36Degrees

1400 users (about 100 at feeder primaries who use our VLE) 250 desktop computers 100 laptops 60 interactive whiteboards 50 printers 10 servers + 200 Thin clients and 13 servers for that system which we may have to contact the suppliers about if it is outside of our area of expertise. 1 NM & 1 Tech

A small sample of requests for software installation which I'm sure many on here have encountered - 1) Software is licensed for 1 computer / user but request is for installation on all computers for all users. 2) Software only works properly if you have full admin rights on the local machine so request is made for that to be done 3) Software purchased 2nd week of September and then teacher says it needs to be on all computers in time for some important thing the following week - you have never seen software before, some older computers won't run it and it is one of the worst you have encountered for installation / configuration / stability issues. As to training, I have offered on many occasions to do CPD sessions on anything they want but have had no takers and even the Head of ICT has seen 1 person turn up for CPD on something they *must* all know how to do. On INSET days I have done workshops with an easy to follow user guide (colour pictures, simple language, etc.) and them still claim they have never been given any help.

We have Sanako Lab 300 as well. Whenever we have contacted them for help they have been very quick to respond and quite helpful (they even sourced an old version of the software for us when the disk disappeared). Definitely. I don't know how much of the functionality we use but I suspect very little. Staff used to complain about no training, etc. but I'm sure we even had Sanako give them some training and I seem to recall that their manuals were easy to follow. As with any system, they need to put in a little effort but I think they would be able to see the possibilities.

Tell them it's your school and your network! We've had similar issues with the LEA in the past over changes we made. We used to have a 3rd party internal proxy that the LEA blamed for any internet problems, despite the fact that the 3rd party's tech support would identify and resolve any issues almost straight away whereas I would be lucky if anyone actually spoke to me from the ISP (the old Fujitsu EMBC *shudders*). One year I was moaned at by LEA techs because they claimed by not following their standard network build it could be a security risk. I nearly wet myself as the security they had set internally meant anybody's personal folders could be easily browsed to and accessed by everyone. I showed the Head Teacher how every member of staff could look at the confidential information in his - needless to say it was changed very quickly.

Personally I'd pay for the code read. Assuming your local garage are reputable it could be a good £50 as it may be something trivial that needs cleaning / reseating / replacing and they can then reset system.

Worst brakes I ever replaced were on a Ford Fiesta. The disc had pretty much welded itself to the hub so it required a lot of brake cleaner (full can!) and some quite intense persuasion from a lump hammer. 2 hours later one side done, 30 mins after that both sides done! Most annoying thing was that about a month later it got written off after a disagreement with an Isuzu Trooper...

Exactly as the above!

I was considering putting this as my FB status (my friends all know I'm a bit "special" anyway) but have to admit I never even thought of posting such a thing here!

Assuming that the PFI deals for hospitals and schools are the same here is an example. The new Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham "will cost taxpayers £1.75 billion under a private finance initiative scheme, being repaid like a mortgage of at least £48 million a year plus inflation until 2046, with developer Balfour Beatty owning 40 per cent of the hospital." I found an article elsewhere that said the cost was £547 million.

Don't forget to ask for a new crystal ball that is compatible with the current infrastructure Every year I have to disappoint staff and tell them that the budget still isn't sufficient to obtain one...

"It was definitely there 2 days ago" - no, the backup clearly shows that it hasn't existed for about 3 weeks so let's restore it and have a look. *5 minutes later* It's obvious you created a document with that name during the lesson and did no work on it. Then it somehow (according to you) disappeared the day before it was due for submission. What an amazing coincidence...

We have already decided on the Parental Engagement Portal plug in for Frog which will, at present, be 24 hours old at most but Notts LEA are going down the Capita / SIMS route.

Sorry Tony, it was a very quick reply just before I left work. What I should have also said was that there are a lot of people on here asking similar questions so I suspect that the information is either not very clear, difficult to find or both. As my NM post is currently only temporary and my contract is repeatedly extended (long story) it was only when I had to explain our Parental Engagement plans to staff that I did research as to why we are doing it. It has been driven by SLT and my input only really started just before we made the decision. I automatically assumed that my lack of knowledge on the subject was due to the nature of my post but now I'm not convinced it is. As always, if you want to find out what is really happening and why you need to look on EduGeek. Although it is an excellent resource full of people willing to help I don't think this forum should be the primary resource in this matter.

As above plus a script that empties it each evening.

I thought the key requirements were: 1) Report must include achievement, progress, attendance, behaviour and special needs 2) By September 2008 “on a timely and frequent basis - this should be at least once per term” 3) By September 2010 “real-time access to this information wherever they are and whenever they want” This is based on Jim Knight's statements at BETT in January 2008.

Another vote here for that one. And I can watch Big Bang over and over again, especially from the third (current) series. Bazinga!

I've just watched the BBC 1 o'clock news and irrespective of your political allegiences I think he's shot himself in the foot with this one. As well as the fact that she started heckling GB on the economy, Nick Robinson heard the exchange and claims she made no racist comments. He then describes the meeting as a disaster before calling the woman a bigot. She said that she was still going to vote Labour but then having heard what he had said she now claims she won't be voting at all and doesn't care if he is reelected or not. I would have laughed as hard watching the bulletin no matter who did it but not only was it a party leader, it was the PM!

We have Frog here and are in the initial stages of implementing their Parental Engagement Portal which will be accessed through the Website / VLE as this already has a SIMS data extractor which we know works. Initially we are only going to use the features that meet the minimum requirements but hope to use the others, like Parent Voice, later on.

If true that would be really convenient wouldn't it!

It may even be different within the LA although I'm not 100% sure. Last year I convinced one of the LA's techs that I did know what I was talking about and that there was a lot of configuration on the Cisco switch and I was then told that it is possible to have this requirement removed.

The first I knew about it was an email from the LEA last week telling me which IP addresses were using the old DNS server addresses.

Despite explaining very clearly during staff briefing why it had been done as well as explaining very clearly to all staff via email why it had been done and why the only option was to completely switch off YouTube one member of staff still rang to complain and then went to the Head Teacher. Fortunately I had already got his backing!

We use these StarTech ST122LE although we only paid about £14.40 for them at the time (from ProBrand). They're USB powered, very small and do an excellent job.

If your teachers always use computers in a specific IP range and pupils in a different one then you can create separate policies accordingly within Netsweeper. However, if like us you don't and it's determined purely by DHCP then YouTube is either on or off. You'll have to put your own content filter between Synetrix and your computers to allow user group access. I'm just about to start looking at options myself as we only currently have Synetrix filtering through EMBC and had to switch YouTube off due to some of the content pupils have access to. This wasn't popular at all with some members of staff!

Petrol costs where I live at the moment are 120.9p per litre whereas on the way to work the cost is as low as 117.9p (biggest price differential has been 7p per litre!) There's never been a valid reason for the difference but as all local stations 'price match until one lowers it significantly the others aren't that bothered about being that competitive. One factor not considered with public transport is why is it so expensive over here? A few years ago I remember watching a documentary where they tried to explain why the West Coast main line was costing much more to be upgraded than it was costing in Germany for a brand new high speed line that was actually longer. Much of it seemed to hinge around incompetence such as staff being paid to sit and wait for instructions, equipment not in the right place at the right time, ever changing specifications, etc. (Sound familiar i.e. Government IT projects?)