mthomas08

I actually enjoyed both seasons. More importantly, how did they find someone much bigger.... the guy is huge...

I do get what you mean and agree, but we don't have such problems. X dept uses Google Classroom. Y dept uses Teams. Cover work is always stored in the staff share area. The file extension problems we get are caused by the students having their own installed office software even though we provide O365... which is compatible with most devices if not all.

Yes.. I get the logic behind it, a Trust will have multiple schools and logically it makes sense to have all the same systems and the lead school will say how things go. To me it makes more sense of a hybrid approach with a nudge in a direction. We find most people are Microsoft orientated from business/uni experiences, but with having Google - it tends to be a preference for certain individuals. I don't see any issue with giving staff/students access Google - it is free! Why not. We here use Google/Microsoft and now Apple. I find iPads the best kind of tablet - my experience with Android is terrible and Microsoft worse and Mosyle MDM is very cheap. Absolute peanuts and our iPads are pretty low cost. We're a Microsoft Vanilla setup, most of our software won't work on anything but MS - we are in the process of migration some bits to the Cloud. BUT if we had to scrap it all, the work would be huge.. and is it cost effective if we have to replace it all with say Apple devices or Chromebooks? We use Google Workspaces and M365 - I find some pros/cons. Some depts run smoothly with G Suite some with Teams. I wouldn't say one system is better to the other when it comes to problems. I still get people walking in the door for both. The last one, something on Google and the teacher couldn't invite people to a piece of work.. I couldn't help and Google search didn't help either. One thing I will add, no matter which the platform you choose... the god damn virtual meetings are a PAIN. Like a universal language of glitches.. we've had problems with Google Meet.. Teams .. Cisco.... Zoom.......GoTo.... and all the other software packages people use.. and there seems to be a new one every month. Think at the end of the day, stick with the system you use... it works.. you know it.. is there a point to changing? Unless someone can drastically improve the school by changing.. I don't see the point. We're in the position of being pushed in to a MAT, no details yet but my guess is we will end up adopting what ever they have. If it's change, we change.... some of the MATs I know in our region are any of the big 3: Microsoft/Google/Apple.

Mosyle can manage Macbooks I believe. We're a Microsoft Vanilla network and have some iPads managed through Mosyle. Took me a while to get everything working. -Had to take ownership of the Apple system (this took an age.. to prove my ID etc) -Suppliers added the iPads to it -Connected to M365 which syncs all users -Download the apps and the licenses (even free ones) Setup Mosyle -Connect to Apple/setup licenses and keys etc etc -Setup each profile (each profile does a set function e.g. WiFi profile/App Profile) -Tweak certain things so they can't alter much -Test I have 2 different types. 1) Sign In system at reception (only the sign in app can be seen etc) 2) Staff shared (staff can sign in and get specific apps - some things locked down) Took about 2 months but most of that was fighting Apple to take ownership of the domain.

Same. I thought Discovery had real fantastic ideas on the plots.. then it just drags on.. keep the audience guessing.. then the conclusion!!!!.. oh.. that is it.... Klingon War - this is the one plot I wanted. How did it start? How well did Starfleet do? Considering how Klingons seemed a bit cautious to go to war with the Federation, they must have put up a fight. And..... well............. that was the conclusion.... Control The Blip Anomaly attack All concluded so poorly... like they spent ages coming up with the ideas but didn't know how to create the stories or the conclusion. One thing I always loved about Star Trek, the attention to detail on the story. Like they knew to avoid another cancellation (TOS) they had to work hard for the fans and stories. TNG/DS9 even VOY all started a bit touchy.. but they worked hard to make the improvements. You always get the episode fillers (less budget/basic idea).. but they had 20+ episodes a season. I'm enjoying Strange New Worlds because it feels more like Star Trek... but some of it could be better. Section 31 looks far too noisy and glamorous.. compared to what we had previously. S31 to me is more like surgery with precision slicing to be quiet and perfect. Sloan was such a perfect character played by Sadler. Quietly turning up. Precise.

+1 another for Sign In App. Just works. Buy the iPads, set things up and voila done. Very cheap annual fee. Now using Mosyle and I've got two new ones tied down and ready to swap out.

