Ditto

Minimum is a tower. I know a couple of people who suffered falls from ladders, domestically, and it was highly impactful. Don't let the school cheapsake, protect yourself.

My experience of Sky Stream via the Sky Puck isn't probably printable. Adverts and bad implementation is the problem. The biggest issue I hit was trying to watch a currently live event from the beginning (so maybe 20 minutes behind live) was that it was a complete nightmare. I could have 20 minutes of the same ad cycle time and time again for just wanting to go back or forward maybe 5 minutes. Pop to another channel for a few moments and then come back - another round of adverts, and could be 5 or more minutes of them. I got to chat to a deeply tecnical person once and he admitted it was server based triggers that led to the problem. The idea of paying for an additional £5 for ad skipping was an insult. In truth it isn't ad skipping, it's very poor ad fast-forwarding. I gave up trying to do what I did. When I move soon, or if I stay, I will only do so where the box had a storage media device so you are working through a true recording. It was so awful Sky even agreed to swap for Sky Q, whereas I upgraded from Sky HD. Actually between Sky HD, I had a couple of years with BT where there was a device with storage. I presume EE is the equivalent nowadays, but I would try vrey hard to avoid streaming for my scenario. So, I will move soon, and want to look at the Apple TV option that several people have mentioned as that seems to have a decent reputation. In summary, get on to the Sky Forums and have a good delve around. Things may have improved, but I was left with the feeling the current streaming design is fundamentally skewed to the advertisers rather than the paying customer.

Well that's interesting! The article I quoted is dated August 14, 2026. I think it is fair to point out it does acknowledge: Updates that still install right away To keep your device protected, some updates are not held for the monthly restart and are installed as soon as they are available. These include: Microsoft Defender security intelligence updates AI component updates Critical or expedited driver updates Emergency and out-of-band updates, including fixes released outside the normal monthly schedule Many updates also install without any restart at all, so you will not notice them.

Literally right after I posted this our MSP reply was 'not eay to setup', 'require custom policies', 'go against their current uniform systems across all clients', 'could cause issues down the line' - not very 'green'!

One old link, one very new: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/servicing/os/windows/docs/2026/07/kb5121772-one-restart-a-month-for-windows-updates https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/updates-lifecycle/windows-update-is-now-carbon-aware Our MSP is still running are claiming weekly patches (requiring reboots), but I'm not sure. Both MS approaches make good sense to me.

Hmm. I have been strongly advised to port but state categorically to the ISP (Sky) and the porting company not to cancel the broadband. My plan was get the phone working then look at getting my internet and TV and subscriptions sorted after. I will speak to Sky before hand. They could possibly be selected again, but the crumby streaming Puck will have to go, no phone option and charges drop a fair amount. I have heard the theory that as the 'phone' is bundled with the broadband so you cant just cancel the phone, in which case I will heed your advice. Just to be clear, are you saying if I port first and then cancel Sky, they will kill the successful number port? I know portability is a legal right, but these ISPs do have a habit of screwing things up!

Resurrecting an old thread... I've finally got around to starting to escape the stupid charges Sky charge to support a landline - which ultimate run on the same ISP network as ChatGPT for free! Relucantly I am sticking with landline for now, but have just purchased some Yealink devices before planing to switch to PlexaTalk. I reckon on saving £10 - £20 per month. The plan is to migrate the landline. Then Sky will probably be replaced for broadband and TV package, but we'll see. Apparently detaching the phone can cause the BB to be cancelled, so I'll be managing that one closely. Will let you all know how it goes and looks as though I ought to chec SIPGate to before signing on the dotted line, assuming 4 years has not flipped the world upside down. PlexaTalk should offer free number transfer and more than enough minutes for a tenner a month. Added benefit is we won't have to be super careful with daytime calls and going over 60 minutes - both of which are a money making scheme by Sky!

No direct involvement but aware of it as part of NHS digital improvements.

Is this part of the Mavis development?

Former Data Manager and familiar with school data. Currently working with a charity that is working on services that are linked to a NHS contract and responsibe for NHS data submissions (MHSDS monthly). So, I have insight to a small part of NHS dataset. I guess one of the biggests issues is NHS number is the key unique key for NHS, but it is not something schools are required to collect. More than happy to get involved - just PM me the details. For the other replies, Wonde in the early days got some flack around handling data and respecting privacy regs (NHS have too!). Is that no longer the case?

With recent re-write of Sign-in app, as our charity is starting the journey of installation soon, I'm seeking feedback of how things are since that rewrite. Keen to hear positives with the rebuilt version, anything you miss from the old. Generally reliability - is it the same, better or worse?

We have implementation of Sign-in App on our charity Q3 or Q4 roadmap. Android version (or at least part, I don't yet know the product) does appear to have recently gone live. See https://signinapp.com/blog/whats-new-in-sign-in-app for details on this and more.

