Lonix

Might be worth considering exactly the demands of your schools moving forward and recruitment/retention.Some seniour techs might be happy doing server work etc for a school but in my experience, you're lucky if one sticks around. I've seen a lot of techs come and go because of work loads and stress of a school environment. Plus with the recent discussions about salaries, lucky again if they stick around.I'm very lucky that my ST is happy. Otherwise, I could lose him easily for £4-£8K elsewhere. Would some one like me want to take a pay cut to be ST? Well that depends - a small cut for less stress isn't a bad thing. A huge cut for a little less stress, well I'd be gone and won't stick around. There are jobs out there for my salary and in my area or go for jobs with more salaries but right now, I don't want more stress.Some schools have a lot of work to do moving forward. We're in a good place but still a lot to do.Even losing a tech right now, a lot would have to change - behaviour being one (damages etc) - and the constant reliance on setting up the main hall/sports area/canteen daily. All I can say is, try and take in all factors and because it works elsewhere, doesn't always mean a template will work for you - something a Super HT once said to me.

Either way, this still makes me uncomfortable having dealings with Bromcom but I don't blame people for choosing their MIS and there is more info regarding the Trust. They seem to be in another spot of bother: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/united-learning-broke-academy-rules-over-133k-duplicate-payment/

Same where I work - very OCD on safeguarding which is a good thing but not every place is going to be like that. *not at my current job* I do know of one story and that did conclude with the law involved in the end. There was an attempt to sweep it under the carpet which I only found out due to being involved in the 2nd internal investigation. It did get reported to the police, it did go to court and the individual was punished but nothing happened regarding how the school handled it. If it had happened now where I currently work > the individual would have been thrown out the door instantly and reported to the police right away. The evidence was clear and both parties admitted it....... twice. If our government can cover-up things... what about other parts of society....

If you downgrade the server - what about the census / filesets? These tend to need the latest SIMs versions? I'm sure of it.

There are a few threads regarding these companies, I highly recommend in reading through them - especially ones from last year. I would suggest watching your back.

Company formed in 2015 - meaning their old equipment would be 6 years old. Give it 5 years.

Keyword here: potential. Not conclusive. Being sued even if they are found guilty is no easy thing to deal with. Like it or not, it will make people question it. And again, it still leaves a sour taste of that company not taking a loss. You may not like the attitude people have towards it.. but you can't blame them and they have every right to feel negative about it. Even if they turned out to be the best cost effective solution on the market it still can go back to 'preference' something we all argue with IT (especially Apple Vs Windows). Could they still drag us to court? Our current MIS has far too many issues but its the preference of teachers due to the reporting functions.... do we get sued because we decided to stick with our current MIS? even though ours is expensive? Do we find every little negative niggle to note down (wasting time) if we choose NOT to go for an MIS? Just to cover our backs? Far too many questions pop in my head. When we get round to doing our tender process, I can't help but put a little mental note next to that company name stating what is going on - and not for the first time. Our tender process is rigorous with tons of paper work to back it up but there will be key notes on preferences/staff training/time which you can't put a value next to it. Do suppliers go ahead and take the same action and start pushing for the courts?

I think common sense just needs to seriously prevail here. Stay safe. Two simple words. You go to the cinema and share a large room with 100+ people. It can only take a single cough to expose that entire room. That's 100+ people at risk. I share an office with a couple of others - I cough and I expose them. I go to a classroom with 30 kids and a teacher - I cough and I expose them. I walk along a corridor which could be used by 100+ students at a lesson change over - I cough and I expose them. Again, we need to think about common sense here. I wear a mask and it cuts the risk. i wash my hands often, have gel.. just a little bit of cutting the risk. Think driving - you feel good, not tired, not ill and focus solely on your driving. You ignore the tailgater, the swerving cyclist and you focus on your driving. It cuts the risk - there is always the chance you can still make a mistake or someone hits you out of the blue. Its about cutting the risk. Surgeons wear masks and clean thoroughly - to cut the risk. Hospitals need to be cleaned, health staff wearing the kit and masks.. - to cut the risk. We really need to pay attention to just cutting the risk. You can spend 24/7 staying safe and taking every precaution but it takes one person to cough near you.. for you to be at risk. I'd place a bet on the 100 people staying safe and not catching it.. compared to 100 people ignoring the rules and getting it. How many would still be alive if we all made this effort back in January? If you don't believe its serious.. fine.. just stay safe for the sake of others.

