mthomas08

Problem is, they really should be doing a better job with IT in general. This is all about a wider scale problem that exists where no one really cares about IT - "just work". And when it fails, you have that magical reactive state pop up. I don't mind mistakes or issues, they were expected to get a system up and running from scratch. You need the equipment for the workers - coders, engineers and technicians and people supporting them and being run by someone qualified and experienced. Plan of attack on what they all need before the app is even started. Not to mention employing those staff which can take 2 weeks IF they get decent salaries on offer right away - I bet they held the salaries back which meant another 2 weeks if they didn't employ everyone they needed. I wonder what kind of a contract they got offered? 6 months? I wouldn't waste my time even if it offered a lot more salary. That's 4 weeks before you've noted down exactly what this app needs to do.... I've heard it a few times 10 years ago "we need an app!"... sure.. what do you want to do.. "I don't know"..... So, you need backend servers that will hold the data securely (SQL and not a god damn XLS sheet).. it needs to be able to read data from different areas of our country (with some of them using OLD! systems...).. it needs to be live data or updated daily? automatic updating? Some one needs to be importing/linking/connecting that data.. not to mention a good network/broadband for that data.. where does it store it? do they consider using things like O365/Google accounts to link up and email addresses? I bet you had IT people screaming at what they needed... and some IT manager (you know the type.... a bit like that head of ICT that did 6 months of IT support = they are fully qualified to do your job)... just ignoring those screams...

Really? I would never guess I remember people setup an access database then screamed when it would crash due to the limitations of it (think it was like 50 concurrent connections back in the day?). Remember Windows XP and the NHS? exact same thing. It takes time, money and staff to upgrade these systems and help educate the users and tell them how to do things better. Things like this will keep happening because... well... why would they listen to us... they just stick us on the list of 'outsourcing'.

Wouldn't work well for us. Some staff need access to on site software/facilities. You have a domino effect... Kids on site = teachers = support staff With people on site eating = restaurant Cleaners and caretakers need to be on site Who here can get away with working all day at home? I possibly could but the school will need on site support. And due to all our kids being here = all teachers and support staff.. with how busy it's been to create bubbled areas this has doubled our day to day workload. That means we can't get away with just one person on site. Finance still need access to the paper work. Our office is fully open with printing, reception, dealing with day to day on site/student issues. SEN are needed on site. I understand what people are saying and yes some of our jobs can be done off site.. but some can't.

We have both but I think Microsoft Teams is the biggest difference, the ability to link with onedrive, do virtual meetings, chat and share things much easier. More than one can edit a document (seeing it live and who is doing it), quick and easy to open things using the desktop apps.

A second lockdown was always going to come. Back earlier this year we struggled to take it serious until we all started to lose staff from our schools/businesses. We ignored warnings from the WHO and even our leaders didn't care. Now we are reactive - something I hate in my own job. If we all did a far better job in avoiding people, washing our hands and generally keeping ourselves happy.. we probably wouldn't be in this mess. Far too many still call it a hoax or downplay it or don't even care about masks.... I don't agree with screaming in panic but I do think we all should have done a better job in our own health and taking precautions. In the last 6 months I've barely been ill, hay fever has barely scratched me and even when the weather changes and I usually get hit by colds or flus.. I've avoided nearly all of it. The last time I was ill was C19 months ago (really is bad!!). The mask is helping me with hay fever, I am washing my hands at every stage and always got access to hand gel. No matter what I touch - I use it! Lockdown 2.0 is coming and I am dreading it. Being stuck in doors all day every day is not something I'm built for but I completely understand why.

We use EduLink to send messages and in the process of looking at Teams for one on one calls. Staff do use the phone but I think some want to face to face conversations.

Is that the freebie version or paid for? (sorry I know off topic and not answering your question).

our kids still have them in the event of another lockdown. When they leave, we will get them back and issue them to others.

