mthomas08

Nice discussion and have to agree with a lot of people here and I for one am usually Pro MS Vanilla Network. As NM I have received very little training although I do have access to the course materials and finding the time is extremely hard. Linux though probably is the best solution for No Budget schools and as was shown in another article with PC Donations its very possible to setup a PC Suite with Linux based client/server side builds with no money. I am some times a little anti linux but I simply cannot deny the benefits of it especially when it is free. If only MS was free though

A few 2003 still here, our SIMs server will be pulled out later this month and the other one will go once we find a viable Frog Help Centre

I did see this on the BBC site a day or two ago, made me laugh. It reminded me that Nick Heidfield did the exact same thing but only runed a front wing. Pastor did worse, still got to laugh.

Although I agree they may have unfiltered access on their mobiles, my nephew who is a year 8 in september does not. Set down by his mother, I also know a few students who have a similar thing setup. I wouldnt presume that every student here has unfiltered access and at the end if they do have it then its down to their parents not the school. Some students here have phones but zero internet access on them.

Thats it though, they are probably being compared to Uni students? Big difference between a student who has to pay their tuition fee to a student getting pretty much a free ride education. Not forgetting the age difference, if they are mature enough to use unfiltered internet access then they are mature enough to drive, drink and have kids... oh wait... The only way unfiltered access would actually work would be each time they accessed something like p0rn then they must be punished. Although I would ask what is really the difference between having filtered access which you can then categorize any blocked sites and unfiltered responsible usage? I am barely having to allow websites because our categorized sites is fine. We also pre-warned staff to send us websites they use so we can make sure they are allowed. Things like driving/drinking/games/movies/cinema have age limits for reasons unless they want to do age limits on unfiltered access as well? Whats wrong with exposing them to 18+ films if they want to give unfiltered access?

Strange I was thinking the same with Chrome and Firefox

I have to agree, we have had some staff here who want students to have unfiltered access. They go very quiet when I say would you make the decision and take the fall for it. I know my sister does not allow her son to have unfiltered internet access (He will be a Year 8 in September) she also monitors what he does access and does not even allow him to use facebook without her watching. I agree that we should be teaching kids to be more safe on the internet. With things happening on Twitter where people are actually being charged for saying certain things - how long till this happens to YOUR students? I know a good few parents who wouldnt be happy at their child getting unfiltered access, those who allow their kids to do it probably have little idea whats on the internet.

I played it, didnt scare me Then again, I am rarely the type to ever jump at horror films but I did grow up with the real classic horrors. Advantage of watching them when I was..... too young.

This is exactly how I feel and I am not even hitting my 30s yet, my boss says the exact same thing and he is twice my age. Totally spot on and I am in a family between workers (me and my older sister) and living on benefits for leaving school early and having two kids that she cant even look after or bring up properly (younger sister/mother). People who work should be better off then those who refuse/cant be bothered, my younger sister will claim she has it hard - taking daily trips down the town centre enjoying the summer sun. While I work mon-fri, did 3 years of courses when I left school - while doing part time work (yes 8:45am to 4:30pm course then 5pm till 12:30pm for 2 years). And I have been working full time since I finished the courses, I would have been working full time for 10 years come September and done mon - fri typical working hours since I was 16. Yet my younger sister who I have gone mental at several times left school when she was 15, met a guy had 2 kids and decided to leave him for no real reason and to get both kids and a ton of money/council 2 bed house all paid for her. She found out she would get more moeny if she dumped him - this is try FYI..... Social worker told her... /rant over for me this time!

I respond in the same way but usually they say can you confirm XX that ends with XX. If they dont I ask them and if they say XX (its right) then I respond with XX. Hmmm a lot of XX

Cheers anyway Hopefully some one else response.

Do you know how you got it all setup? Any issues at all?

Anyone here use the Frog Secure Gateway, bit of a long shot but I am hoping to talk to some people who are using this. Cheers

Time to get some real work done, while staff enjoy their 6 weeks off we can a ton of stuff sorted. Last of the Department websites setup and some content, fancy art work added. PC areas being removed, updated, replaced. Projectors being placed/removed. Server updates, maintenance, term time full backups of every server. Users leaving to be removed. Guides/cook books to be done. New frog background created for each year - this actually does look good. Prepare for new users/staff. Prepare september training: IT and Frog. Check one block has correct printer/driver installed for new print system. Think thats the main bulk of it all, although we have an electrical shut down in a weeks time for an entire week (again for the 5th time in about 2 years).

I think it is in the process, I know Frog are doing it too.

The sun will turn up when I go to turkey!

We currently use (we call it BAR) a database based system in SQL. Although I do plan on sticking on the guys to do list "House Point" which can also tie in to the BAR system. Our BAR system is good/bad points based on behaviour/homework etc and all sorts of reports can be pulled through from it. Students with XX Good get rewards, those with XX Bad get reported and all this is also viewable to parents. Similar to what is available from SIMs behavior but much more broader, with a large list of reasons, customisation. Bar charts/graphs can also be viewed by student, year groups etc (again by parents so they can see their own childs). I wish they did use SIMs then we can pull it in to frog but now the guy has to get his VLE tied to it

Frog here. We too was actually very tempted to go moodle but as @witch and @kernewek-sam said support unless your willing to pay is Forums and community help. In the end it depends exactly what you want out of the VLE and how much time you have to make it work. Frog though does cost but with what it currently has and especially coming in FrogOS4, Single Sign on, Exchange/Eclipse MLS Integration we are getting more happier at our choice of VLE. To us it was stay as we are instead of going moodle our current VLE guy built a SQL based VLE but only he knows what he is doing which is why development was slow. We didnt want to stick to this route. If you are not willing to spend and you have the time, know how - Moodle for sure is the way to go and with all the other free bits and bobs (google APPs etc) you can make a good VLE. For us though Frog is the best choice.

Same here, although we have been with them for about 18 months. I got no complaints about them but I don't really deal with it, although it does have a little Widget for our Frog which isnt bad.

One thing we have not had an issue with lately is "If its not working, just leave it for a few weeks". Still its not hard regardless how busy you are to inform people if its not working, I am sure if they had been paid less then what they should of by £50 they would be on that phone instantly.

Sounds like the network access settings might need checking. I think there are some settings in the tool kit - I been trying to find it my self. Although to me I would guess the actual web page it self might have an issue (something on the page?). Can you edit the drive page and see anything wrong?

Totally agree, boss here had to send out another reminder of using the help centre still got those who refuse to use it. Its not quicker and its not easier its just simple Lazy. If our least IT literate staff member can use it, anyone can. If it takes (yes I have timed it) 25 seconds to put a job in the help centre you are NOT wasting your time doing it. I do enjoy it when people walk in the door when I am doing some crucial work - its the one time I am allowed to be a little bit rude. There is no excuse. Some times its moments like that I would laugh if IT was out sourced no one just walking in the door expecting it to be fixed. And certainly no more "My keyboard doesnt work because.... i spilt coffee on it, can you fix it quick?" Phew my rant over! Roll on September when staff return expecting their broken laptops fixed, moved PCs working with no power/network points which they failed to tell us and 5 new random staff needing laptops and a few TAs who for some reason need them too..... oh and two full days of training as well. I am glad we have a Head who really doesnt mind if we Bite back.

I like what I see, I actually like the Blue touches and the dark blue of EDU. Then again I am a big fan of blue especially the light to dark touches.

Nope, your right. I guess the guy hasnt done his job right, I guess its our fault for going small local company!

Strange, our printer guy is saying both drivers are on the server. We previously had to browse for the driver but this time we just click install. Print management was supposed to be eas and solve everything !