I would recommend giving this a read regarding Bromcom. http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/217972-disappointed-bidder-sues-mat-after-mis-tender-failure.html There are certainly other choices out there if you decide to leave SIMs.

Spot on. I have avoided companies that I had bad experiences with and it does matter. When we budget and tender, how many of us consider companies with a good reputation. No one is questioning if it is legally right or not, instead the words used are morally right or wrong. I'd ask the question if Bromcom won the bid and still considered the school not to be following procedures.. would they still sue? Weird how one of the things mentioned in the Bromcom response is how much market certain MIS companies have.. Funny part is.. I'm holding back my actual personal view on this entire thing. Last time I reviewed our printer system, we didn't go for the cheapest solution. Instead we chose the company that supported exactly what we wanted and provided same/next day support (plus their customer support had already proven to be impressive). Sometimes its not about numbers.

I'm still struggling to understand why this court case is being pushed....... maybe I'm being blind or just don't understand... As a Governor, it is our job to make sure we get good value on our MIS and at some point when things calm down I will look to tendering and potentially going cloud based. I think we not long signed up to a 3 year contract on SIMs so at the moment we are stuck. BUT its also important that there are non financial matters here and not just whats cost effective...... going for the cheapest deal isn't always best for the school... and I make this clear - Support: How quick is the company on dealing with issues? how often they occur? - Relationship: How comfortable do we as a school feel with the company? do we feel that the company has our best intentions at hand and do they care about us? - Training: Do we want to spend the time training a whole school? - Personal opinion/preference: Like it or not, I'm the one that deals with the SIMs issues.. patches and updates and yes I do have a personal opinion on the software. So If I screamed about SIMs in a good or bad way.. that opinion still matters in the eye of the Governors/SLT.... Its very important to note that "cost effective" isn't always the best solution. If the school manipulated the numbers - how did Bromcom find out? If Bromcom believes the numbers got the changed - again, why do they suspect this? what evidence have they got?... Now for a company taking legal action at a school for not choosing them.... would I be afraid of adding them to our tender list?.........

Downloaded it last night, not sure how it will help but.. lets see... Not sure I care much about 'privacy' considering I have an iPhone with endless amount of apps including a Twitter/Facebook account which I've had for years and years...

I know a lot of schools that have been putting things together all last minute. Some not long ago got things up and running. Home learning - call it whatever you will. Really should have been sorted out years ago when more and more parents/kids got devices. Wi-fi alone has become like an arm to kids and even to a lot of adults. Still nice to see those that claimed it was a waste of time now have these systems in place.

Agreed. A simple thing to add from their end, the only think I would say is pester them to add it. If enough schools do it.. maybe just maybe.. they will. When other systems that cost around the same are already doing this.. it does frustrate the school. Considering how much it costs to print and post..

Are you seeking any additional IT staff? Your story I've heard far more from the private sector, in fact the majority of IT people I know have all left education and I really am the only one left. Even in education if you have the respect etc, it doesn't pay the bills and leadership (especially Academies) can pay staff more if they choose to do so. Unless there are valid reasons for objections by the directors/governors. At the end of the day the teachers are going to protect teachers. We just get told to shut up and get on with it and stop whining. Meanwhile the same teachers moan about their working environment, pay and generally everything.

Our main problem is that parents are NOT reading the instructions, especially with how to logon the laptop.

Still a good written article that doesn't just look at support staff as being hard workers, but touches on how some of us are highly qualified and can be ex teachers. It compares how the school treats students Vs us adults. That the very system/people that are expected to include and treat everyone fairly.. don't.