Don't know if this helps. Our papercut this morning seems a bit better but it has been sluggish for a few months. I updated hoping it would fix it, but it didn't. I'll do some digging then give support a message. Our PaperCut is limited to 4GB ram at the moment, so I'll give it some more and see if it helps. https://www.papercut.com/kb/Main/IncreaseMaxMemoryUsage

Civica software is a complete mess and no one seems to know how to support it except 1 guy. We then went down the route of purchasing additional equipment and the same problem. Plus, trying to get a response from someone.. anyone.. seems really difficult.. right now I'm waiting for a response to two important queries.. Yet they were quick to respond regarding quotations and ordering a full blown replacement setup... costing thousands. We have a complex setup which makes it even harder (connects to multiple systems). I wouldn't say CRB are the only ones with that kind of software..

Ouch, so not only having to pay Cunninghams.. you're moving to in house SIMs? Not sure I would make that choice if given the chance. Good luck

Ouch, we did evaluate them but already moved MIS. We will consider them again when the renewal is up for our current provider (Civica). Useful to know if we do go over to Cunninghams and choose to migrate another MIS (if we end up joining a MAT, I hope they use Bromcom). You kind of expect that to be included within the support package... the only thing I can think of is the flood of requests for it. It hasn't been a huge task in migrating the data links and I don't think we had any issues so not sure why it's a big task to charge for...

+1 Bluesky. Actually looks and feels like Twitter but.. it is so nice.. the feed.. just normal... non of the crap.. just what i want to see.

I'm on my last step with Twitter.. can't believe it has come to this. Facebook had problems with fake ads (still does) and the usual fake meme trope being shared.. but I can usually block them.. but Twitter .. just constant..... spam spam spam..... all the usual trope. I hear things about Threads but.. dunno.. think I'll just quit Twitter. Once upon a time I found it useful, the news didn't always cover things....

We buy the SMART Technologies 75" GX V3 Interactive Display. Cost about £1500. Promethean are cheaper (£1K) but trying to persuade staff to walk away from Smart....

We don't have that many issues with Bromcom. -reliability and performance were major problems but this year things have greatly improved. Obviously we had that major problem to do with Azure and our email system not working with Bromcom. Leaving SIMs, there are two major issues but I don't know the details, generally had to do with ease of tasks: -Data Manager does a lot of reports and she struggles with how easy reports would work (something to do with exporting and importing the data) - SIMs was better and easier. She's discussed with Bromcom and there is no current solution. -Attendance could do something in SIMs with ease and were told to do XYZ instead of just X. Both were discussed with Bromcom. I've told them to chuck it on the Dev Ideas page which I say does seem to get attention. Not daily but every few months a bunch of things are taken to work on. I've voted on like 30 things and most of them have been taken or already deployed. I still think Bromcom have some way to go, especially for say MCAS/Student portal and adding accounts. It would be great if students were automatically added and emailed instructions for the portal - with the ability to customise the message sent out. Be great if we could filter parent MCAS accounts better. So, far from a perfect system. I've also had little to no problem with their support. When I phoned them up I rarely had to wait 10 minutes.

We had no choice but to pay Bromcom to do it. We originally had it all setup and worked fine through our Exchange server... then we did the upgrade and it stopped working. Couldn't figure it out... Bromcom won't help and the information they provide on their website is very basic. I even tried asking for help here and everyone just said - 'you're stupid just use Bromcom'.

Problem with building an MIS - is all the extra features and linking everything together. Go to a student profile, you don't just see personal information.. you see everything and each section can be expanded: -Timetable -Attendance -Bromcom VLE access -Parents The modules alone = 16. All with their own separate areas and buttons and settings. Oh and all that data can be pulled out ... put in reports.. imported back.. Having done the MIS comparison, an MIS isn't just a simple little thing to have.. not even for Primaries. We have MCAS for our daughter. We can see all her data. Before all that, you need a built MIS with the capacity to expand. Before all that, you need a ton of servers that can manage staff access from just one Primary - plus parents if you have MCAS equivalent. Daughters Primary has about 20 staff and probably 100 parents at least. You only have to look at the state of SIMs - they just conitnued to build modules and features without improving the overall platform. Bromcom keep taking on schools and they've struggled in recent years but *touch wood* minus that M365 Azure issue.. it has been reliable in 2024 for us compared to 2023 by a long shot. I feel for anyone that seriously wants to develop an MIS.. Bromcom right now still need some improvements with the way MCAS/Student VLE imports users. And don't get me started with old SIMs Learning Gateway (SLG) back in the day.. that was a steaming pile of.....

Have replied, even though we have since pulled the plug on the ICT scheme. In the end, we simply had too many problems with it.

