gwendes

Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable being referred to as 'Mr Wendes'. 'Sir' or 'Giles' is fine - at first they thought it was really strange to be calling me by my first name, adding 'Mr' hence 'Mr Giles'. I really don't mind and can't understand why teachers get so stressed about what the kids call them. I am 'Giles' because this is what I asked to be introduced as... I really don't think my name, if a little unusual, shows disrespect. Some of my colleagues don't see it this way, and I have had converstations where I have had to defend what I have chosen to be called in the school. It's my choice but call me what you like (as long as I know you're talking to me)

I woud highly recommend AOL. Stay clear of there software but otherwise £30 a month gets you 8Mb free from shaping, caps and other nasties. Free Netgear wireless router too... Pipex, PlusNet, Tiscali and BT all traffic shape - from experience... oh and Virgin too - don't think Virgin Media do since they are NTL Go with AOL if you can't get cable.

Damn. I'd slip a clause in there somewhere if I was you True, true genius. I'd buy some (and keep some as pets)

Spot on. Does anyone really think that respect is garnered from the way you address somebody? It clearly isn't. All we are doing by keeping up this traditional 'Mr' or 'Sir' business is to teach kids that you treat one person in one way and another in another. The really excellent private schools, the ones at the top of every league, use first names only... State schools will catch up and it will be a good day when they do. Also, I won't have to remember two names for every member of staff... I suppose it depends how academic you are. I wouldn't be insulted but I could see how that might offend. 'Non-teaching' however... well... read my other posts...

I'm quite lucky because my girlfriend worked at the school for about year before I applied so I had met some of the the staff before actually starting work. Look at how things are done and think about how you can improve the school but don't jump straight in and start changing things or you'll tred on peoples feet. Communicate is the really important thing - let people know what you've done and are doing, keep records for appraisals and 'What Worked Well...' and 'Would Be Better If...' and try to learn as much as you can, there's always a learning curve in a new job - in IT it can be very steep. Enjoy!

Personally I only have 27 desktops and 30 laptops... but I help out in the main building too which is about 500

Ah, all you need are Pringles http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/448

I partially support this. It happens all the time, members of staff will come up to you at lunch, in the corridor, knocking on your door etc and you should do things that you can do easily there and then. If something is urgent try to make an assesment straight away - it makes keeping a track of things so much easier. Explain if something is going to be simple (replacing a monitor for example) and why it is being done quickly and explain why the FFR they need urgently has to be put on a back burner. Communication is key. Implement a helpdesk system if possible because paper tickets are horrible.

I really, really want one... accepting donations now

It's just been decided that we're having all our equipment tagged and stuck on a, very, very poor database. I love the idea of using a system like this to manage equipment loans particularly as I have to maintain a record of the student teacher laptops over here... Keep us updated

@bossman - I still don't understand how there is a relationship between what it says on your wageslip and how you are addressed by teachers and students. No one else ('cept gf and IFA) sees my wageslip so you may feel like you are fighting your corner but really the only difference you are making is to the wording on some finance spreadsheet at the council offices. @Ravening_Wolf - I couldn't disagree more. Respect doesn't come from the word you shout across the classroom to get a teachers attention. The majorit of staff and students refer to me as 'Giles' - I think this holds far more respect. It is very easy to hide behind 'Sir' or 'Miss' and very difficult if you are using the member of staff's real name - where the comtempt is coming from, from a name, I'm really not sure. What exactly do the kids 'pick up on very quickly.'? Your name? When you choose to be referred to by your name? God forbid. As far as I am concerned this is on a par with putting up a sign that says 'Do not look at this sign' The is also nothing wrong with being referred to as a techie or technician. It isn't derogatory at all. You will create a bigger barrier between teaching and non-teaching staff if you have make a problem out of something so meaningless. In my experience headteachers are called 'Mr..', 'Sir' or 'Mrs..' and they are certainly not likely to be offended if they are not recognised - in a greeting - for their promotion to [Head]teacher

I wouldn't be offended. After all, the institution you work for is one that teaches and you do not teach. Just as- if you worked for an IT company and were employed in admin it would be acceptable to be referred to as non-technical. Non-admin would sound strange as the focus of the company is not admin. You could refer to all aspects of your job on a wage slip or you could understand that it is just a wage slip...

I would have printed this forum and given everyone in the meeting a copy. How can they expect you to be the one responsible for maintaining a poor system without taking on board your opinion - and the opinion of other IT professionals? Just say that the way it's been built makes it unviable to keep it as it is - tear it down and start again. Building on moodle will have you up and running in a couple of hours - you could even get some enthusastic kids on board.

Hi Darren!

Exactly. I'll testify in court too... You've plenty of support here mark...

How can you actually do that though? I've always designed my own websites, so I've never paid for one before. If you get someone to design one for you, what needs to happen in order to get a refund? The quality of the site is subject to opinion and it has already been said that opinions of the site vary (SMT like it). Surely the designer in question can argue that they did everything that was required of them when they were asked to design the site? That's like saying you should pay for bad food in a restaurant because someone starving would gulp it up. I would not pay that 'designer' anything - he has clearly been very lazy.

Does seem a little strange here too.. You've just made your life more difficult than it needed to be. Install bootcamp and 'doze them up!

Umm... no... that is known as a bodge.. some people...

We used to race making boxes when I worked for Dominos - the long evening would fly by... I don't know how you could make them round - I would cost a lot... The other 'questions' could be picked apart one by one - the twice as cold tomorrow one hurts my brain though..

That's quite a journey - you go from Portsmouth to Pulborough every day?

I was born there, so I know what I'm talking about! It does have one redeeming feature; all the major road junctions have big signs with "OUT OF CITY" in large, friendly letters... You are now in Winchester though... I'm not going to sit here and defend Portsmouth because you lot will tear me to pieces... You've got to live here to understand? I AM NOT A CHAV.

Oi - whats wrong with Portsmouth?! Haha LOL - There are some nice people in Portsmouth This thread is funny - in 'normal' people forums people just accept the stupid American 'questions' and say how correct they are. In a tech forum each is scrutenized... it's beautiful to watch! On the point about Pizza boxes it is so they are easy to make flat - otherwise they would take up a lot of space in transit...

VNC is unistalled on the clients . I've removed iTALC from Program Files but after I reinstalled the program won't run - 'No valid keys found' and 'iTALC service not running' errors pop up. The iTALC service is running on both but I've setup the keys so many times

How can this be prevented? The image search here seems to have no problem allowing the kids to turn off SafeSearch if they want - then it doesn't even need to be a search for a letter...

I've unistalled VNC on a couple of computers and installed the client. italc doesn't seem to install from a network location but finally installed and ok- still host unreachable Does anyone know how to uninstall the master application so I can try this again. Installing over the top of the old install just throws errors at me. LanView was much simpler than this!