JPS

As part of this process the school is obliged to set aside money in the budget to allow for increased wages, they may have assistance with this process from their authority. This was certainly the case less than a year ago when I was a governor at a primary school in Norfolk.

Any volunteers for modelling the new proposed merchandise?

Whilst I can hear the bl**dy diggers outside my office then I know we're still going ahead!

Second tie.

Great suggestion, can we do that pleeeease??

Apologies, my figures are not quite up to date.

Nephilim, an expert on what makes an incompetent teacher??

Teaching is not well paid. (Not picking on just you localzuk, but yours was the post that agitated me enough to respond) I dont think you guys are totally aware of what goes on in the classroom and wandering in to replace a faulty mouse in 5 minutes does not give you a fair insight either. When I was young both my parents were teachers and I remember them having to keep their own accounts down to the penny to ensure they didnt get in trouble. Teaching is bl**dy hard work, I trained and was deemed to be quite effective in the classroom and I didnt complete my course(my decision). I was in school by 7am and out at 6.30. Had dinner and was straight into bed. If you have 5 lessons in a day thats the best part of 5 hours 'performing' to an audience of 30 children each time. Its no wonder that teachers are one of the professions that suffers from shortest life expectancy. Another annoying thing is when people presume that teachers get 13 weeks holiday. They dont! They get 13 weeks 'non-contact time'. They do have some time off but not what people think. They also work at weekends, its not for fun, they have to in order to get prepped for the following week. When it comes to marking exams, some are marking 200 papers for just one year group! There are tight deadlines and this cant be just 'left to tomorrow'. I now have a supportive 'non-teaching' role in school and have done since quiting my training. In the past I have taken on some teaching (ICT Functional Skills) because I enjoy it but this only meant teaching for one lesson in any one day, nothing like what a teacher does. Its also worth noting that there isnt a great difference in pay from an NQT and a teacher with a few years experience - certainly not enough to affect the decision of a recruiting panel. Without any responsibility it takes an NQT 6 years to earn approx 28k (excluding london weighting). In less time than that I have increased my salary by far more by working in an IT background! Its criminal that schools are misusing TAs/LSAs/other support staff. They earn even less and they arent trained to do the job. Can you imagine being expected to do a days teaching? In a subject you have no/little knowledge of and complete the work you should be doing, because that is what is happening! My lunch break has drawn to a close so must my rant!

Im just about still appreciating my 20s but it shall not be for long (368 days). Been in IT 9 years now, previously a trainee accountant. I dont know whats worse, spending all day adding numbers or spending all day formatting data and reporting on it?

ok, cheers so far guys. Another question, if I go down the sharepoint route is there any way of setting it up on my desktop PC for testing purposes? (As I understand it, you have to run it on W2K3). I could do without having to either a. stand at the server or b. concern the network manager by asking him to allow me to remote into the server when I fancy.

To be honest no. I was under the impression there was costs involved and quite a learning curve for someone who has never touched such thing before?? Please correct me though.

Hi guys, hopefully someone can confirm what I'm gonna do will work (or is the best way to do things)? I am new to my school. They dont have an intranet currently and I have been set tasks that could be solved by the implementation of an intranet. Long term I think our VLE (when we get it....) will supercede this but as an interim solution I think this is the best direction to go in. Technically I think this is all I need: 1. Set up IIS on a server (dont think it matters which one?) 2. Create the page(s) either using Dreamweaver/Frontpage or even just code it in html 3. Save the pages on the server in a folder that IIS is set to point to. 4. Set users homepage to the intranet site (usually http://intranet I believe) via GP Any corrections to my assumptions or advice on how to improve would be gratefully received.

I knew of a school that was checked on and was well short of licences - it ended up being a very costly mistake/oversight/'money saving activity'!

I'm suffering too! (Fronter Webinars)

Try this website - Council Tax Valuation List

Go into your local branch of Jessops (try to avoid busy times) and take your camera with you. They should be able to help and allow you to try out the lenses there in store (I know not quite the same as for example photographing landscapes like the Grand Canyon etc) and at least take some pics and as its digital you can take them home and see on PC before you make a decision. Identify which one you want then look for the best price. Take evidence of the price back to Jessops and they should match it. James (former employee of Jessops) Canon EOS 350D + Sigma 18-50mm F1.8 EX Canon EOS 50E + various canon USM lenses.

Unbelievable, what have Apple done?? Damn good reason to get an android based machine (in my case Dell Streak - it is superb) which fortunately does allow you to make/receive calls when you are holding it.

Ok guys, just got wind here that our SMT are meeting with governors next week to discuss the application to become an academy, as an outstanding school it obviously helps considerably. I was wondering if there is anyone out there (non-teaching in particular) who has worked for a school which went from state to academy run? Was it a good experience? Are you better/worse off in regards to pay, pension, holidays, working hours etc. Any feedback would be interesting.

Hi all. Some advice please. I would like to be able to transfer some of my DVDs to my new smartphone (Dell Streak) so that I can view on my daily commute. I am hoping to do this at no expense/little expense, could anyone suggest the best way of transferring a DVD to PC in a format that can then be transferred to my phone (mpg/avi etc). I have googled this but am confused as to what I actually require. Im not interested in cracking, changing regions or anything 'fancy', I just need to do to a DVD, what I do to a CD when I transfer to iPod. Cheers guys in advance.

How have you come to that conclusion bossman?

Yeh, I think it happens quite a bit - IT guys employed as TAs. Not convinced thats quite right.

That is an issue which I would say from experience, if the Head realised your worth (and was a stand-up guy) he would make the appropriate alterations to at least get you back on track. However there is pressure to save money (im not siding with the school but this should be recognised) and if the Head hasnt really got to do anything and has worked out a saving of £xxx then from a management point - its all good. Again, look for work elsewhere or have a conversation with the Head where you are not likely to come off better.

You're completely right Hightower, it isnt right. I've been in a similar(ish) situation - old head valued me, new head not so much, he piled on the work promising more £s - i was the mug who believed him. I'm now just over a month into a new (higher paid) job where my skills are valued.

There isnt a lot of money in Primary Schools, expecting a salary of £15000 as an IT technician (IMO) is pretty optimistic, considering I know of numerous technicians in secondary schools that barely earn that and they are responsible (tbh) for a whole lot more hardware, software, peripherals etc than I suspect you have to look after. I think you definitely need to seek work in a secondary school or even the private sector. Sorry.

I think you have to be careful, I'm not sure a broken security gate in itself will immediately fail a school. The school needs to show they are acting appropriately, if other measures are put into place temporarily they will still be safeguarding the children. What the broken gate may do is cause the inspectors to investigate further other safeguarding issues/policies to see whether there are problems, its more of a possible indication that the school isnt doing as it should, rather than an immediate failure.