jenny_urey

Dos_Box

Dos_Box

TASC INSIGHT ... worth a look!

Hiya Give the support guys a ring on 01902 824281 and they will sort it out straight away for you Thanks

Right ..... happens occasionally and I am not aiming this at Penfold though reading some of the information in these forums my annoyance is travelling through my fingers onto my keyboard as it looks like companies and/or software writing individuals are not looking at the bigger picture! There are only a few and even less than a few who can do it properly with two factor authentication as recommended by BECTA / Government due to IL4 information to parents and taking into consideration the welfare of pupils (something that seems to have been missed by many new 'emerging software solutions') How about allowing SCHOOLS to decide what THEY want parents to see and to stop any issues that may occur at home..... Do you REALLY want all unresolved behaviour to be seen by parents? Do you REALLY want all comments written by teachers to be seen by parents? Do you REALLY want parents to see all students involved in a single incident? Do you REALLY want split parent families to know where each other live? Do you REALLY want all grading data to be published prior to the date allowed...... I don't want to be someones R&D person so I am not going to list the issues I have already seen with people trying to write software and also software that is already out there which doesn't even integrate with the schools MIS! Aaaaggghhh!! Scary and Frustrating! Schools should be looking at what their MIS and their MIS partners are providing and at least have the sound knowledge that they will be supported fully by technical teams. Budget is always an issue in schools ... Sharepoint too costly? there ARE other options out there which you do not have to purchase Sharepoint to use - check out partners for SIMS, SERCO...whichever MIS you use and yes, you can interate data into Moodle if you speak to the right people! This is childrens personal data for goodness sake and as a parent, I will be damned if her school allowed any company to work with school data without being associated to an MIS or Local Authority!

Good also however they are the answer to peoples prayers sometimes

Sorry for late reply...havent been on here for ages! The easiest way to disuss this is over the phone really as I dont want to be seen as 'selling' PARS! I will get kicked off by the lovely Edugeek guys if I do (ps...I still wear your Edugeek T-shirt ) Firstly, did you mention to our support or even myself what data you wanted to see? There is one click button in behaviour preferences allowing data in behaviour to be written back into SIMS... merits & demerits. PARS cannot write neutral behaviour logging, referalls inclduing calls to parents, continual incident support logs showing all support based on a students behaviour, detention registers seen in timetables.... as there is no-where in SIMS to write back into. With grading, you can choose was aspects you want to see in PARS. Many schools I have worked with..infact most.. dont want to see ALL the aspects from SIMS in PARS basically as teachers dont need to see them all.. example, you may only want KS levels to be added. PARS Connect (PARS remote access) then allows teachers to enter data from home including ASM data which writes back straight away. text messaging, extra curriculum classes, homework diary, telephone message reporting logged in PARS cannot be seen in SIMS either -- once again as there is no-one to place it. You certainly dont need to junk information in SIMS... PARS does give many features extra for teachers plus alerts to SLT and pastoral if required - depends how you analyse and what you want to see. Many users of PARS do not know the full potential of PARS and how powerful it is and how data can easily be obtained without having to endlessly pull off reports... even if you did have to run reports, you can automate them and schedule tem for futures (example % attendance reports sent to HOY every Monday morning) Data can all be generated in reports including bespoke designed options including colour coding, calculation, logos, pictures, (particulaly great for parents...green on target - red under target etc...) Reports can also be produced for parents showing attendance, behaviour and grading information and it is html format which means it can be sen in VLEs and *Parental Access (*subject tio who you are using!...obviously works in our INSIGHT) So basically...if information is required to be written back into PARS, the answer is a phone call away. Hope this answers your question Jenny