I don't know.. every time we had a SIMs issue I never once came on here to see if other schools went down.. Every single time 'reliability' pops up here.. I remind staff about how unreliable SIMs was.. AND the fact I would often do work outside of normal working hours to KEEP sims up and running.... perhaps I should have installed those patches during working hours.. and it would be a long list of patches... Like staff went very quiet when I said we are looking else where - their complaints were daily... DAILY about SIMs..... constant crashes.. freezes.. crashes.. more crashes.. random MEMORY errors.. I will add if SIMs was built on a portal 10 years ago instead of internally hosted.... I don't have faith that it would be this magical reliable system.. Can't speak for Arbor.. but SIMs was awful... AWFUL.

Thank you everyone - so far so good. The only question I have now is, how do I set the time/date location setting. I've gone through Mosyle/Apple and every setting I can find is London. yet, the time is still default US/Pacific on the ipads even after the Mosyle wipe. Managed to setup the Apps and Wi-Fi, so a wipe will restore all these for me - GREAT. Just this one little niggle is eluding me.... the time zone. A google hasn't helped. Mosyle support page hasn't helped. Either that or I contact them direct.

I once had this issue many years ago. I rebuilt Group Policy and still couldn't fix it. The issue didn't pop up for some months after a rebuild, so we had to freshly build suites every 4 or so months. The loading screen would sit there until the auto kick out time which I think is between 15-20 minutes. I managed to get the profile size down to about 2MB. Plus I could logon 5 ICT suites (150 machines) in the space of 5-10 seconds with remote software so I knew the profile size wasn't an issue. Originally the time was like 30-60 seconds. Spent months trying to work out what the problem was and never discovered it before I left - I assume the system had a full rebuild (it needed it). The problem with the system at the time, it gone through temp builds and upgrades and multiple different people getting involved and troubleshooting far too often. It really need need a clean one. The first time I built a server I had little to no idea what the hell I was doing but had extreme pressure on my shoulders. The main server guy left and he really knew his stuff - he left for a little extra money and there was a clear agenda against him (you know that typical story we see often). The next guy didn't have a clue but clearly kissed the right butt, and left after getting a pay rise and reassuring the head he would stick around. At this point, the system had gone through a ton of viruses and malware problems and an email server chucking thousands of spam emails daily. The new guy knew his stuff and luckily the head listened to him about server expenditure. Still took an age to get things better but at no stage did we get to do a fresh wipe of the system. It was always recovery work. Ugh.. I do actually miss those days.

Currently looking at this. The free version looks good - although it does seem to be quite a setup process. Do you have M365 integration setup? Edit: Thank you to everyone replying it is helping. I assumed Apple online would allow me to manage the basics but not so.. I got the sync to M365 working and devices there but can't download apps on the ipad.

Sorry to wake up an old thread. Which Apple MDM do people recommend? I'm assuming there isn't anything free out there? I just want something simple and basic.

What is interesting is how all of a sudden this is major news when some schools banned phones years ago. We banned them years before Covid! Yet the news yesterday were discussing it like it's all brand new. Did it shock me? Yes actually, we were a device school at the time and supportive of BYOD. Did I support? Mostly yes. I had reservations. Was it a good idea due to behaviour etc? Absolutely (it did help pre-covid) Behaviour since Covid right now is awful to the point Ofsted hammered us hard... REAL hard.. If we allowed phones, we would have a much worse situation with behaviour and online bullying. One thing I do not miss, is constantly having to get involved with online bullying or phone usage or CCTV jobs because of phones....... Now my opinion has changed to fully supporting the phone ban. The way we have the rules setup, is perfect. They should not be seen or heard. They can bring them in for safety before and after school, but again - should not be seen or heard. Switch them off in the bags/lockers. I have to say it is the ONE rule kids are generally following well. We're even encouraging staff to not use their own devices unless they don't have access to IT and with the safeguarding updates (according to DSL) and the digital standards, we should be asking questions: Do we really need them? I think the reasons for kids to have personal phones in school are shrinking.

We're now considering using the Bromcom system. We are on Exchange 2016 (long story) but not my preference. Still, one of those things I would like to know exactly what we're doing wrong either in the setup or permissions or something not right with the system.

The test email goes through but the standard MCAS emails won't plus the general comms is inconsistent. As for leaving Exchange 2016, this was the plan but unforeseen circumstances forced us to delay it. So we're stuck with it for the moment.