Not only SIMs but because most of our systems rely heavily on Windows software. We went through a phase of Android tablets and to replace any of our software required money. The free Apps at the time were not good enough. We listed everything we used from the kids to teachers, did a lot of research and struggled to find alternatives that not only replaced what we had but gave us compatibility. It's not always about creating new files, it's opening the previous ones. We have a ton of departmental specific software from Design Technology, Electronics, Art and Film Studies. To find App equivalent is going to cost a fortune.... money we simply don't have. We're not "behind" we are more "business model" instead of BYOD/mobile devices. Don't get me wrong, it can work but I said this ages ago - it requires a lot of work and doing a lot differently. We went down the route of Windows netbooks for years and even then a ton of software couldn't be used because they were network reliant (they came with the wonderful home editions...)... or required more punch power. Considering what my annual budget is.. I don't know how any school can afford 1:1 iPads let alone anything.. for our 250 kids and even the cheapest possible cost of what? £200 each? that's still £50,000 a year... What about cases? Repairs? Do you insure them? Extended warranty? Teachers will need to work on the same level so do they get iMacs?

"We have no money to employ teachers, to improve classrooms or expand our schools. We're in the process of making redundancies" Also.. "Lets provide every child with a very expensive iPad". Sorry but I dealt with a scheme for years and this is wrong on too many levels. If a school wants to make sure all children have access to a device at home, similar to the DFE laptop scheme.. this makes sense. We believe around 5-10% of our kids don't have something at home and the laptops sorted most if not all of them. This is where the money should be going if you want to help the less fortunate. And some of our kids have better devices compared to their broadband connection. A few of them had actually upgraded during the shutdown... again this is where we should be helping them. Majority of what we need is office based or online. We have online storage areas which the kids can access without logging on, they all have access to email, we convert PPTs to video and chuck them on YouTube and we've got a few more things in the pipeline. Surely that money could have been better spent........

I don't know... as much as I want to go to a pub and drink my body weight in beer because my head is all over place (barely drink for about 5 years)... I just can't think of many places I'd rather avoid.... and guess where the mrs wants us to go on Saturday to meet her dad.. and guess where he generally spends every morning/afternoon and evening if he isn't working...... A PUB... Watched the news the other day about pubs and how the customer said as long as they try their best to be safe.. it should be safe.. while chucking down a whisky and a beer.... I couldn't help but notice - no screens while he was asking for a drink, no hand sanitiser and the barman gave the drinks while getting very close to his face... literally seconds after the customer said the words "effort made"....

EduLink here too Although it is a username and password... I think we used Parents Evening online before and it still required a parent to type in certain info that was unique to them (maybe the child DOB). It can be sent out in an email and no letters required - has an app and seems to work on any device.

Exceptions: They have an official card from our office (parent notes don't count) Colour coded: Nope but school clothes are already coded to year groups Stolen/lost: We have plenty of spares in stock so I assume they would be provided one on a temp basis and parent contacted to let them know. So far, I will say this - it seems to be working and not all our kids are angels. The only issue we've had so far is down to an increased car reliance and its causing traffic issues... due to some choosing not to use buses.

Wow we are lucky. We have a 50+ page plan: Students are in bubbled areas based on year group Teachers are the ones moving classrooms Wipes/sprays anti bacteria gel in every room Desks/areas must be cleaned every lesson Face masks must be used in corridors Cleaner on site all day wiping down door handles/bars etc Separate coloured bins for tissues Restaurant eat in only available for a single year per day (rest are takeaway) Kids must bring in their own pens etc and not provided Hand gel to be used every time Floors/stairs labelled for one way systems Even our keyboards/mice are being cleaned every lesson. These are just some of the bits.... out of that 50+ page document that got setup at the end of July. I can't help but praise the SLT that got this sorted... they deserve it.

