hallb15

I love our school website. I can 100% recommend the web developers at @VeryPC They took the time to listen to our requirements, make suggestions based on what they knew would work (and what wouldn't) and worked tirelessly to get our site design how we wanted it. Believe me, that was no easy task as there are so many interested parties in school who all want to have a say. VeryPC's web developers, Dan and Ben, came to visit our school to talk to SLT and we went through many iterations before settling on the final design. The CMS is bespoke, easy to use, and its fast. So much better than what we were using before. Since the initial launch we've been through some minor and fairly major updates and BenP has been brilliant. When I look at what we got, and how much we paid, I can't believe how much some of the other companies were quoting for a heavily template based site, with a clunky CMS. @Joanne PM me if you want to know more

I think a backup should be treated as a backup and should NOT be accessible by staff. Version control would be a nightmare, and that's just the start of the issues you are likely to face. For staff offsite file storage have you considered Office365 and a simple sharepoint site? Its free for schools, and each staff member gets 50GB of their own storage for emails and files.

Do they have to be based in the Devon area? I don't know any that are, but most of the people we deal with work on a national basis and will supply/install anywhere in the UK. Let me know if you want some recommendations...

I've mounted ours to the wall - it hasn't suffered any heat problems yet... I've had to stick some blutack over the blue power LED though as it is so bright it lights up the wall! Oh and it has Wifi. You can add it, its an extra in the VeryPC shop. PM me if you want to ask any questions about it.

What if the applicants are already EduGeek users - you've just given the game away! They should ace the technical test though...

Not necessarily. Cheap consumer grade hubs and switches can spread bad packets like wildfire when they are overloaded or over heating. I once found a hub in the caretakers office at a school I used to work at that the CCTV company had kindly installed, inside a locked metal cupboard, so the caretaker could monitor the CCTV on his desktop computer. Whenever he inspected any of the recorded CCTV images, the whole school lost connectivity intermittently. Took ages to track that one down!

This is a real puzzle! I agree it's hard to diagnose when you are only there a few hours at a time. It could be an IP address conflict with a device that has a static IP addr set, but not excluded in the DHCP scope. Or, has someone put a small hub on the network in an office somewhere and not told you? I have just bought some new switches so I could lend you the old ones which I know are working 100%. They're not smart or managed but at least you could rule them out if if doesn't fix the problem. I know how hard it is to manage on a non existent budget! PM me if you want to arrange something...

I've got one of those portable units from aircon direct. It works OK, but isn't amazing and is so noisy. Last week I got proper air con installed as part of the whole school heating and lighting re-fit (LEDs everywhere!) It is so much better, and more efficient than the portable one. And because it is 'intelligent' it maintains the temperature with minimal fan speed, its near silent most of the time. Even when its on, I can't hear it above the noise coming from the server rack. Then again, I've no idea how much it cost as it was part of the whole school project. I might be able to sell you the portable unit. PM me if interested and I'll speak to our school business manager.

Depends on your budget. Get demo units in - its the best way to tell how robust they are, and also the best way to get leverage with 'da management' For new, try Stone or VeryPC. For referbs try ICT Direct.

I decided not to sync with AD for several reasons. @EduTech or @jamesbmarshall might be able to help you out

I'm sorry but that looks dodgy to me. Poor image - no real photo of actual product. No returns. Cash on collection. Permanent Aircon needs to be professionally installed and maintained in a school or business environment.

Ooo - you didn't offer me stickers or badges - is it too late??

Get it from Richer Sounds. Their customer service is second to none, prices are keen and they'll match/beat any genuine competitor. They do free 5 year warranty too. For £350 you won't get better than this: Panasonic VIERA TX42A400B | 42 inch LED TV 1080p HD Freeview HD | Richer Sounds If you really want a Smart TV, the Sony user interface seems to be the easiest to use and most recommended, but you'll pay quite a bit more: Sony BRAVIA KDL42W705B Black | 42 inch LED Smart TV 1080p HD Freeview HD | Richer Sounds If you want more specific advice for your needs, please let us know what you intend to connect to the TV, e.g. console, Blu ray, Sky, VirginMedia...