Re the guardian article, the phrase that really struck me was "about the implications of unstructured digital exposure in educational settings". Unstructured learning whatever the delivery tools isn't likely to be successful! I'm sure it means the state of Victoria, when it refers to "Victorian" ways, but there was a lot of shallow 'it was better in my day' nonsense! 'Digital distractoin is referred to a lot. I can remember endless distraction in my education, but the best teachers managed those. It should be no different today. What is interesting is Estonia, Singapore and Finland all showing postive outcomes, but Finland perhaps plateauing with numeracy. Many quote PISA rates. Sweden is high, but they are aiming to be higher. You can research Sweden for more details, but there is a suggestion the issue was an all-in digital first model for early years. Estonia's successes is beautifully summarised by "Enhancing the Analogue Foundation". There's is a blended approach, with children learning to read and write with books and mastering pen and paper first. Then technology is treated as a subject, not just a tool. They learn coding, robotics, engineering. Then from the non-pupil side, Estonia uses tech on admin, marking, tracking, flagging ealry learning difficulties. I doubt there is a magic wand for all, but the Estonian example shows what can be achieved based on research and standardised systems. When barely qualified politicians start getting popular support by rushing something new in, or ditching something else and quoting the old ways are the best ways, the cycle is just perpetuated. My words entirely, not Ai, but I think the Estonia model works well because it is based on a deep understanding of pedagogical processes aligned with a deep understanding of the administrative burden of educational practices.

Is there are model environment where well integrated technology in education has shown positive outcomes - anywhere in the world would be interesting. Ai quickly proposes e-Estonia!

The Sheep Detectives on Amazon Prime - brilliant! I don't think I've laughed so much for a long time and I can't entirely attribute it to bottle of wine I was working through! Subtle and clever homour and a humourous (or not) undercurrent around diversity acceptance. A darn good watch. If you like Wallace and Gromit or the Chicken run interpretation of the Great Escape, you may enjoy this. My humour was also at the expense of my son who missed the joke where there was a chap counting sheep who yawned and then in the next scene fell asleep. I laughed far too much for far too long, but that's a parent's privilege. A less subtle chicken crossing the road sketch followed which was picked up on, but I couldn't contain my laughter. Definetly one to watch for relaxing humour and some subltlety too - highly recommended.

Interesting, I wonder if your employer is unusual or my early Google/Ai searches are misleading - wouldn't be the first time 😂 I have learnt that there is a scheme where we could potentially request a NHS Levy transfer from the trust we have a contract with. Combining that with new 'Short Apprenticeship Units' might be possible. However, it looks as though there would need to employer contribution too, and in 6 years they have not spent a single penny on my training and development. Recently a task came up and I had to say, sorry, I know something that would work, but the training I request 2 years ago was blocked so I don't have the skills to implement. It's so frustrating!

Turns out I am mistaken on needing to be a employee of a contributing company, but the 30 hours rule kills it for me again!

A little more digging shows the NHS is the biggest contributor. My job is around 50% funded by the NHS, but I am not an NHS employee. I wonder if there is an angle in...

From what a 30 second said, less than 2 percent of employers pay in to the levy. What I have found with other similar offerings, the fact that I am part time precluded me from taking advantage of gov funded training. The model needs to broaden it's reach. Does your access come a result of being employed by a large public sector organisation?

Is anyone even using Nextgen?

My fingers are crossed and hoping this works out - would be an amazing story!

Recent jobs I have been looking at in Edu have been about 50/50 T/T plus something versus 52 weeks. If you are T/T only, hang on to it and hopefully the strong pension.

I hesitate to ask, but is there any update on SIMS Nextgen - it seems to have been quiet for quite some time now.

I decide to dig in to this a little and did some AI based digging. A summary: Pay & Salary Comparison Role Type England (Education) United States (K-12/Higher Ed) Nordic Countries (SE/DK/FI) Western/Central Europe (DE/FR/NL) IT Technician (1st/2nd Line) £24,000 – £32,000 $45,000 – $65,000 (~£35k-£50k) kr 320,000 – 420,000 (~£30k-£40k) €32,000 – €45,000 (~£27k-£38k) Data Manager (MIS/Exams) £30,000 – £45,000 $60,000 – $85,000 (~£46k-£65k) kr 450,000 – 580,000 (~£42k-£55k) €42,000 – €55,000 (~£35k-£46k) IT Manager (Network/Infrastructure) £40,000 – £60,000 $85,000 – $120,000+ (~£65k-£92k) kr 550,000 – 720,000 (~£52k-£68k) €55,000 – €75,000 (~£46k-£63k) The biggest factor in favour for England was LGPS pension. So, if in England and you are not on LGPS or something as strong, you are missing out the biggest benefits. Term time only was seen as depressing a salary, but then you ge tthe holidays! It was normal for more senior roles to be 52 weeks. England was reported as extremely high work load.

@JamesWeatherill, it's the communincations that sets Arbor apart - well done and thank you - not that I'm an Arbor user, but I have an interview soon for a organisation that wants someone to lead a migration... so who knows what the future may hold!