rydra

When you put in NEW kit, it does NOT require PAT testing. equipment that has been supplied by a manufacturer is deemed as working on delivery. If it isn't, it's a manufacturing fault and not the schools. Once equipment is "In use" it is no longer "New" and therfore will need testing each year. So that new boxed Dell PC you just bought doesn't need testing till the next cycle, be it in 11 months time, or 3 months time. Obviously, when putting in equipment of any sort, a visual inspection of the kit should be done regardless of age, or time since it was pat tested. A PAT tester could have tested a bit of kit, then it was knocked off a shelf the following day. Overall, the whole process is a little bit of a joke, because of the above problem. In 8 years, I've had just ONE item fail a PAT test due to internal faults. I've had dozens fail however due to damaged mains cables, or casing. And since I used to work in a repair centre, where 20-30 items would go through at least per day, with some 10-15,000 kettle leads between the store stock and the repair shop, i think that's pretty good odds The chances of that computer's internals doing something funky that will cause a power failure are low (compared to, from my experience the number of machines that get KILLED by PAT testing. They don't like being shut on/off or have funny voltages go through them to test resistance). The chances that some muppet has trapped the powercable and bared the wires against the metal table-leg however are rather higher!

Get me an office to work in in Bedfordshire and I'd love to work for you! But the wife won't let me move, she likes her job apparently. And Southampton/Leeds is a bit of a drive from here...

Anyone remember that internet-only england game late last year? I had family/friends over to watch that, and it was a very solid and reliable stream. No hiccups or problems the entire game. But on this topic, anyone found a decent way of getting a good reception in the school? I bought one of those indoor boosted aerials the other day for home, one that supposedly supports HD freeview and everything. I couldn't even get a terrestrial TV signal watchable at all, it was awful. Buy Amplified One For All HD Indoor Aerial. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for . Is what I bought, which is basically meant to be the best indoor aerial that I could buy at the time.

it unlocked, with their laptop, keys, mobile phone, and at least £20 in loose change inside it. Oh, and occasionally their personal diary/organiser.

One miscellaneous bit of homework from a student that hasn't been at the school for at least 2 years. It's usually unmarked.

wish a job like that would come up near me. But if they do, I never seem to catch them in time

Salary details on this at all please?

Half a dozen board pens that don't work. At least one of them will be interactive, for a board they don't have.

If this is the case then I honestly apologise, but the few private schools i've known, and the few teachers i've known (about 3 or 4) that have moved from public to these private schools, all of them increased salary by up to 40% or so over what they earnt before. I admit to working in east england, where we have a number of well established private schools with high reputations, so maybe I have a limited viewpoint on this one. Hertfordshire is well known for some nice private schools, and I have London not too far away as well. I can see your viewpoint on the smaller private schools though, and stand corrected on the basis of what you say.

Pretty much what others have said already, there's not really any 'new tech' up and coming on this front, until we get the stage where all students work from netbooks/ipads or whatever. I long for the day when I can say bye-bye to printers and using paper entirely, in favour of a lightweight/flexible tablet! The only other thing I'd look into, is resources that teach about english use within the computing world. For example, almost all programming languages (unless I've really missed something) work in english, most sites on the internet (that deal internationally) have english language options too. What I find missing in most curriculum now, is how to actually write on a computer in legibible english. It's amazing how people can go from perfectly crafted written word, to a blobbed wall of text in pink writing with yellow background and little animated pixies in the corners the minute they find a computer under their mitts.

The difference is, I work in a school, they will always need IT support of some sort. Working for any other company, there is no guarantee how long till they win/lose business, or decide to move or downsize, plus a lot have pensions tied to investment schemes, so you are taking a gamble. I have family who have lost tens of thousands of pounds in invested money into these pensions.

This is not quite true. Though with some fields it is hard to actually find a private equivalent, private earn a lot more than public sector. My dad works for local government, after he was made redundant. He took a 15,000 paycut, doing the same work. Myself, I can earn 2-5,000 more by working on a helpdesk doing nothing but answer phone calls all day. I know this, because I was OFFERED the job, only to be turned it down when the manager got my CV, as I had TOO MUCH experience. He wanted someone who would be willing to work for a few years, and decided i was overqualified, and likely to get bored within 3-6 months. Private sector wise, I could earn the best part of 8-10k more than I earn now, even working within education (such as for a support company) than I do now, for literally the same job. A teacher working for a private school will earn considerably more than they will working for a public state school as well.

My google-f00 is strong http://www.ucs.ed.ac.uk/bits/2001/may_2001/bits.pdf bottom of page 4

Sigh, how many times has THAT been done Almost getting old and boring now

Don't know how many people know this, but with the LGPS, as long as you put into it for the next 25 or however many years, you can be a street cleaner earning £8,000 a year for those 25 years. But if in the 26th year you become the director for cleaning services earning 85,000, you can take early retirement that year (assuming no contracts tying you for longer) and you'd get a pension based on that last year, not on the 25 years of input beforehand. Why else do you think so many of the highest ranking jobs are held by, shall we say, those who are 'close to retirement'

DPA = Dirty Pinky Accidents?