Majority of the summer jobs done? Yes. Prepared as we can be? Yes. All classrooms and all IT kit checked, several upgraded as best as possible? Yes. Ready for 200 staff, 1500 kids and 3500 parents demands? NOPE. I can already see our printer system collapsing. Staff have already built up a large queue and one job was actually 54,000 pages (yes - 27,000 pieces of paper and not being sarcastic). I've already pre-warned our leadership. It's not just the 6 week break they've had, it's the 5 months majority have been off site. Our equipment has generally been sitting there not doing much (especially our printers) and are about to be running non stop. I don't remember being this.... nervous? anxious? Not really helped when the Mrs will say "what have you got to be stressed about"..... then again when she walks out of her job at the end of the day some one else picks it up.

Agreed. Not to mention how they don't even allow new accounts to get sent through email. I've been using the system for about 7 years and I don't think there has been any new functions... perhaps the ability to add additional payers (I think years ago it was limited to 1 per child). Oh and they added that annoying end of year procedure.. which we generally don't use because the restaurant manages that themselves. For looking elsewhere though.. we would need a system that works with our cashless catering > biometric > printer system. The last time we checked, we can go elsewhere for catering but won't include biometric let alone linking to our printer system. I will look again when things finally settle down though.

Just goes to show if people in general unite and protest and scream at the top of their voices... there is an off chance that a u-turn can occur and people shouldn't just "lump it". This is yet another example that we should never just get on with it.

Very brave doing it now but glad its been smooth so far. Our MIS is something I need to look at one day but the big jobs I wanted done this year has been put on hold. Finance/biometric/VLE servers to be replaced/migrated. I'm glad this thread is here, it really helps those of us that are considering it. One question: Whats the cost difference between SIMs hosted on site Vs Bromcom online? just a rough percentage is fine if you don't know the exact numbers.

Thanks for this guys, days like this that I really appreciate edugeek. Our plan is set in motion for September which means staff will be moving around and the kids staying put. We've upgraded all our staff machines to 250GB SSDs for space and all the profiles going along with it. Teams is something we are heavily looking at - the good part is at the moment we just want to use Virtual Meetings.

We're in this exact same boat. At some point, maybe next financial year we will replace these with PCs. Its just too costly to replace Music and the Mac server - all are old and outdated. Ever since we replaced our other Art/Media Macs with PCs, we get very little complaints and the staff are just happy with something fast/reliable. Back in the day we had a ton of issues but that had nothing to do with Microsoft Vs Apple but more like funding being spent in the wrong areas of our system - I could go on but that's all in other Apple/M$ threads.

We found they are incredibly reliable but thats not been the major issue. Minus using hack/questionable means, our main problem has been the ability to update them to the latest software due to their age. The machines need updating but are not compatible plus the server needs to be done first which again can't be updated any further. Can't remember the specifics around it...... Quite similar how my very old iPhone can't be updated any further.

We had a device scheme years ago if you want any advice? It was for our year 7, 8 and 9. The parents paid for the devices We supported them Windows Netbooks then tried Android Tablets (big mistake) It wasn't pretty if I'm honest and the problems were well beyond the positives. In the end it got scrapped and we never looked back. More than welcome to PM me, I've got some old reports for the schemes if they help. We had it for about 5 years and well.. wasn't pretty.

Oh I agree but when the PM is telling everyone that he's happy to just go to hospitals and shake hands with everyone... you are basically showing the whole nation that C19 is a joke and don't take it serious. No one in charge really took this serious. It would be like me telling my team that safeguarding is serious but I can't be bothered to setup a filtering system, nor attend any mandatory training and just act all relaxed...... After-all safeguarding is about protecting us and others.

Either relax the rules or just tell us to stay as we are and be very specific about what we can do. I get what they want to do.. relax slightly and see how things go but they have made this far more complicated.

+1 for Edulink and there is an App for it. Parents also have access to view their child info. Our only issue is that we don't use SIMs calendar.. which means no EduLink calendar. Although there are other methods. Things like Salamander is another annual cost though which is mainly a sync system. We found a cheaper one (don't have the link for it on me).