Kitkatninja

Hi All, Just wondering, is anyone/any school in the Northamptonshire area using Sims Next Gen - and up for a visit? Myself (IT Manager) and our Next Gen Champion would like to come on down, pay you a visit to see how you are using it. We'll bring biscuits or cookies, if it helps -Ken

Role: Technician – Computing Location: Tresham College – Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough Campuses Salary/Benefits: Salary is between £24,552 and £26,754 per annum DOE and Qualifications, 27 days annual leave plus Bank holidays, People’s Pension, Retail and Leisure Discounts, excellent professional and personal development opportunities, accessing college courses. Hours/Weeks: 37 hours per week – 52 weeks per year Contract Type: Permanent – Full Time You can see the whole vacancy here. I have no dealings with Bedford College/Tresham, just posting the job for others to see

Hi All, I know that back in 2023 (yes 3 years ago), I asked a similar questions. But I'm looking for a more up to date snapshot of our sector (IT). Would you join a professional association, eg the BCS, IET, etc...? Are you a member? Do you see a need for it? Or don't you see a need for it? Is it too expensive? The reason why I'm asking this again is for my own private studies, so if you could give your views, that would be great Thanks p.s. not counting organisations like the Comptia or ISC2 - because they are linked with technical certifications that you have to purchase in order to keep your certs live

Got the PC game pass for Christmas, so currently playing Outer Worlds 2 https://youtu.be/fIRmQlRhN-E?si=WZTn1yFJeunQdBPG

While I'm waiting for Christmas and getting Outer Worlds 2, I'm currently playing When Wind Meets (on Steam).

Now who has time to do this? Now this is something positive for IT Support staff. Hopefully it's not just the mandatory annual H&S, Data protection, and Safeguarding training...

We use Xelion from Connaught for almost the whole Trust. Teething issues in the first few weeks, but nothing that hasn't been sorted out quickly.

I'm a part time Independent Degree Assessor with the OU, and I can say that there have been several IT Techs/IT Managers from the education sector do their degree apprenticeship from all over the UK.

I guess schools are not part of this offering

OK, you may have been demoted from being an IT Manager, but have you spoken to your employer about an apprenticeship program? The level 3 in Team Leading could be one for you. Otherwise, you could take a look into free short courses such as Level 2 Certificate in Principles of Team Leading Level 2 Certificate in Lean Organisation Management Techniques

Not affiliated with this post or school Check out this Head of IT post in the Edutech sector for The Howard Academy Trust. If you are in the Kent area, looking at an IT Managers/Head of IT post, and passionate about the education sector, this may be the post for you https://mynewterm.com/jobs/16042/EDV-2025-HAT-09047 Salary: £55,000.00 - £68,000.00 Annually (FTE) Closing Date: 12:00pm, 19th Sep 2025

Just watching the Lightspeed Insight demo online at the moment. Does anyone have this? I mean it does look very good. However I would like to know rough costings but I don't want to deal with a sales person at the moment. So... Who has this already and how much did it cost you and roughly how many devices? You can PM if you don't want to share publicly. Thanks.

Watching this with my Missus, it's actually very good.

We kicked everyone out, take snapshot, rebooted the server, applied the patches (we also did the client patch for next gen), rebooted server, then told people it was good to go. Unfortunately in the past, we've had issues, so we do this with every patch/update/upgrade to do with Sims... Oh and yes, it worked for all 5 of our schools

Same here... We have now been told by a data manager at one of our other schools is that: "The census files are not available in SIMS, Parentpay are currently in discussions with the DfE to extending the deadline for running the census while they fix the problem".

I didn't get one, luckily our Data Manager manager did and she managed to log in to get my username and reset my password.

We are getting this same issue. We have logged a case on their support portal here. Hopefully we will get a response shortly???

Came across this blog today: While 5000 emails per day may sound alot, it only takes a large secondary school to send out 2-3 emails to every student regarding exams (or similar similar to hit that number).

Hi All, So it sounds like MS will be introducing an additional subscription for your server OS from 2025, the hotpatch service. While I haven't yet read anything for the Education sector, it does seem like it's going to be $1.50 per CPU core per month. You can read the whole article on Forbes here. But if anyone else has any further information, please add it. -Ken

For those that love to dabble with Technology, join Microsoft on April 8, 2025, to earn a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDSTM title! While we [Microsoft] know learning new things is a treat in itself, we thought it’d be extra fun for everyone participating on April 8 to be included in the attempt to earn a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title—a little “learn and earn” reward. Follow three simple steps to count your participation: 1. Register for the Microsoft AI Skills Fest: https://lnkd.in/dc97Xcsc 2. On April 8, 2025, participate in one of the learning experiences that we’ve prepared for you. The details will be available on the event page shortly. 3. Confirm your participation before 4 PM Pacific Daylight Time on April 8, 2025. Instructions will be provided during the various learning experiences. Check out all the learning experiences we've prepared for this day. Read the blog here

They tend to keep that a secret. But from bits and pieces of what has been reported in the past is that they use psychometric testing. A psychometric test is an assessment used to measure an individual’s cognitive ability, personality, or behaviours. This includes, but not limited to, speed of test takers, running similar questions, the inclusion of certain questions in the exams that can be flagged in other exams (don't ask me how), I think they also take into consideration previous exams that you have taken as well.

While I can not say whether or not Pass4Future is a 100% braindump site or not, I would be weary of using them, simply due to the wording here. However whether or not you use them is going to be between yourself, the testing centre, and Microsoft (or whatever vendor you want to get certified in the future). If Microsoft decides that you have used braindumps (from whatever place you get them from), Microsoft will take actions such as banning candidates, revoking scores and credentials, and asking candidates to retake exams and assessment labs if we suspect fraudulent activity (see here). However apart from that, good luck on your exam.

Just finished Silo (Apple TV). Just started Extraordinary

Would love to get some more responses please

Good day everyone, I was wondering if anyone in the Northamptonshire area can help. I'm currently on my last module (the T803) with the Open University for the MSc Cyber Security, and looking for participants to answer the following "Virtual Interview" questionnaire. I'm currently researching the barriers to cyber security in secondary and primary schools in the Northamptonshire area. The project is entitled: "NCSC Cyber Security Essentials implementation challenges faced by Northamptonshire Schools that hinder effective tech usability, acceptance, and uptake" and would be grateful assistance in gaining information. All information should be anonymised, however if any information is found not to be, I will anonymise it. Link to Questionnaire. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me back. Thank you and Kind Regards -Ken