That room is truly awesome. The only way to improve it would be to add a fridge, a cushion, and maybe a crafty TV + Xbox tucked out of sight. Oh, and of course a can of drink sitting on top of the pile of computers/switches/routers. Must be at least half full and 2-4 weeks old. Preferably Something like Diet Coke with Lime, which no ordinary people drink.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/life/employment/basic_rights_at_work.htm#How_much_notice_is_an_employer_entitled_ Notice Periods Unless you signed an updated contract that states a higher notice period, the above minimums should hold, but you can agree to give lower notice. It is, technically, possible to just leave after 1 week, and the two choices open to an employer, are withhold pay for what you didn't work (which, most people who do this won't care about, as they are likely to be jumping into a higher paying job that much earlier), or seek legal action, if they can prove that by you leaving before serving your notice has incurred additional costs on them. The 2nd, in my experience is rarely chosen in a technician's line of work, simply because the costs and hassle of pursuing it rarely warrant it for a guy they can replace, usually, very easily. I of course do not suggest anyone does break their contracts, and find that once you are in a position to hand in your notice, discussing the options with your SMT will result in a middle ground that suits you both.

About 10 years ago while I was still in school (!) there was a virtual trading site running, i've long since lost the address to it, but it ran directly off the yahoo financial feeds. I actually found it quite fun as a teenager! The thing to remember, is there's no such thing as a "Get rich" scheme, be it quick or over a long period of time. You can play on the margin's, which can be high risk, and the potential profits if done right can be great. Or you can play on investment over time. Buying into a football club, BP, or if you'd been a poor bugger with shares in Rover, would be likely a bad move. Investing in larger companies, such as Google, Microsoft, or other companies tied to new technology will likely be a good move over a longer period of time. I am actually eyeing up AMD shares, and wondering if I can get in on those; they slumped last year big time, but have been rising fairly steadily since; the fact that they now have some tech on the market that doesn't suck is helping rather a lot!

bah, no windows support. I am happy enough to poke a linux distro somewhere, but my wife who lurks on this game on facebook all evening wouldn't know where to begin.

It depends on what level of help they want. if it's provide some pre-existing documentation, and maybe a quick guide from someone's who's done it before. I'd ask some of you lot for advice on how to setup my network over the summer, but I wouldn't ask/expect you to come and physically install and run it for me!

I always thought it went to the big Asbestos Ceiling in the sky... where no nasty engineers drill a naughty hole in them while noone is looking!

The car analogy is a good one, and can possibly be compared to the difference between Open Office and Office 2003. But the OO/2003 versus 2007/2010 difference is more like having a dashboard with all the buttons on, and a scrollbar underneath to swap between different sets of car functions; so your centre console would have an array of buttons for your car stereo, and you'd have to flick a switch or scrollbar to get to the windscreen wiper functions, and then again to reach your air con settings! You still know how to drive the car, but finding the damned rear wiper cleaner function takes a map and a good memory! And most students are taught to use page breaks and the many other features using , and when the program or shortcuts you use to do that change, you might as well not have learnt to do it in the first if you do not know how/where to find it. A person who can drive an automatic car will struggle with a manual car, but a manual driver can generally still drive an automatic; but every now and then, I'd bet the manual driver still goes to put down the clutch foot when breaking in the automatic

There has been some discussions recently, about OSS vs MS Office (2003v2007v2010) and the discussions went along the lines of "We should teach people to do the tasks (aka, teach them to word process) rather than teach them the application. Now I can see how you can do some of this, at a basic level with most things; you can teach a person to program, then you can teach a person how to use C+, or VB, or Java etc etc. But beyond teaching people the layout of a keyboard, and the basic principles of layout/formatting (spaces/punctuation go here, paragraphs go here, pink on red backgrounds DO NOT WORK!) How DO you teach generic word processing, and for the matter, how do you teach them generic database, generic presentation, and generic spreadsheets, without teaching them Word/Excel/Access/Powerpoint? The features of each competitive program differ; for example, the formula within Google spreadsheet are technically the same formula used in excel, except they write some of the functions the other way round in google than they do in excel! A lot of people who were used to the likes of Office 2003, find office 2007/2010 very difficult to use, because where they normally go to find certain features is completely different. So other than teaching people basic english usage, mathematics, and the principles of design, how DO YOU teach these things without teaching someone the specific program, within a young education environment? Does anyone do this, or do we just teach X program and hope they pick up how to do these things?

A priest, feeling a little loney goes to the local pet shop one day. "I'm looking for a very religious pet, suitable for a man of my position." The show owner replies, "I've got just the thing. You see this parrot here, with the 2 pieces of string attached to it's legs? If you tug on the left one, he sings the Lord's Prayer. If you tug on the Right one, he sings a Psalm." "PERFECT! I'll take it!" says the priest, and goes for his wallet. "What happens if you pull both strings?" enquires the priest, as he hands over the cash. . . . "I fall off my *£^&% perch you ^%^$£" Responds the parrot.