Hi Michael Yes I am on here ... Tony, I promise to be good so I dont get banned The answer is yes to al you have written and it is true realtime read/write so no updating every few hours. Not sure what school you are from; I know that a few schools who have been on here as recent have purchased so all I can say is give us a ring and we can arrange to come onsite and demo the product. Its fair to say that schools tend to be surprised when I do a demo as they dont realise how much is available and what a powerful system both for ease of inputting data for staff and reporting for pastoral/SLT so ..... if you have a demo, you then have options... if you dont purchase thats fine, If you do then I will look forward to working with you:) PM me if you want further details as I wont be able to give my details on this forum. By the way I love Edugeek and I wear my T-shirt with pride... you all look very nice today and I wish you all well - please dont ban me

Hi y'all PARS will work with PDA, laptops and some mobile technology (using PARS connect internet access).... however.... the truth is, I know of schools who have spent alot of money on implementing wireless technology then purchasing PDAs for PE to use however its not always the answer. Some schools PE classes are not as timetabled; ie, PE teachers may decide whilst out of the field which students are with which teacher... this now means that students are not in their timetabled groups. Other issue is if wireless is out of range and once registers have been taken the teacher then has to remember to 'dock' the removable device so data is cached accross. Downtime on PDAs can be an issue with PDAs Ergonomics icluding local ambulance/poice station, cast iron radiators in old schools, thick walls, limited wireless points also become an issue PE staff could damage PDAs if using out in different weather or drop on the floor on a muddy field! Some of the schools I have worked in have had to go back to paper registers and students run back in to school to give to attendance....the software can handle it however the processes within school cant. Other schools make sure that registers are taken inside the school on a PC (sometimes in a PE office) then students go outside as soon as they have a mark. Last option I can think of is using Biometrics (fingerprint) for PE classes (can also be used for assembly). I can only represent PARS for biometrics as I know ours is compatible with biometrics (we work with 4x biometric companies) as I am unsure of other systems that work with Biometrics.

We can talk to Moodle

Hiya Could do with finding out what school you are in as I ony know of 3x Cumbria Schools with PARS: 1 went to CMIS to which we dont work with, 1 left us and came back and the other left us as they did not have the hardware infrastructure in place and teachers were unabe to log attendance & behaviour so until the hardware had been put in all rooms there was no point continuing until this was sorted; I dont know the school you are in. In behaviour configurations there is a button allowing data to be written back into SiMS behaviour module. ASM links is a quick click of a few buttons (used to have to import via csv, not anymore) so data can be seen in PARS thus allowing teachers to enter grades from home writing back to ASM (if required) As mentioned I do not know which school you represent and certainly not aware of any issues with regards to read/writing PARS/SIMS data. If either myself or my support team knew of any issue, we could have directed you into the right place or tick box within PARS allowing you to use as required. Issues like this occur when permissions have not been setup as you require. It will basically be configurations. If we know of requirements, we will either direct you to the correct place on PARS or add the functionality for you. I cannot comment on benefits of using PARS on this forum for various reasons and if you are not aware of the full functionailty then we have a team of people who can advise....including moi. With regards to specific reports, as we write templates for schools with bespoke requirements in XML format, this means that you can have any information .. incuding attendance, behaviour and grading with calculations showing parents are on target if required... We have not yet had a deisgn request which we have been unable to offer. We do not use Word, excel formats; as these are too basic with limited layers of data. Hope that covers the information you were looking for and if you want to speak to me directly or me to pop to the school then please let me know. Thanks

PARS suport is 'very very god indeed' and proud to say it!

Hiya Thought a little input from the horses mouth wouldnt hurt on this occasion after reading posts. Behaviour on all aspects from logging incidents to referrals, detention registers, On Report Target levels (dont want to give too much away due to competitive eyes) .. is completely configurable by a school and I have not yet found a school who cannot use our behaviour feature. Data entered into PARS can be seen in SIMS if required. If PARS is configured as required, there is no need for teachers to have to jump between systems and all is available. Grading is extremely easy to configure whether it be grades only used in PARS or Assessment Manager links allowing grading data to be read/write back into SIMS if required. With the Connect functionailty offering teachers access to enter data from home in their own time writing back to ASM. I am not going to give comparisons of software on a Forum as it will only enable other potential competitiors to see what is available from PARS. My advice is to contact the office; we have seminars running in July for all PARS users to update them on what we are doing due to many new features added over the past year. We have a team here who will be happy to visit onsite to update the school on the software if required and support are available here at anytime to call. If a school has moved from PARS, its usually due to not realising what is available or pressures from outside sources who once again probably unaware of how PARS has helped schools. (Very frustrating!) We do also have schools who have left us and come back again....one incidently located in Cumbria. Thanks Jenny

