RichH

Recommended spec or not. You're paying for their service, and their service should include support. How do they win over clients with that approach?

And when your in house server or network goes down? As Ed Whittaker said in the Progresso thread, there's a risk to any data storage in some form or other, so it's a redundant argument. In house or cloud, both still use computers and networks, and there is an argument that data centres are far more resilient than anything a school can afford.

Surely new entrants to the market can be nothing but supported in an industry that by the looks of it has become rather stagnated by the big players? Bring on the creative destruction!

perhaps a bit over your budget but this is a cracking price for a Bravia: http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/13571927/Sony-Bravia-40-inch-KDL-40EX403-Full-HD-1080p-Freeview-HD-Internet-TV-LCD-TV/Product.html?searchstring=JANSALEELECTRONICS&searchtype=ELEC&searchsource=2&searchfilters=s%7bJANSALEELECTRONICS%7d%2&P36=SPKW8S&affid=hotukdeals&awc=buyat&_$ja=tsid:11516|prd:hotukdeals I played only 15 quid less than that for an LG 32" about 18 months ago and it thought that was cheap :| ah well its the way technology goes i suppose

I have the Desire and it is a fantastic phone, probably best phone (as well as the HD) to rival the iphone for much less of the contract costs. I pay £25 a month on orange with push email, 500mins, unlim texts and 500mb internet, so for 30 quid you could get unlimited, and i should be able to get £125 cashback through redemption on certain months. The main problem is battery life, with the strength of the processor on the standard battery provided its understandable really, and likely you'll need to charge it once a day, though you can buy a battery with a much higher capacity for maybe £15-20 which will fit which i plan to do in the future. After going android, i plan to stick with their smartphones, the interface is excellent.

Im not trying to persuade anyone into doing anything, i just hope that people viewing this threat keep an open mind. Any bias aside, all i implied is that although yes the impact of assessment data and the use of an MIS is measurable, (and favourable i might add), you cannot attribute this to SIMS. If all MIS software are more or less able to replicate similar functions as one another, then surely any other properly maintained MIS can do the same. Thankyou for the kind words, im looking forward to delving into the challenges of the industry, and feel free to add me on twitter if you wish, unfortunately its not high on my list of priorities so i rarely use it!

I've read an Ofsted report regarding your school, quoting 'A rigorous system to track students' progress over time has enabled senior leaders to target strategies and tackle a legacy of underachievement. Consequently, gaps in students' learning are closing and students make satisfactory progress relative to their starting points'. Suffice to say this improvement and the system its referring to has been your use of your MIS, however can you say that SIMS is solely able to provide this noticeable change? Surely the effective use of any MIS on the market is going to achieve similar results in schools.