steve

If you can post some measurements, of the room that is , I'll do a few Visio diagrams and see if there's anything that might reduce the overcrowding. Are you sticking with 18PCs in the room? Can you measure how much room 2 year 6s take up when using the computers.

We used to check all main suites at least once a week. Unfortunately we just don't have the man power anymore. I've attached the sheet we used. check sheet.zip

I'd start by defining what you understand by a network. In this situation, I'm assuming the school is using it in the wider context - computers, software, network infrastructure (switches / routers), servers, internet connection, printers, etc. You might also want to include the users as part of the network and describe training as a vital part - a well trained user can deal with problems and minimise the effects on teaching and learning. Describe inefficiencies of the physical components of the network in relation to teaching and learning (curriculum). What has already been mentioned is ideal, plus perhaps some points on how you would see the bigger picture - forward planning the replacement and upgrade of the network (in consultation with stakeholders) while minimising downtime. I'd also mention critical usage - attendance, exams and census. A few guidelines on the actual presentation: Stick to the time limit, take questions at the end, this will stop you over running. Be prepared - have printouts just in case. No bells and whistles - they are annoying and can go wrong. For a 10 min presentation try to stick to 10 content slides. Slides should be bullet points / diagrams only - no essays. Have notes and don't be afraid to use them. Good luck

Hmm, worrying isn't it. Do they also refer to the PC as the hard drive? I know a few who refer to the PC being the hard drive, but we all know the hard drive is just the non-volatile storage device inside the case

Some of the benefits include: Closer relationship with capita, you get to know them - good for calling in favours If you deal with capita support directly, you are identified as a partnership school when calling up. Publicity for your school through their publications. Invites to a few events, including the annual partnership conference. Its hard to quantify all the benefits, but we are a partnership school and are happy to be so. In general the more you put into being a partner, the more you'll get out. For example, I'm sure if we asked to beta test an upcoming product, we would be considered favourable as capita know we take using SIMS seriously and it would be a mutually beneficial experience.

Can you ping the server when it locks up? ping \\servername ping IP It maybe the name isn't resolving (DNS issue) Have you got anything that does LDAP lookups against the server? I had a problem with smoothwall pounding our server for user authentication, caused similar issues.

This isn't exactly what you are after, but it may help someone: Fast-SMS - email to sms gateway It will allow you to send SMS messages to any phone from an email. It does however need a separate contract, which you don't want.

Download Process Explorer - free MS utility. It will give you a better idea of what's running on your machine.

You could try something like servers alive This will monitor a site on the internet for you - either ping / page contents / ssl cert valid. If an error occurs you can get it call a batch file - this could open the telnet command for you.

Yep, I've done it. Think you have to re-apply the service latest pack though.

First I would check if they actually want activotes or the new activ-expression. The active-expression are much much better. Second, how many handsets per set? They come in 2 sizes Expression in 25 or 32 Activote in 16 or 32 RM tend to be good value on promethean. also wedgewood av

We have a pool of laptops we can use if needed - varied selection of old laptops that are no longer in use. I've also just bought an eee pc (with school funds), which I have with me now, road testing while on holiday in the USA.

We use NirCmd to reset the volume at login. NirCmd - Freeware command-line tool

We charge 2p for mono, 10p for colour. Kids are given 50p per week, this can roll over - up to £4. Staff aren't restricted - just monitored

It appears to me that most of the public systems are based on cisco kit. Using their lightweight APs and a central controller - the 4400 series controller. These can provide the client isolation you are looking for. We had our wireless upgraded to this in the summer and it now allows us offer this facility.

I'm currently working on this for our school. We've just updated our cisco wireless system. We can now have multiple SSIDs on any of our APs. Each SSID can have a different authentication method and will assign you to a pre defined VLAN. We have an SSID with no security, that puts the users onto a separate VLAN where our smoothwall box sits. When users attempt to access the internet it can be set to ask for a username / password or just an email address. It was an expensive upgrade but it now gives us a great deal of flexibility. We intend to provide SSIDs for our conference centre, fitness centre and for pupils / trainee teachers.

This must be LA specific as our LA has gone with netmedia

Hmmm, I wonder if we are one of those six Phil. Strange that every time we asked "are you going to kill off parents gateway" we were assured not...... No clues on the roadmap either.

Try run '"c:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" "http://www.microsoft.com"'

Tollbar Business Enterprise and Humanities College, who wanted to opt out of the ICT part of BSF have only gone and done it!! School forces climbdown over money to keep computer system - Yorkshire Post Yep, they get their BSF money and keep their existing ICT system. A precedent has now been set ....

Yep you're right, I put Ramesys on the wiki but got it wrong on here. Its been one of those weeks / months / terms / years

Tower Hamlets - RM 24.5mil

2 volunteers, 6 Selected. Head of Year 7 / Parent Communication Head Of English Vice Principal Assistant Principal (Exams / Data) ICT Curric Team Leader Technical Team Leader (Repro, Sci, Technology) Admin Team Leader and me. We develop and monitor a strategic plan for the whole schools approach to ICT - technical, taught, usage, etc.

A post I saw today: News - Education Executive - Bursars, school managers and senior administrators

We complete a self evaluation each year, I conduct a staff survey each year to help inform this process. On top of that our ICT steering group meets once per half term, where we discuss issues, projects, etc.