So are you both Chris and John then? I'm easy to confuse unless you are of course a twin!?! Jen

Hi Chris Need to be careful with what I write here as I dont want to be seen as advertising. 1. We only 'interface' with SIMS for various reasons. 2. Parents view the data by logging on to the internet hosted by school - not sure how else to answer that via Edugeek or exactly what you mean; ie a technical answer or user friendly answer. 3. No schools dont need PARS as its SIMS data although PARS schools will be able to see more information as it can read that too ...though once again I cant tell you exactly what on this forum. Not sure if you were at BETT? John demonstrated your software to me and I know some of the guys came over to see our software too. I'm guessing not due to the questions. Although competitors, we do catch up with your guys at BETT and always have a drink with them when we can - usually on 'grab a bottle night!' good to know what each other do in the market and good to have some competition out there.. (although a girl on your stand was rather rude about our product to one of my customers - who told me the following week in a SLT meeting. Doh!) Due to issues with sales driven information on here, may I suggest that you contact me on [email protected] and you can ask as many questions as you like and I can answer them fully for you Thanks! Jen

I was blocked for a few days for mentioning sales stuff Have to be careful what I put on here! I'm back and resisting the temptation of mentioning what we do Jen

Can I at this stage mention INSIGHT if thats ok Chris .. and no - I dont get paid commission Tony PARS from TASC software, pupil management working seamlessly with SIMS.net

You can extract SIMS timetables in realtime (yes TRUE realtime) and have them as a hyperlink from your moodle VLE - ie... person clicks on link on page for 'timetable'.... you need to speak to companies who can do it... such as SIMS premier partners.. aslike a company I work for!

USB Pens.. much more cost effective, less downtime for the techies concerned about the 'technical aspects', safer for the students keeping parents happy and less cost keeping bursar and head happy! Oh... and they can no doubt use them in their fully decked out multi USB, game friendly, 4Gb Ram, 500Gb laptops they may already have!

Ive seen this come up in schools before - have you done a survey with year 10 to find out how many students have access to the internet at home? This means that majority have a PC (unless using handheld technology) and have the opportunity to access school data via VLE if setup. This may be worth doing prior to letting them know of your thoughts for free laptops... you may also find that students may not want them. People have mentioned on the forum about students breaking them, porn and viruses... though safety is also very important as a student carrying a laptop walking passed an opportune adult or older kids is an easy target... a damaged laptop is easier to mend than a traumatised or injured student.............. I certainly would not allow my daughter (yr 10) to take a laptop back and forth on her school bus. Ive also heard stories of school who have laptops after getting the budget - then not able to give them away..

Careful... make sure you say who you are talking about! Gosh! Insight BETA version and not released till we get all our schools testing feedback. Looks like release due Mid Feb

Google search TASC INSIGHT and contact office for a free trial.... TRUE realtime read SIMS. As soon as register taken and saved in SIMS, data available for parents to see - as with behaviour, reporting, notices.... and following other comments on forum, you dont need Sharepoint just an IS - and an IP address. Hosted from school so no worries about external company and Data Protection Act 1996! Nice GUI too

There are other options available without the budget blowing Sharepoint Route enabling staff & parents to access school data. All hosted from your school and protecting students data from outside companies. All you need is an IS / IP address. I am biaised due to who I work for though neither are we the only ones offering solutions....

....login secure - includes pin code