GREED

What alternatives have you looked at for comparison? MILK is another platform offering homework management and delivery. https://www.milkapp.io/ I know a number of the MIS dabble in this space too.

Speaking of bogged down and out-dated, I'm still amazed that in 2021 most companies are still peddling physical tills and big expensive hardware - particularly as most schools are completely cashless these days too. Have you considered Pebble: https://www.mypebble.co.uk/till Make an iPad a till - probably you have some lying around or if not a fraction of the cost of a till, and much easier to manage (download an app, done!)

The Wellbeing at Work Survey Results and Analysis Report are now live! Back in 2020, the team at Wellbeing at Work ran a study to understand the impact of lockdown, triggered by the global pandemic, on people in the workplace and how it has affected key areas of their #mentalhealth and #wellbeing. Today, the results have been published (after some delay) and make for some interesting reading. A good portion of the responders were from the education sector. You can check out the dashboards yourself: https://www.omegapegasus.com/wellbeingatwork/wellbeing-at-work-2020-survey and read the full analysis and key take-aways too! Thanks to Will Townsend, Evelina Dzimanaviciute, Elite Mind Business Academy & Elite Mind Ltd for all the help and support.

My short review of The Pocket Mentor App from Make Your Mind Up, brand new young persons wellbeing and mindfulness platform from a startup founder and inspirational young lady. I have watched this platform grow for a couple of years now into what it is now, having launched on desktop last month and coming to iOS and Android next week. I also used one of the earliest Boost videos to help reduce stress and promote calm (despite focused on children and young adults!)- they are BRILLIANT! If you have children, look after children, teach children, are a young adult yourself - or you would otherwise benefit from taking some time to be in your own moment and reflect, this platform really is worth reviewing. The Pocket Mentor App - Medium.com

Groupcall Messenger I still think is the best Comms facility on the market (but I am a little biased because I helped build it for 6 years!) For homework, check out MILK as a decent alternative, loads happening over there. For parents evening, check our PEBS (Parents Evening Booking System) as an alternative, they are also very good (though school cloud are great still; have just been purchased by TES). Are you also looking at payment systems? Event management? Anything else all connected? Full disclosure (for the mods) I not longer work for any EdTech company, mentioned here or not, though having worked in the sector for 15 years like to still offer my insights!

We'll see now that ParenrPay are leading the way!

Speaking to some in the know, this will remain as separate products for a good time, but as a single organisation it does significantly boost their numbers against RM, the previously second places MIS in the UK and first places cloud MIS. All to play for now!

Schools has a legal right to hold that information in the course of providing a legal provision (education). Or words to that effect. This overrides any sort of consent by the parent and/or right to deletion. Fairly simple really.

Was that me too? God 2018 was a long time ago!

As the former Product Manager at Groupcall this is sad to read...

The survey has now closed, and I spend most of yesterday analysing the results and sticking them into PowerBI. Melts your brain a bit does PowerBI when working long hours on it (even though I love the platform!), so i have not even appreciated the outcomes yet. This will be published in the next few days along with expert analysis and outcomes from my friend and resident wellbeing consultant (who also advised on the survey questions). Will let you all know when and where. Thanks again for the responses.

No, basic email address [email protected] As I say it is fine for every other address I am sending to.

No it is a totally separate contact. New too. Emails have been fine elsewhere to everyone else, which has led me to believe this is a problem their end. I've subsequently tried sending via my personal gmail, that seems to have been fine (at least not had any bounce). Others can send to this address fine (contacts I know).

My domain is omegapegasus.com Yes I read that comment too but I don't understand what that means or what to do about it. From what I can see and work out DNS settings are all correct I have not changed anything.

Personal request for help. I have an email address through my own domain, via 1and1 (Ionos). Don't think I have messed too much with the DNS records, but suddenly I am getting the following error when sending to a specific, new, email recipient: 550 invalid DNS MX or A/AAAA resource record I don't know anywhere near enough about DNS records to be able to understand if this is an issue my end, or how to resolve. Any ideas?

Thank you so much guys for all the responses, had a huge influx of responses in just a couple of days. Please keep it up, if you are able to share with colleagues friends or family as well that would be great - ideally as many responses from as many walks of life would be brilliant. Much appreciated.

The 'completely free' bit is the red flag here. You will not get any decent solution that is 'totally free, forever' that is supported, both while whoever is managing it is employed by the organisation and after they leave, that is scaleable and reliable. Those things need money. MS/Google are an exception, but ultimately need investment in staff setting up, managing and maintaining. VLEs die on their bottoms when no one is looking after it, the content, championing it's use throughout the school. There will be money needed to pay for this time, it isn't the sort of thing a DHT can just play with and set up ready for all remote learners over a weekend.

That's very interesting. Often it takes something this to make us stop and rethink our perceptions of what 'we all know'; as we think about it yes lockdown will be helpful to those who struggle at school, perhaps are bullied and so this has been a great break. Others more obviously need the structure (my own daughter included!), and others too prefer school over homelife for whatever reason. A real mix, but I think those that have thrived at home are the forgotten ones in all of this, which is very sad. It will be interesting to see too the differences in what lockdown 'issues' have been brought on between young people and adults, the former less likely to be worried about money, jobs, etc, but likely more anxious about seeing friends and family with less worldly knowledge that this will eventually get better (well - hopefully!). Happy to share the results, perhaps there is something additional we can do collaboratively.

Tell me more... The Wellbeing at Work project on the whole helps people via story-telling, we have guest writers posting their own experiences to share with others, anonymously if you/they want. If you want to share or something in between then let me know. [emoji3526]

A plea to everyone using this site: This year I have been leading a new initiative to help better understand and support mental wellbeing in the workplace, through story-telling and experience sharing. My own personal struggles with depression both at work and outside are well documented. This month, I have been working with a good friend of mine, who is also a well known and respected wellbeing coach and consultant, on a national wellbeing survey to understand how everyone is feeling right now, and how supported people feel by their employers. Together we'll analyse and freely publish the results and outcomes, supported by her insight and advice. I need your help to get as many more responses as possible before the end of the month - the more responses the more useful the aggregated data. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeZq0mr5p0m_zu8yZAFt6TPwcu1xBJ4wg1E9L_Gy6Q5fJMcVg/viewform I stress - this is TOTALLY anonymous - it does not ask for your name, contact details, location (other than county for analysis purposes), and does not ask for your employer name or connect you in any way. Everything will be aggregated too. Please take part, it takes 3 minutes to complete. If you would like to be informed of the results too, please comment below (the results will be published freely and openly on the project website too). Thank you. Graham

https://junipereducation.org/juniper-education-boosts-its-school-management-software-offering-with-acquisition-of-pupil-asset/

Hi @Nadiyah I work for Tucasi - Product Owner (full disclosure - will keep within the rules). Yes it can be purchased stand alone.

IRIS group

Have a look at BehaviourWatch https://eduspot.co.uk/product/behaviourwatch/ It is extremely flexible and you can basically make it store whatever you want, and to some extent set up workflows you want. Full Disclosure: I used to work there and was Product Manager of the product for a time. So I know what it can do.

Indeed - this is secondary only (which of course the cynic in me says there is more money per site). Interestingly, doesn't show where they moved from - one would assume a fair amount it FROM SIMS to x, but it could all be attrition from one cloud provider to another...