I've just ordered 4 VeryPC AIO Panels. I'm going to wall mount them in our Early Years classrooms so they can be kept out of reach of sticky little fingers, but moved into a useable position by the teacher when required. We had a demo unit from @VeryPC_Colin_M to test out how well this would work as a solution and all the staff loved it. I was a little sceptical at first having worked years ago with AIOs from the likes of Packard Bell and Dell, which is why I got a unit it to have a look at. But this unit is great. You can get the back off easily enough for cleaning and potentially upgrading later, but if you get the spec right they should last long enough for you not to have to worry about upgrades for quite a while. Based on my experience with this one, if I had the budget, I'd replace the whole ICT Suite with AIOs! Get one in to try it out - stick it in the staff room for a few days and they will let you know what they think.

Count me in please, Luke. email coming your way....

Why do they insist on unplugging stuff and moving it to another computer? With ours it seems to be headphones that get moved because "they don't work" when actually they just have the volume turned down. I use hot glue to stick the plugs to the PC, but they still move them - quite how the teachers don't notice a child ragging at the plugs I don't know. Since we had CCTV in the ICT Suite this has reduced, but it still happens occasionally.

You have four arms? I share my office with the server cabinet. Last week I had air conditioning fitted as part of the whole school heating and lighting refurbishment (LED lights everywhere!) Its lovely in here now - if you don't mind the noise of the servers and switches...

Well done - you probably should have bought two - once you've had a go, you'll want one of your own!

Has to be Chicken Tikka Makhani from Nawaab Khan in Oakwood. Its definitely om nom nom nom Their 'interesting' website says "Probably the best curry in Yorkshire!" I can confirm, it is the best curry I have eaten, anywhere!!

+1 for the Hubsan X4 and you definitely should get the protection ring and probably a spare battery or two - as @IT_Man_Dan said, you just get into it and the battery dies - there's nothing more frustrating Get this one: New Version Upgraded Hubsan X4 V2 H107L 2.4G 4CH RC Quadcopter RTF: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories And this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hubsan-H107L-Quadcopter-Parts-Protection/dp/B00FDOWVN2/ref=pd_sim_computers_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=0W8DG5K4HJB2BKYPY84C And maybe some spare batteries: http://www.amazon.co.uk/240mAh-Battery-Hubsan-H107L-Quadcopter/dp/B00CFEG5A8/ref=pd_sim_k_h_b_cs_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=11Y2FMYQF9AXG446JR6X The version of the X4 with a camera is just a bit gimmicky - it records to an SD card, but this can be a bit flaky and just uses extra battery power that could be used for flying longer! If he really gets into quadcopter flying, then he can look at investing in something a bit better but you can't go wrong with the X4 to get started.

Adobe Flash Player Distribution | Adobe

I was having a very similar issue with Mathletics and Education City. Except it was working for some students and not others, even though they were in the same OU. As a temporary fix, on the affected students you should be able to enable compatibility view to get mathletics working. I rolled out IE11 but that didn't help, but then since upgrading to Flashplayer 13.0.0.214 all is well again. Every site I've tried seems to work with this combination.

I've been asked to do the same thing! I've agreed to it as long as there is a member of teaching or support staff in the room with me. Does your school have an Espresso subscription? Their coding section is really good: Espresso Education - Espresso Coding - a brand new service from Espresso Its free for a while too - I love a bargain I've been looking at the computing curriculum and its more about programming and control, rather than the traditional cut and paste images from google into a MS product! I think I'm going to concentrate on real world stuff - I might get them re-imaging the Fizzbooks as they need doing at least once a month

Hi Kevin, Always good to have more Yorkshire edugeeks! Welcome, welcome, welcome...

Get some larger trunking that can run along the back of the benches, that's big enough to fit the external PSU and all the cables in it: PVC Maxi Trunking | City Electrical Factors Just be careful if you are going to have network cables in the trunking too as these are unshielded and should be kept apart from any power cables. Is there a City Electrical Factors near you? I've found the guys in our local branches to be very helpful and knowledgeable. Welcome to City Electrical Factors | City Electrical Factors They do 30 day accounts for schools too so are finance department friendly