Only took an actual crises for people to realise we exist. Only took an actual crises for people to realise we have systems in place for this very situation.

Probably because for the first time people realise we actually exist. Think about it. For the first time, cleaners MATTER. If things are dirty, full of bacteria and with the Corona popping up.. this is one hell of a time to keep things clean. When sites are shutdown, they are being thoroughly cleaned top to bottom. For the first time, IT staff MATTER. All those staff want to work from home and the very people that NEVER use the term "home access/remote working" are wanting it... or perhaps demanding it. They also want a reliable system where IT staff are not needed on site to babysit the system. Putting pressure on your broadband and servers that may never get this kind of traffic again. Plus... how many of us actually had home access ready for this scenario? And they want this after shrinking our teams, taking away our budgets and outsourcing us. Delivery drivers are important - they provide our food at stores. Store workers are important - they keep those stores open. All those "highly skilled professionals" have treated "low" skilled workers like dirt, bums, just sit around all day doing nothing. The world now prays these people do their jobs every day. *spelling mistake

"Sorry they don't work like that and can take about 5 days to setup and due to the how much work I'm being shoved on my plate right now, It'll take two weeks". I've already had one person ask and said no. My patience is wearing thin, we all knew this was coming, I've done my best to preempt a lot but only so much I can do. If other people can't be bothered to plan ahead.. I'm beyond caring. The whole nation is going on about poor teachers that are forced to work still on better salaries and the six week summer holiday they get.................. er.. hello? we're here? hello? And now all of a sudden people remember we exist for home access. All of a sudden they WANT an IT system that is built correctly, reliable and home access to E V E R Y T H I N G. All of a sudden they want to think about a full on school closure and is our system good enough to handle no one on site for a bit. Yes - I'm not happy.

Bit of a mess really. I see the exams being shutdown and put on serious hold. Revisions makes an assumption that school will resume normal in what 4-6 weeks? How much missed lesson time will that be? Yes, I can see it being like Football, some one will decide to cancel or delay it all till later. It will be a hard call but I can see it being made. People need to remember that not everyone will get it within that period, meaning staff will still be taking sick leave. That means staff shortages nationwide. You look at today and its not normal. Short on staff, less students on site and even families self isolation. I appreciate that exams must be prepared for but I think certain people just can't accept the seriousness of the situation we're in. It does seem that we need our nation to be completely shutdown for people to open their eyes on how serious this is. The comparisons to flu have seriously dropped and those that would generally down play this are fast vanishing. Even those in my family that generally would brush it off "in my day we got on with it" etc.. they've changed their tone to being quite cautious.

I know but when you have 30 different kids every lesson using the same tables in a classroom, moving around the school, assemblies still taking place.. hell.. schools still open.. when more and more staff are calling in sick or self isolating..... we are living in crazy times. All because our Prime Minister didn't close schools. I feel for my technicians that can be coming in to contact with a keyboard that's being used by 6-7 different kids every day.

Comedy act really. Why are we not offering parents to keep their kids at home if they can? (the ones that don't work etc). Why are we not offering the older students to stay home alone if the parents allow it? As for grandparents, the automatic assumption that we all rely on them...... Our cover is stretched and we are no longer pushing high quality lessons. In fact plans are being put in to place for simple lessons and even having students in large areas like the hall. Shouldn't go to the pub and expose my self to 20 people but can go to a school and expose my self to 1600 kids and 200 staff. Political logic 101.

This is my thinking. How long till people start seriously making the decision themselves. My family have already decided to cancel everything in their lives and very few of us are still working. If we go down the route of fines for people that choose not to self isolate, are schools going to be chucking fines at people for taking their kids out of school? I understand that this is unprecedented but it feels like a lack of common sense and more of a reactionary response compared to proactive planning.

I'd like to see it go slow would be my response or "sorry no money, you can always go to the HT/Governors and ask for a bigger IT budget". Usually they go quiet.